District discovery
by Brittany Kress
SHARI LEWIS PHOTO
CCAD students Kat Firor, a junior art illustration major, and TeeShanee Johnson, a sophomore fine arts major, hang out on the college's Downtown campus quad
About 10 years ago, Columbus College of Art and Design administrators decided that a jumble of old, bunker-like buildings didn't make a campus, especially for creative students. So they drew up some plans, planted a massive red "Art" sculpture in the center of campus and haven't looked back.
The city surrounding CCAD's "urban learning community" is catching up. About four years ago, Columbus administrators decided that Downtown life shouldn't end at 5 p.m. They drew up plans to revitalize the city's streets and asked businesses and organizations to join in.
The city and college's plans now go hand in hand.
Since acquiring the Broad Street Facility (the former Byers Auto dealership at 390 E. Broad St.) last year, CCAD's campus has a front-and-center Downtown location. It has yet to be named or renovated but is perfectly suited for workshop and studio spaces.
President Denny Griffith, who has seen a true campus rise since he assumed his role in 1998, said he thinks the college's new stake along a main thoroughfare turned pedestrian artery is valuable.
"The Columbus Culinary Institute (in the Easton area) very cleverly put big storefront windows all across the school, so you go by and there's all these people around with the big chef's hats, and the white, and lots of stainless steel and big pots. And it's just kind of neat to see action," Griffith said. "So we want to bring that kind of action down to Broad Street."
Fashion and industrial design studios will move to the new building—which will open for fall 2008—along with space for foundation classes and faculty offices.
The college hopes to hook $2.5 million from a major donor during its ongoing "Creative Drive" campaign and rename the building after that entity.
As part of a 30-year plan, the college intended to make smaller expansions and upgrades to the converted buildings that house fashion and industrial design classes. But when the opportunity to acquire the Byers Auto building came up, administrators' vision shifted and accelerated, Griffith said. That 30-year plan will likely be completed in 14 years.
"It's about the coolest thing that could have happened," he said.
The Loann Crane Center for Design, opened in 2005, was the first step toward a united campus. It replaced a one-story cinderblock "student center" with two windowed stories that include a coffeehouse, fitness center, administrative services and interior design workspace.
The central, landscaped quad was finished simultaneously, and the two changed the campus' character, Griffith said. The Broad Street Facility's massive size will similarly have a "transformative effect" on the college, he added.
It will also fit in nicely with the city's Strategic Business Plan, launched in 2002 to transform the city.
Mayor Michael Coleman's plan outlined action steps to build more Downtown housing, build up the Gay Street Corridor and improve transportation to reinvigorate Downtown by the Columbus Bicentennial in 2012.
"CCAD's growth objectives play perfectly into many of the action strategies: increase Downtown housing, reduce building vacancy, and revitalize and reconnect downtown neighborhoods," said Colleen Gilger, the city's Downtown development administrator, in an email.
It was a concerted yet convenient effort, Griffith said.
"I've listened hard to the initiatives that the mayor and others have advocated for, and I have gone to great lengths to help them understand that CCAD is not some anomaly that's in the lap of Downtown, but a really important contributor," Griffith said.
Early surveys show about one in three CCAD grads live and work in Central Ohio.
For those still living near their alma mater, Griffith predicts the effect of the city and college's changes will be noticeable.
"I think in the next five years, this neighborhood is going to feel very, very different. That's really exciting."
October 11th, 2007
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