History of the North Market:
Columbus at one time had four major markets throughout the city. The Central, North, East and West markets. Shown here in a historic photo from 1935 the Central Market was demolished in 1966 for "Urban Renewal" and is now occupied by the greyhound bus station.
Founded in 1876 the North Market is the only remaining of Columbus' Public markets. The market has been home to local butchers, bakers, fishmongers, greengrocers and farmers. In recent years the market has expanded to include ethnic food specialties as well as gourmet groceries. Originally the market was located at the City’s public Cemetery (where the parking lot is now located),
the original structure burned down in 1947, and was replaced with a war-surplus Quonset hut. The Market declined in popularity in the 1960’s-1970’s as new suburban grocery stores became available.
In the 1980’s the market was met with resurgence in interest, and the market decided to expand from its Quonset hut. The present market occupies a renovated building which was previously the “Advanced Theatre Warehouse”, adjacent to the market’s original location. In 1995 the New North Market opened, and presently attracts up to one million visitors annually.
The North Market today:
Today the North Market is a mix of locally produced meat and vegetables, specialty shops as well as ethnic food eateries. All of the businesses are small and local and this market serves as an incubator for small business, while providing a gathering place for people to eat, shop mingle and people watch.
Geographically, the North Market is situated at a transition zone between the high rise downtown and the lower rise area of the "Short North". Interstate 670 cuts a swath and separates these districts. Recently a building called "The cap" has been built over I-670 which seeks to provide continuity between the short north and the area surrounding the convention center along High street. The Convention center draws millions of visitors annually, and provides the market with a much needed influx of capital, as the ethnic eateries cater very heavily to those individuals who need to grab a quick bite and get back to their activity.
The building is aproximately 100 feet wide and 250 in length.
View of front of Market from corner of Spruce & Wall Street:
The market is set along Front street, but faces inward towards its parking lot / market area, which can be converted to assembly space. In effect, due to the proportions of the surrounding buildings the parking area is a sort of public courtyard.
The Iconography is simple but direct, a neon sign with a rooster, proclaims this as a market building. The additional exterior stair towers, provide a simple vertical element made up of corrugated plastic, they invoke a certain rural agricultural element which reinforces this notion of "Market space".
Looking South towards downtown along Front Street:
Along Front Street the building very much holds the street edge, with a monolithic rhythmic elevation which is a testament to its past as a warehouse, and to this area's history as the warehouse district of Columbus. Multiple Awnings provide a human scale and break up this building at the street level. It is interesting to note that deliberately, the awnings are mismatched which reinforces the notion that the building holds multiple vendors and is a public domain.
Structurally, much of the building's original structure remains, although the second level has been removed except for a narrow mezzanine strip at the perimeter. This acts twofold. The open grid system serves as an organizational structure which allows for mechanical and electrical equipment to be hung at a mid level. This also allows the space to flow vertically over much of the building and gives an openness to the feel of the building. The perimeter mezzanine serves as seating and allows the patrons to view the buzz of human activity from above.
At the front of the building (facing the parking lot) a simple tube steel gallery with a roof, provides shelter for temporary farmers markets on a seasonal basis. This temporary nature, reinforces the market concept, and provides a fixed focused temporal event for people to gather.
The open steel and wood grid of the former warehouse serves to provide an organizational frame against which individual tenants can build their space.
Simple utility hook ups occur in quadrants, so that each vendor stall has a centrally located sanitary stub, water supply, and electrical service. The stalls are composed of simple materials: painted CMU's , corrugated plastic and painted 2x10 materials. All expression beyond this is left to the individual vendors to craft their image.
An important part of the North Market is the system of bulletin boards spread throughout the circulation space (verical stairwell enclosures, as well as on the mezzanine). This civic forum provides an implied exchange of free ideas beyond that which the market promotes as an organization.
Relevance to the Refugee Center:
The North Market, is a simple structure, yet it gives individual SMALL proprietors a place to "hook in" to utilities, to gather together to attract foot traffic which they would not get alone, and to create a dynamic, charged atmosphere, where people want to visit. Individually they are insignificant, there are no "anchors" there are no chains, but together they form a community which engages those around it.
The addition of the Farmer's market on the steps of the main market provides a temporal event where people gather. Temporal events, because they occur infrequently, serve to gather people in greater concentrations than permanent events.
The location of the market in an Urban Business District Setting, while it is located for historical reasons, shows that this type of market can exist without the assistance of a large scale residential population in the immediate vicinity.
The structure itself is very humble, and the concept of a "hook-in" can be applied not just to any retail aspect of the center for refugee acculturation, but to that of the housing portion as well. The utilities are permanent everything else is allowed to flow around and accumulate around these central "utility cores"
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