As magical, fun, and woefully useless as a Mulberry Pond drawbridge would be, it is not the kind of bridge we are proposing. Maybe after we build a castle and find some not-too-friendly alegators to defend it we’ll revisit the drawbridge idea, but for now the bridge and pavilion we are proposing is much more settled in its place and has passed the final conceptual design evaluation!
Yesterday we sat down with members of the Parks Conservancy, the City Parks Department, the Ardmore/Sherwood neighborhood, the Stormwater Management Department, and West Ashley parks organization. After presenting our final design idea, we heard lots of encouragement and great feedback. One theme that emerged repeatedly was that this pavilion seemed like a place people would want to stay and enjoy for a while, so being able to accommodate comfortable access and resting places for all ages and abilities of people was a high priority.
The next steps are to fine tune the overall structure, consult with a structural engineer, and then literally draw detailed documents which will help us, first, gain city approval for the project and, second, construct it.
Before now, I never would have believed that in eight weeks we would have organized and participated in so many meetings, been through so many design concepts and bridge versions, and spent so much time considering all the possibilities to finally synthesize on one core concept. It seems surreal to see the end in sight already. There is certainly a lot more work to be done, but the vision is set and we have only to run towards it with our best energy for the next eight weeks to see it through.