Following a competitive architecture competition, Marlon Blackwell Architects has been selected to design a new air traffic control tower at Columbus Indiana Municipal Airport.
The Fayetteville, Arkansas–based office beat out submissions from SO – IL, Howeler + Yoon, studio:indigenous, and Snow Kreilich for the job. The Marlon Blackwell–designed tower will be a short drive from Columbus’s many modern masterpieces by luminaries like Kevin Roche, I. M. Pei, Eero Saarinen, Deborah Berke, Venturi, et al.
The shortlisted firms were announced in September. The past three months, community members have convened to select a winner. “We are so honored to have been selected to contribute to the architectural legacy of Columbus,” Marlon Blackwell said in a statement. “More than a piece of infrastructure, our hope is that the new Columbus Municipal Airport Air Traffic Control Tower will become a beacon of Columbus’s architectural and design heritage, that will mark a key gateway into the city.”
The Marlon Blackwell-designed tower will replace the airport’s existing 80-year-old air traffic control. The new version will comply with current Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Air Traffic Control Tower standards, including sighting, backup cooling and power, security, fire and life safety, and FAA equipment. The total project cost is estimated at $11.5 million.
The new air traffic control tower will be designed in collaboration with the Federal Aviation Administration and Woolpert, an aviation-focused engineering firm. It will be supported by a grant from the Cummins Foundation Architecture Program. Since 1954, the Cummins Foundation has supported more than fifty architectural commissions, including canonical modernist buildings like Harry Weese’s Lillian C. Schmitt Elementary School.
“Over the past three months a guiding team of community members has been evaluating an outstanding group of architecture firms from across the country for this project,” said Brian Payne, Columbus Municipal Airport director. “We had an incredibly high caliber of architects competing for this project, but, in the end, the team selected Marlon Blackwell Architects for its vision, ingenuity, and overall passion for the Columbus community,” Payne said in a statement.
Construction should start in April 2025 following a year-long design process.
