Historic Preservation and Cultural Resource consulting is sometimes dismissed as an honorable though not particularly cutting-edge undertaking for a design-based studio such as ours. We think otherwise. Public landscapes and spaces are ephemeral either through inattention, succumbing to competing spatial/economic pressures or mismanagement (and yes, design has a hand in that as well…not everything old is good, and in contemporary terms, much of the new is mediocre if not bad). Public spaces need constant attention and periodic renovation/renewal. And too many design plans either don’t survive the political and funding cycles of public work, or are implemented as cost-constrained phased work that may or may not accrue critical mass impact, in the sense of an intended inter-relatedness of systems. Too visionary on the client or designer side? Maybe, but think Olmsted,  Burnham or Kessler and the lasting values of their visions!But also think of the sometimes wayward/sometimes brilliant  ’60s (now historic) and the current challenge in seeing past the aging trendiness of that period to value the mid-century modern masterpieces it generated and that are being revisited today.  We had the pleasure of guiding the National Register process for modernist work in Columbus, Indiana, and it has been rewarding to see […]

An Indianapolis publication recently asked storrow|kinsella “what is your BIG IDEA” regarding parks and open space.

The Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) published a peer-reviewed technical article in the April 2013 issue of the Journal of Transportation. While wonkish, it demonstrates the background efforts SKA undertakes to achieve seemingly straightforward improvements to walkability. In this case it was on behalf of the Midtown Indy neighborhood of Indianapolis, for whom we prepared traffic calming, bicycle-pedestrian accommodations and urban design for its North Meridian Street-Westfield Boulevard-Central Canal Towpath intersection.

Storrow Kinsella Associates prepared the East 10th Street Urban Design and Gateway Plan in 2009, eight years ago (a plan is considered to be aging after five years). But it hasn’t spent that time gathering dust on a shelf. It had identified as high priority the remaking of the dreadful Interstate 65/69 “north split” underpass area from a barrier to a gateway to the Near Eastside. That has been implemented with great success. Our detailed design process for the gateway was accompanied by strategies that brought together multiple partners and agencies to fashion an inspiring connection between the Mass Ave Cultural District and the emergent Near Eastside, a linking of three greenway trails, a celebration of the origin of the Indianapolis Cultural Trail and a catalyst for economic development that is only now achieving transformative critical mass. Additional priority projects are lining up, with the attached article describing one of them….see  feature story in the Urban Times. There are lots more ideas in that original plan that range from roundabouts to trail links to breaking through the railroad barrier. 

The Elkhart TRUTH – LOCAL BUSINESS: ELKHART COUNTY’S NORTHWEST GATEWAY PLAN CLOSER TO BECOMING A REALITYPublished: Sunday, August 14, 2011By Josh Weinhold, Reporter Motorists entering Elkhart County’s northwest side could soon be greeted by a village.”The Village” is the working title for major proposed development in the county’s so-called Northwest Gateway, the entrance into Elkhart from St. Joseph County at the corner of Old U.S. 20 and Ash Road.An effort to significantly improve an area county planning officials have called an eyesore, the project would include major changes to the makeup of Old U.S. 20 and aims to draw retail, residential and other destination sites to the land on either side of the road.Storrow Kinsella Associates, the Indianapolis consulting firm hired by the county last year to design the development, presented its initial plans to the gateway steering committee and county redevelopment commission last week. Now, county officials must make a series of decisions regarding how exactly they want the gateway to look – from the makeup of the road to the type of intersections to how accessible the area should be to pedestrians and bicyclists.Complicating matters are plans by St. Joseph County to overhaul the Ash/Old U.S. 20 intersection, which falls […]