Behind the scenes, so much planning goes into developing a campus, especially one as iconic as Clemson University. In Dennis S. Taylor’s Unbuilt Clemson he documents Clemson’s planned, but never-constructed projects.
The spark of an idea for a new project is a wonderful thing. At its best, it can energize a whole organization to put there best efforts into realizing a vision. Road blocks can be swept aside, resources can be found, and energy and enthusiasm can be boundless… (However) the launch of a major capital project can be a complex process. Often it takes years of preparation to gain alignment regarding program, cost, schedule, funding, site, and other characteristics… It is a worthwhile exercise to look back on projects that have gone unrealized. It holds a mirror up to the subject that allows us to consider what may have been… Upon reflection, it may be useful to think of some of these projects as ‘unbuilt for now’.
Gerald Vander Mey, Director of University Planning and Design at Clemson until 2023
“Unbuilt Clemson documents the history of a variety of projects planned for the campus but never constructed… A single source that allows readers to discover sixteen projects – each with a story of the past…” says Taylor.
With BOUDREAUX’s long history at Clemson, we were overjoyed to see that two projects that we worked on with the University were featured.
The first project follows a proposed botanical garden conservatory which came about after a large number of camellia flowers were relocated to the edge of campus following a 1959 expansion to Clemson’s Memorial Stadium. These flowers sparked the beginning of a planned garden and museum that would “transcend departmental lines.” Several years later, interest in the garden only rose and a master plan for development was created in 1989. As funds were raised, the University needed an architect to design the conservatory. After a partnership with McDonald’s Corporation fell through, Clemson called upon an early-1990s edition of BOUDREAUX, then known as Boudreaux Hulstrand and Carter. Unbuilt Clemson says this:
“The Columbia-based firm Boudreaux Hulstrand and Carter were selected as architects (…). Their breathtaking design in glass and polycarbonate steel featured all the elements that were included in the conceptual laundry list, notably a glass walkway called “walk among the treetops” which would have allowed visitors to look down on the vegetation (which included a collection of staghorn ferns) and cascading waterfalls beneath.”
Despite interest from several other historical, environmental, and construction organizations, the appropriate funds were unable to be secured, leaving the garden conservatory abandoned.
The second project was an innovative concept for a center for the visual arts. This space was planned to be more than just an academic building, but a museum, studio, and artistic cultural environment situated on the campus’s “green spine”. Now known as The Boudreaux Group, 2007 saw conceptual designs and key elements begin to take place. Though the team had multiple approaches to the site and its potential connections between existing surrounding buildings, Clemson’s president encouraged them to think outside of the box.
“The Boudreaux Group, an interdisciplinary design group based in Columbia (…) developed a conceptual design for use in fundraising. As the team began to develop the design concepts, four schemes emerged. Each of the four addressed the site in different ways, with various relationships to the Brooks Center and the bridge using organizing elements such as an arts plaza, a garden or green space, a curve, and a courtyard. When the design team presented its findings, it recommended the “Arts Plaza Scheme” which created the visual, not physical, effect of connecting the lobby of the Brooks Center for the Performing Arts with Lee Hall via a pedestrian bridge– in effect an arts gateway, with galleries visible to approaching pedestrians.
Upon his review of the Arts Plaza Scheme, President Barker challenged the team to develop a fifth scheme, one he called “Building as Bridge” to express the vision of a building that physically spanned the ravine and connected Lee Hall with the Brooks Center.”
The project was eventually passed off to another architect already working with the University at the time but lacked the funds to continue development after abandoning the original concepts in favor of the “Building as Bridge” idea. To this day Clemson considers the project “a vision so compelling and imaginative that it will attract a donor unlike any that Clemson has ever seen.”
While ultimately both of these projects did not make it out of the planning phase, a look at what could have been explores our extensive history designing for higher education as well as the rich relationship between BOUDREAUX and Clemson University that spans well into the present day.
