My role: Project manager, producer, researcher, night show storyboard artist, presentation scriptwriter, concept sketch artist, and editor.
The Challenge
Hendricks Commercial Properties asked our team to reimagine the vacant Circle Centre Mall as an open-air entertainment district. The direction was dependent on the site’s history and facade restoration, which meant working with the existing footprint. We had seven working weeks and five team members in different cities.
Hendricks Commercial Properties asked our team to reimagine the vacant Circle Centre Mall as an open-air entertainment district. The direction was dependent on the site’s history and facade restoration, which meant working with the existing footprint. We had seven working weeks and five team members in different cities.
Before sketching anything, I asked what made this ground special. A century ago it was home to the Indianapolis Traction Terminal, one of the busiest interurban hubs in the country, where everyone and everything moved through. That became our anchor. Rather than building a theme park version of the past, we could let the site’s real story guide guests through the district, from the rail lines in the pavement to the restored facades overhead.
Together, we built Traction Yards around three spaces:
The Switchyard, a fountain plaza that works like the old rail switches, sending guests to every corner of the district and hosting markets and game-day watch parties.
The Echo Garden, where restored trolleys become coffee bars and maker shops, giving local businesses a low-cost way in.
The Night Show, a free evening experience where light travels the original rail routes, and figures from the city’s past appear inside the garden’s frames. Not as ghosts. As neighbors.
History gives Traction Yards an identity no copy-paste mall can borrow. The day-to-night programming keeps guests on site longer, which means steady foot traffic for tenants from the first coffee to the last show. And the seasonal night show gives locals and visitors a reason to come back.