Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Perhai BY JANET LEE Contrary to Harold Brunton's statement of several weeks past, student acceptance of the Picken's Bridge-Gibbes Green area cannot be registered as 100 per. cent. Pthaps Brunton has forgotten the public meeting of last July sponsored by the Ideas and Issues Committee of the University Union at which he unveiled his plans for the bridge and mall. Perhaps he has forgotten the vigorous op position voiced by students and faculty attending the meeting, or perhaps he does not care. I for one, resent being named by implication as approving the plans, for I most certainly do not. Fur thermore, I find the slight con cession Brunton's office has made in the erection of a billborad displaying the said plans to be completely unsatisfactory. The plans shown on the billboard are unprofessional and almost entirely uninformative. Scale, measurements, elevations, and materials are not indicated; and the schema of flora is neither reflective of existing tees and shrubs nor indicative of future landscaping plans. These plans are certainly not expressive of Brunton's ex planation of July, 1973 when he stated that the walkways would be 15-20 feet wide, elevated, and made of concrete. Access to the walks would be by ramps and steps, and all shrubbery and trees would become "sunken" and accessible only by steps. Coi Present )SYOU] Th In other words, one will descend s from the wide concrete walkways n to little areas of grass and land- a scaping. In essence, the Gibbes f "Green" will be an expanse of wide it concrete walkways accented by r sunken gardens. tli Although a plan of this nature w could be acceptable in another environment, I feel it is rather e inappropriate to the Gibbes Green, w area and that it reflects a lack of s total environmental planning as r well as humanistic insight. First, climactic conditions of the u South tend towards brilliant p sunlight and great heat. Grassy fi shady areas are the most effective tLi Dutdoor foil to the southern sun and tLi temperatures, whereas wide ex- n panses of concrete only serve to e magnify the problem, creating glare and raising the temperature. o Secondly, a modern mall of this tt type is out of keeping with the I exisiting architectural structures, si and although it could be attractiye a in itself; in conjunction with the u facades of Sloan, Davis, LeConte c and Barnwell, it will be an th aesthetic fiasco. of Thirdly, the mall is planned as a st mntry Rc onl Pui on the this ian Location will be th ~d by Univers Carolina L Forgot, 'AGE 4 ursday,Apri ries of walkways; emphasis is on ovement from one point to nother--the design is a thorough ire and is not condusive to human iteraction, to conversation, to Alaxation, or to meditation; When e temperature hits 101 degrees, ho will linger on a concrete sitting wall" in front of a 20 ft. cpanse of concrete? And when 'inter comes, how appropriate for tting will be a slab of concrete gistering 40 degrees? And when the wind blows nhampered across the dry avement, swirling hot dusty air or eezing rain, I think we will miss e grass and incidental shrubbery at serve as some degree of atural protection against the tements. It is a well known fact among lder members of the community at grass did once indeed grow ixuriantly on Gibbes Green; that .ch a miracle is indeed possible, rd Brunton may therefore cease sing this inane excuse for his mncrete highway. I may suggest at the "cowpaths" to which he so ten refers, indicate not that udents dislike grass, but that Ock and Campi re Prairie Leag and lue River Boys Russell House c'om 4:30 to 8:3( Saturday, Apr e Golden Spur with ity Union C and Couples Cor ~ree Conceri ,Mr.Br do dr w er di in 14 m po additional brick walks identical to of the ones now in use were needed. al If Gibbes Green doesn't have G grass, it is because the University se chooses for it not to grow there. I re would charge that Gibbes Green de has been subjected to neglect: do there has been no new planting ho there and no sustained effort has been made to maintain grass bu there--this is the poorest possible hc excuse for the building of a mall. wi th Much has been written about the fhc resignation of John Califf, ag University Architect, but the stark th truth has yet to reach the press. ar According to informed sources, Califf resigned because he had th found his position as campus ar- es chitect to be "an uphill struggle vi against the Bad Taste of Harold ar Brunton", and felt the only tenable na solution to his dilemna was gr resignation. ye Califf's resignation is based on re moral and artistic principal, and th one has to admire him for it. But Br his resignation is cause for more wi than admiration: it is cause for he some despair among those of the Ri Carolina Community whose taste Gi Bluegra S sue Patio ) no change in showtim< >ntemporary nimittee unton es not lean towards Brunton's eams of concrete castles, but io prefer more idyllic or pastoral vironments. Califf's resignation is an in cation of how deeply entrenched e Brunton and his "Bad Taste" the Administration: when a an of Mr. Califf's influence is iralyzed by Administrative litics, we students may despair our views having any weight at 1. The establishment of a rounds Committee of which veral extremely competent, sponsive, and aesthetically dicated faculty are members, es offer some hope to us wever. It will be up to them to review all ilding and grounds plans in the spes that a Gibbes Green fiasco 11 never again occur. Hopefully, eir reports will be more in tential and prove more effective ainst Brunton's monied schemes an have the voices of the students d our- own University Architect. The retention of green areas in e midst of urban sprawl is sential to the continuance of a able metropolitan environment, d if, as many people declare with ive conceit, "Columbia is owing like Atlanta", then a few ars from now we shall certainly gret the loss of Gibbes Green. At is time one can only pray that unton may suddenly be blessed th humanistic vision, and that may rescind his endorsement of chard Weble's design for Gibbes een. SS Sounds