Inside 43215: Building Blocks
Tuesday, January 19th, 2010
DIGGING IN NEW DIGS
How can anyone NOT love MadLab? The idea of a crazy laboratory is undeniably appealing; and this one hosts a gallery space for visual arts and a theater space for performing arts (a theater troupe).
And where does a place like MadLab belong?
You already know the answer to that question: right in the heart of Downtown Columbus. They’ve put down serious roots by buying the whole building at 227 N. Third Street.
Who knew there was a theater there? There’s not… yet. Before MadLab made its purchase, the space was an auto detailing operation. Right now, the Lab team is hard at work doing renovation work for the space’s March 2010 debut.
The renovation team has already discovered one of the very coolest things about downtown properties: they are chock full of fun finds. According to managing director, Andy Batt, “One of the interesting things we found was that half of the building had three separate ceilings, one on top of another. The third ceiling was an antique, ornate tin ceiling. We are hoping to be able to clean that up and use it in our gallery space.”
That’s not all.
“We also found a small basement we didn’t know was there when we purchased the building. It’s about 10 feet by 10 feet and about seven feet tall. There are old signs down in the basement that are from previous uses of the building.”
Who knows what MadLab might do with those signs? Regardless, we’d say the signs are good for the group’s success in the new digs!