And then there were two.
Two new potential designs for the future look of Toomer’s Corner were unveiled at a third round of public workshops held Wednesday afternoon in AU’s Foy Hall auditorium.
Not surprisingly, the most well-received designs developed during this past fall’s Toomer’s Corner Landscape Enhancements & Concept Development Workshops–the “Olmstead Arc Path” and the “Circle and Center” options–were the two that featured the least amount of change to the current look of the corner.
The two revised, alternate concepts pay special attention to retaining and enhancing the corner’s “existing character,” and retaining the 1917 gates marking the entrance to Auburn’s campus, the “themes” voted “most important to a potential redevelopment” per the more than 10,000 responses toAuburn’s online survey.
First up? The Circle Wall Scheme.
Option 2: The Arcing Path Scheme.
Several in attendance at the workshop voiced their concern on various aspects of the design, including the placement of walls that force pedestrian traffic through the 1917 gates, which some felt would be a tripping hazard during rollings.
Auburn resident Tom Eden, Auburn’s head cheerleader in 1959, took the opportunity to announce his own plans for the corner. Eden said his “Toomer’s Corner Plaza” was developed with two Auburn graduate students and stressed both safety and entertainment.
Input on the new designs will again be solicited via online survey; the final plan will be unveiled during the final Toomer’s Oaks rolling event scheduled for April 20.
The current timeline has the new corner being completed by the 2014 football season.
The university and city will create a temporary wire structure which can be rolled after the Toomer’s Oaks are removed..
Related: Toomer’s Oaks removal will take days; wood to be turned into souvenirs.
More on the the Toomer’s Oaks: Toomer’s Corner rollings didn’t start with Punt, Bama, Punt, says History / Did Auburn students celebrate Bear Bryant’s death by rolling Toomer’s Corner?
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What about having artificial “trees” at the intersection that will catch and hold the toilet paper for the regular “Rolling” events?
As opposed to “real” trees, these artificial “trees” would be easier to clean up afterwards and wouldn’t damage living trees.
i like two! Keeps the integrity of what’s already there. LOVE the long row of trees. Almost seems like a tribute.
I had the good fortune to participate in the survey….Plan 1 (the circle wall) is my favorite but either scheme will provide a great entrance to the campus. I just hope that some future generations of AU students will have their Toomer’s oaks too.
I did the survey, too, and my main concern was similar to what was mentioned above– curving the sidewalks to force pedestrian traffic through the gates is not a good idea, I think. People will ignore the sidewalk and carve out their own mud pathways. I’ve seen this over and over in other places.
The “temporary wires” should be made permanent. Before Auburn City removed the wires for the traffic signals, the rolling went over the wires. People threw rolls back and forth over the intersection. The whole area became draped in TP. The oaks became a target only after the wires were removed.
Why can’t AU put in a call to the set and theme designers from Disney? They could build some killer artificial Toomer’s Oaks until the real trees are ready