Roadtrip - Columbus, Indiana

While there's tons of great stuff to do in Cincinnati on any given weekend, sometimes its nice to get out of town and take a road-trip somewhere new. If you're into architecture at all, Columbus Indiana is a drive worth taking. Its a couple hours from Cincinnati, and while there are a couple cool places to stay there, you can easily make a day trip of it.

Columbus has gotten a lot of press over the years about the A-list architects they attract. I think all cities could learn quite a bit from this town, who has really made some extraordinary efforts to stay relevant, plan in smart and sustainable ways and remain and attractive to businesses and its residents. Through a partnership with the Cummins Engine Company, they have established a program for architectural review and planning that has brought some of the worlds top architects to their small town since the 40's. The town is full of beautiful buildings from names such as Eliel and Eero Saarinen, I.M. Pei and Cesar Pelli and numerous others.

Check out some photos from our visit on Flickr

For more information about a vist, check out their website: http://www.columbus.in.us/

DAAP Works 2010

Dan and I both follow diligent DAAP student @jenlkessler on Twitter. She's been posting about wrapping up her degree and about the DAAP Works show displaying all of the senior projects, so Dan and I decided to pop by the UC campus to check it all out.

A few shots of Ms. Kessler's work, for a children's library called "Nook:"


And a hodgepodge of other shots from DAAP Works 2010:





Mm, here comes a personal favorite. :)

I'm so glad we decided to pop over to DAAP! Dan was already familiar with the department, as he has a design degree from Miami and had spent a lot of time with friends at UC. But it's all new to me-- that's a bit of a trend on this blog, eh?

Traipsing through the halls of DAAP was such a reward for my screen-tired eyes. I loved perusing the projects by students of interior design, architecture, urban planning, fashion, etc. I only wish I could make the Fashion Show now!

DAAP website: http://daap.uc.edu/
DAAP Works website: http://daap.uc.edu/daapworks/
UrbanCincy article on DAAP Works 2010: http://www.urbancincy.com/2010/06/daap-works-2010-to-showcase-worlds-best-design-projects/

architecture - the parkside

We've become amateur architecture buffs over the last few months. I've always been a bit of one, but our recent visit to Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater really cemented it for Erica.


Cincinnati is a treasure trove of architectural gems, both famous and not-so. Frank Lloyd Wright has three residences here that he designed for various people, and the University of Cincinnati is a veritable who's who of contemporary architecture.

I'd also be remiss if I didn't include the CAC building downtown by Zaha Hadid and César Pelli's Aronoff Center. While those are all rather modern additions to our collection, I think our historical collection is even more impressive. Cincinnati's Over-the-Rhine area is one of the nation's largest intact historic districts, comprised of 943 buildings of various architectural styles, and we're lucky enough to have purchased a condo in the emerging Gateway Quarter that we'll move into this spring.

Throughout Cincinnati you'll find impressive architecture, and as we journey we plan on writing up more of these, but first up I want to talk about our current home base, the Parkside building in Clifton. Designed in 1897 by Joseph G. Steinkamp, and built by Thomas Emery's sons, the building was added the National Register of Historic Places on 2008 February 29 after undergoing a full renovation and rebirth in 2006. The building had deteriorated to the point of being a health hazard, but has now been remodeled to be clean, modern and ready for another 100 years.


One thing that I've found interesting and rather refreshing since moving in here is the dedication and love the other tenants have for the building. It's an old and rather ornery building, and requires a lot of upkeep - however, everyone who lives here seems to value it and it's been a nice place to live. Cincinnati could use some more people who are as dedicated to preserving our historic structures as those living here at the Parkside.

Architrek: Downtown & Over-the-Rhine

Man, it's been like ten whole minutes since I've talked about architecture!

The Cincinnati Preservation Society puts together "Architreks," which are exactly what they sound like. Some are guided walking tours through Cincinnati, but the one we took this afternoon was on a trolley. Here's what a trolley is:

The trolley is not optimal for this kind of tour because you can only see the buildings from about the knee down, but I tell you what-- when it's 30 degrees out, you get over that real quick-like.

