Performing Arts Center Groundbreaking Depends on Structural Details
Florence Morning News - February 26, 2008
By Nick Hilbourn
FLORENCE — Some structural details must be addressed before a groundbreaking for Francis Marion University’s Performing Arts Center can be scheduled, a representative for the center’s architects said.
Brad Lukanic, a representative of New York-based Holtzman-Moss Architects, discussed those details with members of the center’s board during its regular meeting Tuesday. He and FMU President Dr. Fred Carter estimated that construction could begin in early to mid-August.
Lukanic said his greatest concern is the soil of the downtown center’s foundation. The soils are vulnerable to an event called soil liquefaction.
“Soil liquefaction is in seismic areas and South Carolina is a seismic area. The soils want to shift horizontally,” he said. “You want to design footing that will resist that movement and the building will actually stay supported even if the soil is moving. Due to the poor soils on this site, we’ve actually designed a foundation system that’s substantial enough to resist those soils moving in a seismic event.”
Part of the prevention of soil liquefaction is the trimming of 4,000 square feet from the downtown center, Lukanic said. He assured board members that the spaces taken out would not affect the aesthetic or utilitarian aspects of the building.
The spaces that were trimmed were mostly circulation spaces and mechanical spaces, Lukanic said, adding that storage, dressing room and green room spaces were tightened, but that this been done “without taking away from the center.”
Carter said trims were necessary also for financial reasons, as cutting footage from the center was able to knock $3 million off its price tag. The overall estimated cost for the center rests at $30 million.
With donations of $15 million from the Drs. Bruce and Lee Foundation, $12 million from the state and $3 million from the city of Florence “we have the capital, at this juncture, to fund the project as we move forward,” Carter said.
Lukanic cited the rising cost of petroleum used in many elements of the building, such as the roof, as well as construction equipment, as reasons for the rising cost of the center.
Board members organized a group to begin a discourse with local school districts about K-12 programs that can be created in conjunction with the performing arts center.
Also discussed was a music scholarship to tie in with the multi-purpose aspect of the center, as well as with Francis Marion University’s burgeoning music program.
After the adjournment of the meeting, board members congregated at The Cottage for a dinner and virtual reality tour of the performing arts center. Lukanic said the center would have a 900-seat proscenium theater, which will connect a 100-seat black box theater and an academic wing of classrooms and labs. The center would be fronted by a 9000-square-foot lobby.
Lukanic said many of the materials being used in the construction of the center would be from South Carolina, as the driving force behind the center was the tenacity and determination of many native South Carolinians. He noted that Florence’s performing arts center would be on par with many of Holtzman-Moss’ New York projects such as the Radio City Music Hall and the New Amsterdam Theatre.
“This community,” he said, “has incredible vision.”