ARCH 852 Blog: Site visit & reading notes

Site Visit Notes

701 Whaley St

Building built as mill store 1903, in 1918 pool was added on as a community center which included basketball court, movies, billiards, barber shop for family and community time outside of mill life
Essentially became the "Y", internalized the economic company cycle with mill general store keeping community self-contained & no reason for anyone to leave
intentions of renovations to keep building as public space but with intensive programming including loft & live/work space

community promotes social life in traditional culture in mill town
Cotton mill shut down in 1986 but was still thriving when textile industry was dying
looked to protect community from diversions & keep profits here, walkable community
essence of community design with porch serving as public space leading to private space (New Urbanism) and preserved by neglect
Salt Box duplex design with local pine in housing

community built around quarry, industrial employer like the mills but unusual to have quarry in downtown of the city
trucks were exiting through community creating lots of dust from granite (crushed stone) leading to new access road along the river to keep trucks out of neighborhood for better air quality
Reclamation-maintain fences, stop pumping water & will rise to ground level eventually possible Lake Olympia, change is moving down from capitol to the waterfront
Community wants to show heritage & culture that memorializes and reflects neighborhood itself

Quarry Site Visit with Bob

no local school in Olympia, once a reform school
in 1900's everything was small no computer operated quarry continually
largest quarry in SC for Vulcan, in 2000-2006 3 1/2 million tons mined, about 10,000 tons/day
employees as stakeholders, #1 mining company in US
Columbia quarry located along the Fall Line where granite stops and limestone & sand take over, very hard rock LA abrasion test 25-30 (lower the # harder the rock)
Approximately 15 years left to mine
biggest inventory is sand because used to be ocean line

let water rise (concept listed in newspaper) possible inlet for boats designed or golf courses have been created on other mines
3:1 slope to reclaim at safe standards and landscape to prevent erosion
Case study-Atlanta Vulcan quarry donated to city to create park, built marsh

Strip dirt, drilling & blasting(50' benches) in old days did approx. 100-200' benches but not as manageable now, shoot & blast(mixture of ammonium nitrate & diesel) loading & hauling

Primary crushing stage-with jaw crusher & wash machine crusher doing 1,000 tons/hr
Secondary crushing stage-with comb crusher
Screen crusher piles off different size stone and blends products then washed & put in bins (25 ton)

Reading Notes

City of Columbia laid out in 1786 by John Gabriel Guignard
USC Horseshoe- framework is more critical than architecture, believed to influence UVA's Lawn with large oak trees and low scale architecture
USC has spread west & south into city
Innovista District-historic campus core

building elevations incorporate simple, rectangular shapes & clear hierarchy of elements
proportions of windows to wall 1:3
architecture should reflect materials with which its constructed & no more than 2 wall materials
Horseshoe East-West alignment to allow for sustainable planning by increasing access to daylight and winter sun
Strategies for heating/cooling-cluster buildings and minimize window areas on all orientations except E-W axis

Research-alternative energy, nanotechnology, biomedical science & environmental science
Waterfront Park
Revitalie & link to other redevelopment vista arts & entertainment district

grid street & block pattern, perfect square plan with 400 blocks with new state capitol at center of city
Columbia was a central trade point for goods to & from Charleston
Olympia-worker home complexes, 1907 regional textile center with 6 mills
redevelopment of property along waterfront for mixed use real estate and public park while also connecting to downtown as garden city concept

ARCH 852 Blog