The Basin

Blue Ridge Community Center

Seneca, South Carolina

Class
Regional Design

Year
Fall 2023

The city of Seneca is rich in history that is deeply rooted within the African American community of the upstate. Many sacred site are interwoven throughout its county lines. The Blue Ridge Community Center specifically is positioned within a micro-region that we have designated ‘The Seneca Sacred Region.’ Within this region lies churches, cemeteries, museums, schools, libraries, and community centers - places in which the African American community here identify with and cherish as a symbol of community, heritage, and culture.

I chose to design the parcel of land adjacent to the Blue Ridge Community Center - a once active all black school. The design intent for the Basin at Blue Ridge is to create a segue from the active community field to the east and the Cemetery to the west of the site. Here, a scale model of the Seneca River, a culturally significant landform to the communities that have been here for decades, flows down the site to ‘The Basin.’ This model resembles the movement through time and history, resembling the landform in which Seneca derives its name.

The interwoven paths are painted with swaths of native grass meadows. Toward the middle of the site is a brick and sand playground, pulling from the historic materiality of place. Acting as a threshold at the highpoint of the site, ‘the sacred alley’ stands as a transition point from the activated lower portion of the site to the cemetery. Here, a latticed brick structure, playing with views and shadows, creates a space for visitors to transition between sites. This is a space of calmness, reflection, and thought.

The Basin is a place where members of the community can gather, reflect on the past, honor sacred memories, and foster the creation of new ones.

REGIONAL ALANYSIS

This project began as a group-led regional design analysis. Our goal was to dive into the upstate region of South Carolina and determine where the interconnections lie regarding African American history and heritage. Historic landmarks, sacred sites, and cultural spaces are where our research began. After mapping out where these culturally significant places existed within the region, we then identified micro-regions where these particular sites were concentrated. From there, each group member focused on the categories that we broke our master plan into as a strategy to create connectivity throughout the region. These categories included streetscapes, community spaces, and sacred places. Through design, our intention was to interconnect these micro-regions cohesively using materials, plantings, transportation, and character design.

MICRO-REGIONAL ALANYSIS

Eventually, group members broke off into individual designs based on the regions and categories that were determined. My scope of design included ‘sacred space’ within the Seneca micro-region. Here, I focused my attention in on a much smaller scale to the Blue Ridge Community Center. Through thoughtful analysis, the site was selected as a central hub suited to foster community remembrance as well as growth.

SITE DESIGN

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