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FEATURED PROJECT: Ellipses

Ellipsis is a true testament to the resiliency of the Columbus community. The once desolate lot has been transformed into a welcoming space for gathering. Even the burned columns are a nod to the fire that destroyed the building.

New York-based designer AD—WO shared: Ellipsis is an architecture that excavates omitted histories while making space for the vibrant presences and emergent futures of Black and Indigenous communities in Indiana. The project’s approach to programming is conceptualized as an ellipsis and can host gatherings and workshops to reconstruct histories that were left out of modern records. Ellipsis occupies the Irwin Block, a site where a 130-year-old building was destroyed by fire in December 2022. In response to these multiple timescales of loss, Ellipsis references Indigenous land remediation techniques, particularly cultural burnings, that mythologize fire as medicine, an agent of loss and renewal enacted to maintain abundant ecosystems and to steward plant and animal life. The intervention begins with earthworks and cut-and-fill operations, carving a subterranean path into the site and building a prairie mound around it.

THE CHALLENGE: Create the essence of a mature native prairie habitat in just three months for the opening ceremony. In mid-May, the team from AD-WO, Exhibit Columbus volunteers, and Sanctuary staff planted more than 1,400 native plants and established a customized stewardship and watering plan tailored to the species selected and the site’s soil conditions. Monthly site visits were conducted to monitor progress and adjust the stewardship plan as needed to ensure the planting thrived in time for the August grand opening.

Photos courtesy of @hadleyfruits.

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