Dan, our tour guide, was fun and awesome, and I hope we run into him next year when we go on some of the walking tours. He says those are better, because you're able to spend more time looking at the details of the buildings.


We also ran into @nth_degree on our tour! Hello Evan and Sarah! All your shirt is belong to us, please!


Apologies, geek moment. Anywho, loved this tour and I will definitely be looking into other offerings by the Cincinnati Preservation Society. Has anyone done a walking tour? They do them in a bunch of different Cincinnati neighborhoods throughout the year.

Cincinnati Preservation Society: http://cincinnatipreservation.org/
Architreks information: http://cincinnati-walks.org/
A few more pictures, taken by Dan: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rrrrred/sets/72157622818066833/

AFC: Frank Lloyd Wright symposium

What an awe-inspiring photograph of the event, eh? Really just captures the mood. Urgh.

Anyway. I've mentioned before that I've been getting into architecture lately, beginning specifically with when Dan and I visited Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater in Pennsylvania. About a month ago I discovered an interesting opportunity: a free symposium about FLW at the Cincinnati Public Library, so we planned our Saturday around it.

(I need to write an entire post about the library itself, I should note. I hadn't been there in far too long-- maybe high school?)

The symposium was... eek, I use "fantastic" too much on this blog. I really, truly enjoyed myself. They had a variety of speakers and all from different vantage points: one woman currently owns a FLW house in Clifton, others were members of the Architectural Foundation of Cincinnati (AFC), museum/house curators, etc.

Each had presentations with great photographs and avoided technical jargon that would have lost me (actually something I was a little worried about, considering the source was the AFC). This photograph at right is from when one of the library staff had to shut the blinds so we could see the presentations, but otherwise things went smoothly.

I learned a lot, engaged in non-standard Saturday afternoon fare, spent time in the library I've worked blocks away from for 4+ years, and really just all-around enjoyed myself.

Dan and I both walked away from the symposium more excited than every to visit nearby-ish FLW landmarks, like the house in West Lafayette, IN or the one in Springfield, OH. I will also be keeping a closer eye on the AFC so that we can be sure to attend other events, including exhibitions and tours that they regularly give.

Architectural Foundation of Cincinnati website: http://architecturecincy.org/
Link to the AFC events page: http://architecturecincy.org/programs/programs.html

Cincinnati Museum Center architecture tour

Well, I fell in love again.

Last night, Dan, Bradley and I schlepped to the Cincinnati Museum Center to take a more in-depth tour of Union Terminal's architecture than is commonly available. I've become more interested in architecture as a result of recent tours of Chicago's riverside buildings and Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater, and when I saw a chance to tour my favorite building in Cincinnati, I jumped.


The tour was fantastic. As a kid, most kids tour Union Terminal... you focus on the gorgeous mosaics, the history of the train station, usually watch an Omnimax film. I remember those tours, and the weak-in-the-knees feeling I always got from looking straight up to the ceiling of the dome.

This tour engaged both that kid-like sense of wonder, and a more mature quest for history and education. Union Terminal has always fascinated me-- it was, after all, the source of inspiration for the Justice League's HQ-- but last night we were able to look behind the scenes.


I know more about the concept of art deco now... can point out pillars and colors, materials and indirect lighting. I know that there are wires under the seats of the original 1930s theater because men needed a place to put their hats while watching the newsreels. I know that the Rookwood Ice Cream Parlor is worth more than the entire rest of the building, because of its rare tiles. I know that the entire monstrosity was almost demolished, until they discovered it would cost more to tear it down than to turn it into something else. ...And thank gawd they did.


If you get a chance to take a similar tour, I highly recommend it. Ours was at night, which meant it was closed to the public, quiet, and with a completely different lighting than you normally get to see.

There is apparently a very rare tour coming up in February, during which you get to walk over the dome in the concrete infrastructure. We'll definitely pass along information about that if we hear more.

See my Flickr set (mostly taken by Dan) here: Union Terminal tour

Cincinnati Museum Center website: http://www.cincymuseum.org/