Columbus airport colleges to work with Cummins Foundation on new green space

The Community Education Coalition is making plans to work with the Cummins Foundation on a landscape design project for the colleges at the Columbus Municipal Airport.

The AirPark Columbus College Campus will see a new green space next year, when the old Polling Hall is removed as part of the Ivy Tech Community College new building project. The education coalition says the change give an opportunity to reimagine the entire southwest corner of the campus.

The Cummins Foundation Architecture Program recommends architects and provides funds for the design portion of the architect fees for selected public projects to encourage architectural excellence in Bartholomew County.

The program has recommended four landscape architecture and design firms for consideration for the campus project including Reed Hilderbrand from Cambridge, Massachusetts, GGN from Seattle, Washington, Merritt Chase from Indianapolis and Studio Zewde from Harlem in New York City.

So far, more than 50 architecture and design projects have been sponsored by the Cummins Foundation in the community. The program has sponsored three architecture projects on the AirPark Campus: the Columbus Learning Center in 2004, the Advanced Manufacturing Center of Excellence in 2009, and the new Ivy Tech building set to open in summer of 2022.

The AirPark Columbus College Campus includes Ivy Tech Community College, Purdue Polytechnic Columbus, and Indiana University Purdue University Columbus. The Community Education Coalition is also a partner on the campus.