USC: USC TIMES: Short Article Title

Trustees consider next phases of campus master plan

Members of USC's Buildings and Grounds Committee were presented with an array of options and plans for various Columbia campus buildings at their March 22 meeting as part of an overview of the updated Campus Master Plan.

The presentation was made by Dick Galehouse, an architect with Sasaki and Associates in Boston, which created the original master plan with the Boudreaux Group in Columbia. USC has implemented several facets of the master plan since it was adopted in 1994, from building new residence halls and the Graduate Research Science Center to new green spaces and major renovations of existing buildings.

Now University administrators and trustees must consider what to do about several more projects, including:

• whether to demolish or renovate Carolina Coliseum, which will be largely eclipsed by the new arena. "You would gain nine acres of land by demolishing this building, which could be used for open space, playing fields, or future building sites," Galehouse said. "Several universities have demolished aging sports facilities in recent years."

• a location for the new law school. The legislature has earmarked $20 million for the building, which law school administrators want to locate near the National Advocacy Center. Possible sites include the former Museum of Art location on Senate Street and directly across from the advocacy center on Pendleton.

• a new location for the Visitor Center, currently housed in the ground floor of Carolina Plaza

• whether to demolish, relocate, or renovate the Russell House Student Union and whether to demolish or renovate Sumwalt College

• renovation decisions for Petigru (some, but not all, of the funds needed to convert it for use by the journalism college are in place); LeConte (USC hopes to get millions in state capital improvement bonds to repair the 49-year-old building); and Hamilton, which is undergoing roof replacement and slated for interior repairs.

"My advice is that you stick to the basic principles that guided the 1994 master plan," Galehouse said. "Stick with the spatial aspects of the Horseshoe [when creating new buildings]; don't suburbanize the campus and compromise the environmental quality of what you have here."

Committee members also heard status reports on the Strom Thurmond Fitness Center (on schedule); USC Beaufort's Beaufort College Building (completed, with a $75,000 increase for security system, added insulation, and foundation waterproofing); and Calcott (interior renovations slated for completion by spring 2002).