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Hello and welcome. The purpose of this survey is to help us narrow down the four options
described in this short video with the help of the campus community. We've also provided
links to the full presentations for both the October and November planning workshops. Thank
you for your help in this process and we value your input.
As you may know, Toomer's Corner is formed by the intersection of College St. and Magnolia
Ave. University property starts at this Southwest corner and extends into, and is part of, the
broader Samford Park.
Historic photos show that this corner has served as the primary pedestrian entryway
into the campus from its beginnings.
Historic elements of the corner include the 1917 gates and the two oaks, planted in the
1930s.
There were several themes that came out of the initial October planning session workshops.
These include: retain and enhance the existing and historic character of the corner;
Consider the entire intersection and the important connection to the city and the downtown;
Retain the 1917 gates;
Retain and enhance the pedestrian access into the campus from the corner;
Expand the gathering space behind the University gates; and
Provide additional seating and shade areas.
Out of these themes and the initial public workshops held in October, we developed four
concepts, mixing and matching contemporary and traditional approaches to this design
issue.
This first scheme emphasizes the circular geometry of the corner. It keeps the gates
in their current position, replaces the two existing oaks, moving them slightly back along
the path into the park, and adds a third tree, centering on the diagonal relationship of
the gates to the park. The seat wall is pushed back to open up and define the gathering space,
and a pathway system connects to the existing pathways, emphasizing a strong connection
towards the tower at Samford Hall. This strategy dominates the plaza and provides more shade
and usable space. It expands minimally into the intersection, possibly repaving it for
improved pedestrian access.
Looking at the broader picture, one can see that this scheme easily knits back into Samford
Park, but also extends a pathway towards Samford Hall.
Shown here is an existing perspective of University property at Toomer's Corner.
This conceptual design perspective reiterates that the gates are kept in their current location,
the replacement trees are moved further back, and a third tree is placed on the diagonal
formed by the gates. A strong new pathway also leads towards Samford Hall.
This second scheme emphasizes a long, meandering path to connect to the corner at Samford Park.
The gates are kept in their current location, enabling an arcing, broad promenade for pedestrian
sitting. This is accompanied by an open grove of shade trees. Underneath the canopy, the
ground plane could be lawn or expanded paving. Additionally, both of the current sidewalks
flanking College St. and Magnolia Ave. are bent around to go through the gates, reinforcing
their importance. This scheme could also incorporate archways over College and/or Magnolia.
Looking more broadly, the grid of trees at the corner transitions quickly into a loose
grove, easily tying it in to Samford Park.
In this concept perspective, note the dominance of the primary path and how the secondary
paths are brought through the gateway to create an open welcome to the campus.
This third scheme offers a fairly gentle transition from the existing conditions to the redeveloped
vision. The historic gates are moved back, however, to open up the plaza space at the
intersection. This scheme also suggests an extension of the urban repaving at the intersection
as well as expanded territory behind the gates, leading to a low seat wall.
Taking a step back, it's clear that the proposed paths connect with the existing paths, also
diagonally connecting to create a view towards Samford Hall.
In this perspective, notice how the gates move back, the plaza space expands, and the
ground plane opens up beyond to a lawn, increasing the overall usability of the space.
This final scheme more aggressively states the connection to Samford with a strong, diagonal
pathway. It expands the territory of the design strategy back to Biggin Hall and down College
St. This creates a large, repaved, pedestrian territory in the intersection. The gates are
moved back considerably, realigning to identify with the diagonal to Samford Hall and distinguishing
between the newly created urban plaza and the threshold to University property.
Notice that an allee of trees along the pathway knits into the Samford Park setting and three
large, asymmetrically planted oaks also flank the pathway at the corner.
In this perspective, see how the paved territory is increased, pushing the gates back to create
a clear threshold against the new, urban plaza.
Moving forward, we are very interested in your feedback responses. Please look at the
four schemes again and continue the survey.
Although we've begun to discuss materials, paving, and tree types, the purpose of this
survey and your feedback is to help us ensure that we're continuing with an appropriate
design scheme. The details will be addressed in the coming months.
Thank you for watching and War Eagle!