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Architecture school design haunts city, residents
By Dan McCue
Staff Writer
Nearly four months after the approval of its height, scale and mass by the Charleston Board of Architectural Review touched off a storm of controversy, the Clemson Architectural Center remains essentially just another Charleston ghost.
In the absence of even a timetable for the unveiling of a new and reportedly improved vision of the proposed facility, residents of the Ansonborough neighborhood in which it will rise have had little choice but to contemplate a phantom set to appear in their midst.
That soon could change, as architects with the Boston firm of Kennedy & Violich have reportedly shown Clemson officials some preliminary sketches of how they’d like to proceed.
In the meantime, the public outcry over the university’s plan to build a modern architectural center in the heart of Charleston’s historic district has begun to reverberate in Columbia.
As of last week, state lawmakers who make up the Charleston County Legislative Delegation’s Historic Preservation subcommittee said they plan to ask Clemson President James F. Barker to appear before their group to discuss the issue.
To be revealed at that session, according to Jan Schach, dean of Clemson’s College of Architecture, Arts and Humanities, are the most recent renderings devised by the architects that depict, “a fairly significant simplification of the building.”
It will be different from the plan the public has previously seen, considerably smaller, but likely no more traditional, Schach said.
“Our mandate has always been that it needs to be a building of its time,” she said. “Modern is as modern does.”
The city as instructor
The architectural center has long had the support of Charleston Mayor Joseph P. Riley Jr., and even after the controversy, he stands by the proposal.
Riley first became intrigued by the prospect of the Clemson School of Architecture having a presence here after learning that the university had arranged for graduate students enrolled in its five-year program to complete a semester of their coursework in either Genoa, Italy, or Barcelona, Spain, he said.
Also, giving those students the option to study in Charleston was an idea that immediately appealed to the mayor.
“It was a chance to allow the built environment of Charleston to instruct the students who would be our future designers,” Riley said. “To me, not to have pursued it really would have been a missed opportunity. Because Charleston itself can teach students so many important lessons about design, urbanism, town planning, city building and historic preservation.”
Initially, the program had a small presence on Bull Street and later moved to slightly larger accommodations on Franklin Street. But the understanding was that eventually Clemson would have its own building, Riley said.
While the building is being planned for a maximum of 50 students, he expects that, depending upon enrollment, the actual number might be as low as a dozen.
“In any event, there’s no chance of growth because the area won’t allow it, and also, Clemson isn’t talking about relocating its entire School of Architecture here—only a small part of its overall program,” Riley said.
Despite all this, Riley said that, like almost everyone else, he too believed the building as originally conceived by the architects was too large for the site.
“I agreed that the building needed to be smaller and also that it needed to be moved back from the sub-property line, so that the windows of neighboring buildings would not be blocked, so that those individuals still had light and air,” he said. “At the same time, I felt the building needed to be in great sympathy with its surroundings, from a form and scale standpoint.”
But Riley stops short of saying he believes the building should mimic traditional 18th- and 19th-century Charleston architecture, as some have proposed.
“The issue of style is a very complicated thing,’ Riley said. “If you look at the history of Charleston and its buildings, it’s quickly evident that it isn’t a city that ever said, ‘We are freezing the period of design that’s acceptable.’ I mean, look at it—it’s a city that literally has every style imaginable.
“From that perspective, I think every building needs to be itself. You don’t want to put a mustache on something and make it phony,” he said. “I am confident a good design can be achieved and it must be achieved, but the most important thing is the design be excellent, in and of itself, and that the techniques of construction be on a par with the traditional craftsmanship of Charleston.”
Residents feel uneasy
Despite the assurances that the project will be significantly smaller than first proposed, residents of the neighborhood adjacent to the lot on which the proposed building will be built continue to feel unease over the project.
“There are really two issues that come into play here, the first being the nature of the architecture and the second being whether or not a school building is at all compatible with the neighborhood,” said Robert Hurley of the Preservation Society of Charleston.
“At this point, while we understand ‘significant’ changes to the proposed building are being made, no one ever defined what ‘significant’ means in this case,” he said. “Apart from that, however, it is our belief that no matter what design they choose, the uses will continue to be incompatible for the neighborhood.”
Ansonborough neighbors are unhappy with its potential effect on parking, truck traffic, noise and trash pickup.
“What many of us would like to see is the building relocated, perhaps near the aquarium,” Hurley said. “At one point that area was designated to be the home of the culinary institute, but that idea went away. Why not simply take another school and put it over there?”
In light of community opposition that goes way beyond objections over the building, a lingering question remains: Why is it so important to Clemson that the building be on George Street?
“The reason it is on George Street is the Middleton Pinckney House,” Riley said. “That’s right across the street from the site of the proposed building and the second floor already substantially belongs to Clemson. The agreement between the city and Spoleto Festival USA holds that the second floor will be available to Clemson nine months of the year. So just from the perspective of continuity in the program and access to shared activities, it makes sense for the two buildings used by Clemson to be across from each other.
“The other thing, and this goes back to the idea of using Charleston itself to instruct the students, is this will give them a chance, on a daily basis, to react with an historic building.”
Curriculum is problematic
Preservationists also have one more bone to pick with the proposed center. They simply don’t believe any modern school of architecture will teach its students to value older, historic designs as they do the now.
Kris King of the Historic Charleston Foundation said an architecture school building should embody the academic ideals taught, and “the ideas of this program don’t fit with this site.”
But Schach said such criticism ignores the very reason Clemson would want to have a facility here — because Charleston gives it the ability to effectively create a living, real-world studio for the students to experience.
“That’s why being in the center of the peninsula is important,” she said. “Not only will our students learn first hand about urban design within an historic concept, but they’ll also be dealing firsthand at this particular site with issues related to the transition between commercial and residential zones.”
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