The Columbus Learning Center is one of the most important assets of Columbus, Indiana. It is a multi-tenant community resource center with educational facility. The Columbus Learning Center is a building full of technology with educational opportunities. It has an expansion space to support services for students of three educational institutions: Ivy Tech State College Columbus, Purdue School of Technology Columbus and Indiana University Purdue University Columbus.
The Columbus Learning Center is integral to continued education, training and development of existing companies in Columbus. The building provides different services and teaching rooms for lifelong learning, from grammar school to adult education, to serve the educational as well as workforce needs of the community.
The architecture of the building is the best example of an aesthetic art. The building was designed by Kohn Pederson Fox, New York. The Columbus Learning Center covers the area of 123,000 sq. ft. The building has 20 electronically-equipped classrooms with VCRs, network connections, digital projectors and document cameras. There are more than 350 computers in classrooms, e-mail bars, labs and library.
Ease of management, flexibility of use and quick response to changing needs has given a non-traditional approach to design and construction of the building. The design of the two-story building is inspired by the surrounding landscape which includes simple forms of farmhouses, industrial factories and silos. The entry of the building is an outdoor room which is framed by brick walls in the form of arms opening toward the community. The interior of the building is also fantastic. As one enters the building, the interior opens up to the landscape through a clear glass-enclosed public street which links to the entrance hall to all services within the building.
The goal of the Columbus Learning Center is to encourage people outside the educational system to utilize the center’s services for developing a personalized curriculum. To achieve this goal, the design of the building must be accessible. Therefore, a new facility is sited between two existed buildings which act as a bridge between them reducing their psychological and physical distance. Each program component for this new facility is built in a different brick and glass form and the shapes of these forms are influenced by the functions contained within them.
