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York Co.'s Museum of Life and Environment


appatone

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I know this project is in SC but since it is in Fort Mill I thought the discussion would be a better fit in this forum. I have not seen another thread on this project so I decided to start one.

The little I know:

The museum will focus on human's impact on the environment.

Mrs. McColl donated 400 acres on the Catawba River for the museum.

Fund raising is underway for 62 million I believe.

I also think the idea is to surround the museum with a Green community of single family homes. The profits from the green development will benifit the museum.

There are far more renderings and articles on the museum. If you want to read more check out:

Museum of Life and the Environment This page also links to all of the articles written about the museum from The Observer, The Herald, The State and others.

arch news now

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mr. and mrs. mccoll have done SO much for this city!!! We don't really have a billionaire benefactor in our city's history (duke doesn't count because he lived in new jersey, and gave all his money to UNJ-D ;) ), but Mr. McColl has made up for that in so many ways, as he structured the model of his company to support the civic needs more than most other companies.

This McDonough-designed museum will be a major enhancement to this region.

as to what it is, it is intended to showcase environmental/sustainable design, and i believe it will have homes built to that effect as a part of it.

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as to what it is, it is intended to showcase environmental/sustainable design, and i believe it will have homes built to that effect as a part of it.

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Are giant parking lots part of enviromentally sensitive designs??? :D I always have to find something to complain about. I do like this project though, and I hope it will be an often visited facility.

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I'll post some quotes to maybe clarify what this is about but the articles provide the most information.

This is some info on the Green Community surrounding the museum:Green Architecture and Urbanism: A Real-Life Sustainable Community for the Carolinas

This from the architect's site:

By offering a new model for the interaction between people and place, the new museum will encourage the search for a deeper understanding of how human communities connect with those of other species in the earth

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Are giant parking lots part of enviromentally sensitive designs???  :D I always have to find something to complain about.  I do like this project though, and I hope it will be an often visited facility.

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Although you are right on target with the amount of surface parking, the lots will be made of pervious materials, allowing storm water to collect in underground basins. Not a cheap thing to do. Of course that begs the question as to why they don't simply spend the money on a garage and save the land for its natural beauty.

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I saw the design at an exhibit here in Atlanta about two years ago - the architects designed Nike's headquarters as well as a number of environmentally friendly structures. As for the museaum's intent - it is to bridge cultural human society with it's natural enviornment. For example, the local Catawbas would be of interest to the museum. Rather heady stuff I admit, a unique category for a museum. Hopefully some year it will finally be built.

For reference where it is located - it is the little island just downstream from the Lake Wylie dam.

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McDonough is THE name when it comes to environmentally sustainable design.

This museum will have a MAJOR impact on the imaginations of developers and architects in this area, especially the new generations of architects/designers at UNCC and other regional schools. I say this because i think some of these ideas the mcdonough puts together are novel. Many builders and designers may not ever think to do something different with basic 'stuff' like pavement, but if they see it implemented and working, they might consider using the ideas. I think many buyers would be interested in having some envirotech in their homes if it didn't dramatically change the price point.

I can't wait to go :).

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  • 1 year later...

I live down here in Tega Cay on Lake Wylie, which is part of the Fort Mill area just down I-77. In the Fort Mill township magazine that is sent out annually, they had an interesting article on the new Museum of Life and Environment, which is to be located on the Catawba River right off of the interstate. While still in its conceptual stage, it really looks to be a unique place that blends natural history and human history and shows their relationship to one another.

A wealth of info can be found here: http://www.chmuseums.org/ourmuseums/mle/index.htm

On the right is a pdf file called MLE Concepts that gives even more detail about the project. The one thing I didn't see on the site was the model of the actual building that they had in the Fort Mill Focus magazine. I'll try to get that on here.

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OMG, William McDonough is one of the designers??? That is extremely impressive. We studied him and his work/ideas in one of my masters classes entitled "Liveable and Sustainable Cities." Many of his ideas seem revolutionary and I loved his book "Crade to Cradle." I am very excited for this project!!!

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I found a couple more sites with plenty of photos of what this thing is going to look like.

http://www.archnewsnow.com/features/Feature25.htm

And the architect's website:

http://www.mcdonoughpartners.com/projects/....asp?ProjID=mle

Also, I found out that this museum will include a planetarium and will be surrounded by a "sustainable community to complement its design and reinforce its core themes."

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  • 1 month later...

It looks like the McDonough-designed Museum of Life and Environment have been given a challenge grant that will fully fund the remainder of their goals.

That means, it will be built beginning in 2009.

http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/15557339.htm

With the downtown arts plan about to pass tonight, this is great news for the other parts of the region. We'll be getting a very significant museum in this region that will hopefully provide real tools for developers to improve their environmental sustainability.

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