BRIDGES In
the News
Built as 'teaching tool'
Bridges Inc. proves adage: 'It takes a great client to
make a great building'
By Fredric Koeppel
Originally appeared in the October 10, 2004 edition of the
Commercial Appeal
To an architect, a building is a problem to be solved.
For local architect Coleman Coker, principal of buildingstudio,
designing a new headquarters for Bridges Inc. presented a
series of problems.
The nonprofit youth leadership training organization "wanted a
distinctive building," said Coker, sitting on a ledge in the
shallow green amphitheater that separates the building's two
wings, "something that says, 'We're here, we're around.' "
The organization also wanted a building that would be
congenial to the old Greenlaw neighborhood of simple shotgun
houses, a structure that would be progressive but, at about
55,000-square-feet and costing $9.5 million, not flamboyant or
domineering.
Finally, Bridges wanted a building that said, "We're all about
kids."
"That stumped us at first," said Coker. "We thought that meant
bright colors, but kids are more sophisticated than that. We
decided to take this as an opportunity of making a building as
a teaching tool."
So the new Bridges Inc. building at the corner of Fifth and
Auction doesn't use bright colors; in fact, it shimmers in a
muted palette of grays and silvers intended to emphasize the
outside and the dense plantings that fill several huge
terrariums.
Dropped ceilings were minimized; so trusses, ductwork and
connections are exposed; people walking through rooms and
hallways can see how the building was made and fastened
together, and can follow the paths that warm or cool air take
through the structure.
While the Bridges building, with its expanses of glass,
soaring inclines and webs of trusses, seems light and airy
from outside and inside, cast-in-place concrete gives the
building a sense of permanence.
As for not making the building too domineering in the modest
neighborhood north of the ever-expanding complex of St. Jude
Children's Research Hospital, Coker and his team came up with
the scheme of eliminating parking lots or a garage for 150
cars by putting parking on the roof.
"Part of the problem of designing the building was how do you
deal with parking in an urban setting," Coker said. "The
impetus of our scheme here was not to intrude into what was
long established. That's how we came up with the idea of a
one-story building with two inclines and parking on top."
That distinctive shape, two inclining roofs sloping in
opposite directions, defines the Bridges building.
Seen from above, the form of the structure is roughly an H
with the top staves slanting closer together than the bottom
staves. The north wing has classrooms, a full commercial
kitchen and offices for The Work Place, an entity recently
absorbed by Bridges Inc.
The south wing is home to the offices of Bridges Inc. and the
towering chamber that is the building's centerpiece, the "high
adventure room" where kids learn lessons about trust and
leadership.
At the far end stands the climbing wall, designed with varying
degrees of difficulty by
Entre Prises, a company in Oregon. Overhead, an array of
trapezes, hoops, balance beams and other devices dangles,
designed to test agility, courage and faith that someone will
catch you if you fall.
It looks like a circus.
Coker gazed thoughtfully at the arrangement and said, "I don't
know. I think I'm a trusting sort, but you wouldn't catch me
up there."
As much as possible, recycled or sustainable materials were
used in the Bridges building. Carpeting in office and
work-station areas is made from recycled milk cartons and
plastic soda bottles and can easily be replaced and further
recycled.
"This is what the building industry is going toward," Coker
said. "This material never has to go to a landfill.
Construction is really changing in terms of selecting
materials intelligently."
Much of the building's water is heated by solar tubes on the
roof. Rain water is collected and recirculated into the soil
so it doesn't go into the city's storm-drain system.
In fact, the building was designed to meet the stringent
measures of Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED),
an off-shoot of the U. S. Green Building Council.
Unfortunately, despite all the effort of the buildingstudio
team to conform to LEED regulations, the Bridges building
couldn't get LEED certification because of the cost involved
in the meticulous process of documenting every "green" detail
from the start of construction.
"Producing the energy model and the documentary paperwork
costs about $50,000," said Coker. "Bridges wanted to put that
money directly into the building, and I can't blame them for
that. But we were disappointed. We wanted to be the first
building certified by LEED in Memphis."
Coker emphasizes, however, "We attribute a lot of the success
of this building to the clients. They had the courage to want
this. It's an old adage in the architectural trade, but
there's so much truth to it: It takes a great client to make a
great building."
Fredric Koeppel: 529-2376
Copyright 2004,
commercialappeal.com -
Memphis, TN. All Rights Reserved.
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