Cummins Corporate Office Building

Cummins Corporate Office Building
500 Jackson Street Columbus, IN 47201.0

The Basics...

Architect : Kevin Roche of Roche Dinkaloo / 1984
Landscape Architect : Jack Curtis / 1984

About the Architecture...

Designed by Kevin Roche (Kevin Roche John Dinkeloo and Associates), the Cummins Corporate Office Building serves as the world headquarters for Cummins, Inc., a Fortune 500 Company and diesel engine manufacturer. The one-story building with a mezzanine level occupies three blocks in downtown Columbus. The zigzag design interacts with a park-like setting on the east side of the building, defined by a portico surrounding the four-story historic Cerealine building, now an employee cafeteria. The office building is primarily cast-in-place octagonal concrete columns with infilled precast concrete spandrels and narrow windows to control noise and direct sun.

About The Landscape...

Designed by Landscape Architect Jack Curtis of Monroe, Connecticut, the landscape surrounding the Cummins Inc. corporate headquarters creates a park-like setting for the operations of this Fortune 500 Company. The project won a 1991 Honor Award from the American Society of Landscape Architects. The central park is the main element of the site design with a lake as the central organizing element. The water element surrounds the historic Cerealine building, which functions as the employee cafeteria.
Boston Ivy and Hydrangea cover much of the building’s exterior surface and climb octagonal columns and pergola. On the west side of the building, 99 mature Honey Locusts create a soft boundary between the headquarters building and a large employee parking lot.

Curtis’ other Columbus projects include Cummins Inc. Technical Center, Columbus Visitors Center, Cummins Fuel System Plan, Cummins Engine Plant One, Cummins Child Development Center and Irwin Gardens restorations.

About Cummins...

The Cummins Corporate Office building is the international headquarters for the Fortune 500 company, noted as one of “the world’s most admired companies,” and the largest employer in the county.

About the Cerealine building...

The corporate offices are built on a three-block plot of land that formerly served as a rail yard in downtown Columbus. As part of its distinctive construction, Roche built the new structure around the original Cerealine Building, which once served as Cummins’ first factory and administrative offices.

About the renovation...

Renovations on the building began in Fall 2017 with areas south of the cafeteria, and the now-complete north-end welcomes employees with a variety of work settings for individual or collaborative work, lots of natural light, and interactive outdoor areas. Learn more, see photos of the renovations.

Kevin Roche and the Pritzker Prize
In 1982, architect Kevin Roche was awarded the Pritzker Prize, which is given “to honor a living architect or architects whose built work demonstrates a combination of those qualities of talent, vision, and commitment, which has produced consistent and significant contributions to humanity and the built environment through the art of architecture…It is granted annually and is often referred to as ‘the architecture’s Nobel’ and ‘the profession’s highest honor.'” (text from the Pritzker Prize website)

Meet the Architects & Kevin Roche's Other Work

Kevin Roche and the Pritzker Prize

In 1982, architect Kevin Roche was awarded the Pritzker Prize, which is given “to honor a living architect or architects whose built work demonstrates a combination of those qualities of talent, vision, and commitment, which has produced consistent and significant contributions to humanity and the built environment through the art of architecture…It is granted annually and is often referred to as ‘the architecture’s Nobel’ and ‘the profession’s highest honor.'” (text from the Pritzker Prize website)

Architect Kevin Roche reflects on his early career (8:27)