Adapt.
Riverwalk Artist Studios
The Chattahoochee runs like an artery through Columbus' urban core, pumping water through the rift between its downtown and Phenix City. The river connects multiple towns across Alabama and Georgia, a relationship that has had both commercial and recreational ramifications. Today, the stretch of whitewater that separates the two cities is the longest urban rafting course in the world, and one of Columbus’ biggest draws for outdoor enthusiasts. Most of the city’s historic buildings take the form of either functioning, abandoned, or repurposed mill architecture. Many of the neighborhoods within the city limits started off as communities for the mill workers. Several of the mills had dams spanning the breadth of the river, most of which have since been demolished to enable more white water rafting. This site was selected because the overlap of the artistic and historic networks, the rich character of local materials, and the juxtaposition of urban and natural fabrics resulted in a preexisting set of atmospheric conditions. The river especially provides a connection between primitive, resultant, and considered atmosphere within an urban context.
Categories
architecture, atmosphere, patina, masterplan, commercial, materiality
Role
Co-author, editor
Size
139 Pages
Date
Fall 2018–Summer 2021
Typology
Artist Studios, Landscape
Institution
Auburn University
The project program consists of three artist studios and a gallery oriented along an east to west axis. These are a pottery studio and outdoor kiln, a music studio above a multipurpose space, and a painting studio nested within the gallery. Formally, the structure is composed of two steel volumes that float above a concrete plinth, held together by a glue-laminated truss skeleton. The volumes are largely devoid of openings on the sides, preserving the privacy of the artists and the integrity of the material. Light enters from above and from a few key side openings. The site is traversed by a set of overlapping paths, each catering to a different type of user.
01
02
Identifying
Opportunities
03
Adapting Place
Framing the Question
Organization
The book is divided into three sections, describing the three main phases of research.
Guiding Lines
The square layout necessitates a unique organizing grid. This allows the content to be legible as a system while preventing pages from feeling repetitive.
Research Simplified
The combination of illustrations, graphs, and maps under a unified style presents three years of research in a manageable format.
Catalog of Research
The Adapt book and the companion mobile application and research were compiled in fulfilment of the largest HUD Grant awarded in Auburn University History.
