A few weeks ago, Urban Indy blogger mentioned how much he loved the new Eskenazi Hospital’s outdoor public plaza. I hadn’t heard much about it at the time, so I decided to explore it for myself. I knew the interior was centered around art, so I took a photo of this sculpture that is hanging from the ceiling near the lobby:
The outdoor space in between the parking garage and the hospital is not bad:
But, as Joe suggested, the public plaza is where the design really shines:
The plaza includes an airy, glass paneled Duos restaurant:
The top floor of the lower building includes an outdoor sky farm, which was sadly locked off from the public on the day of my visit. This is the photo that I captured from the door:
All in all, it may be the best new public space in the city.
It really is a transformative project on the campus. I was most impressed that the outdoor plaza features an interactive fountain area. It is difficult to name too many of these such spaces in the city.
It’s a good thing you couldn’t get into the sky farm. Seems like the only thing they’re growing right now is cigarette butts (from staff and patients alike). I wager they’re locking the door now so people can’t use it as their personal smoking lounge.
The Eskenazi Sky Farm is run by Growing Places Indy, the same urban agriculture group that runs the farms at White River State Park and the Chase Legacy Center.
As I hear the car go vroom, vroom, vroom, I ask why, why, why?
Here’s a link to the Growing Places Indy web-site:
http://www.growingplacesindy.org/urban-farming
The Sky Farm is far from a place for people to smoke. I believe the door is locked right now due to some public access/security concerns that are being resolved. It’s a great project, and we need more of this thinking in projects being built around the city.