Temple Terrace River Park Pavilion

In the fall of 2007 The City of Temple Terrace Department of Parks and Recreation commissioned the USF School of Architecture and Community Design’s Design/Build program to design and construct a new main pavilion for the City’s Riverfront Park. Fourteen graduate students from the SACD worked from August 26th 2007 until April 25th 2008 to complete the structure. The City envisioned the main pavilion as a place for people to sit and rest, have picnics, and to read or hear information about the park’s vegetation and wildlife. They were looking for a building that would blend well with the natural surroundings and be an example of green building. The program called for a covered space where two picnic tables could be placed for individuals to sit or where small groups from the community could gather, and a wall surface to attach information boards about the park and its vegetation and wildlife. The pavilion was also meant to serve as a viewing point for an historic bat tower, which is slated for reconstruction in the park in the near future. The pavilion is in a clearing, centrally located, where the River Park’s two main loop paths converge from the east and west.
The design solution, a curvilinear composition that flows with the park’s path system and harmonizes with the natural environment, was arrived at by group consensus. It combines an “information wall” for displaying park information, a covered pavilion area for picnics and respites, and a small amphitheater for outdoor classes and group gatherings. The slightly arching roof form of the pavilion dovetails with the curving forms of the information wall and amphitheater resulting in a dynamic three dimensional composition. When approaching the main pavilion along the nature path from the parking area one is first greeted by the rammed earth information wall that curves back to meet the path. Walking further along the path with the wall on the left one first catches sight of the pavilion with the dramatic cantilevered roof defining a shaded space for a respite after the long walk from the parking area. The bamboo support struts, which seem to carry the roof effortlessly, give the roof a sense of lightness, defying the actual physical weight of the glue-laminated beams. The struts, in turn, are supported by tapering, square, concrete piers. Between each pier is a laminated wood bench where one can stop and sit under the shelter and, one day, peer out at the Bat tower. Continuing through the pavilion one arrives at the 3 tiered amphitheatre, designed to seat a group of 20 for nature seminars or school field trips. The ground surrounding the amphitheatre rises up to cover the semicircular, concrete retaining walls and the amphitheatre steps seem to be carved out of the landscape. The main path curves along one edge of the amphitheatre and continues out into the park.

Asked by the City to make a “Green” and sustainable project, The design team, began looking for natural and recycled materials to use in the building. The group proposed lending the building an additional purpose as a place for the public and professionals to learn about green building materials. Accordingly, the group tried to introduce materials that are not currently in popular use in the Tampa Bay region but that show promise for use as building materials in the future. After much research, discussion and testing the group decided to use glue-laminated beams for the roof structure of the pavilion, bamboo struts to support the massive beams and rammed earth for the information wall. The amphitheatre makes minimal use of poured concrete walls to retain the stepping tiers of earth allowing rain to percolate naturally down through the soil. Finally, the benches that span between the concrete support piers are made from wood salvaged from shipping palettes. Utilizing each of these materials as elements of the building required the group to exercise creativity in design and diligence in proving to the city and to engineers that each was strong and durable enough to be used as a building material. The glue-laminated beams that support the long, cantilevered, arching roof structure, were carefully designed and constructed by hand. Laminating locally available 2x4 lumber was an economical and environmentally sound means of fabricating beams of a size capable of withstanding the severe wind loads. The students laid out the laminations and staggered the joints as prescribed by Georgia Pacific, a leading glue-lam manufacturer, and used the company’s two stage epoxy to laminate the 2x4s together. The arch in the beams was formed by clamping successive layers of 2x4s against a plywood jig. The engineer required that all of the wood be select structural grade and the building was designed to withstand 110 mph winds. The severe wind forces on the cantilevered roof required the roof beams and support struts to be extremely strong, which made the use of handmade and virtually untested, natural materials very difficult. The structural engineer required the team to test all of the materials in a certified lab before he would approve their use. According to the structural calculations, the support struts were required to support 6000 pounds each in compression and tension. Bamboo was selected as the strut material because it is strong, renewable, and can be grown locally although it is seldom used as a structural material in Florida. Because of the severe structural criteria, however, the choice of bamboo met with great skepticism from engineers and students alike. The students proceeded to design and test various connection systems for the bamboo for tensile and compressive strength. The results revealed that each bamboo strut could withstand up to 30,000 lbs in compression placing them well within the necessary strength range determined by the engineer. Tension connections between the bamboo struts and the glue-lam beams proved difficult and time consuming so it was decided to use a hybrid system consisting of ¾” steel rods punched through the center of the bamboo struts connecting the beams to the foundation piers. The steel rods are designed to handle the uplift forces on the roof while the compressive load is carried by the bamboo itself. Rammed earth was chosen as the material for the information wall, to showcase earth’s potential as a low energy, locally quarried, natural building material. Although rammed earth is seldom used in Florida, the local soil has an ideal sand and clay composition and, because of its low embodied energy, there is promise for its use in the future. In order to find soil with the right characteristics, samples were taken from various places and cylinders of rammed earth were made and brought to a certified lab to test for compressive strength. Compression test results compared favorably with the local building code requirements and rammed earth was approved for use in the project. Rammed Earth is a labor intensive construction method that has been used around the world for centuries. The process involves taking soil with ideal natural characteristics and mixing in small amounts of Portland cement as a stabilizing agent. A plywood formwork was constructed at the desired dimensions of the finished wall and loose, slightly moistened earth was added from buckets over the top of the formwork. The earth was compressed manually with a steel compacting tool in roughly 6” thick layers. When the compressed earth reached 6” from the top of the formwork a concrete bond beam was cast on top of the wall. After the formwork was removed horizontal lines created by the process of compacting consecutive layers of earth make the face of the wall appear like a slice through the different layers of the earth’s strata. Once the surface was treated with a masonry sealer the wall became nearly as hard as concrete and can potentially last for centuries.

Mock-ups and testing were also done with recycled materials. The group found that shipping palettes, which are commonly discarded or burned after use, are an abundant source of recycled wood. The City found a source for palettes slated for liquidation and the group dismantled them by hand and salvaged the roughly ½”T x 5”W x 3’L wooden slats for use in the building. Students discovered that by laminating the slats together face to face a large, sturdy, solid surface could be made. Based on those tests, the group decided to use the salvaged shipping container slats to make benches. Stacks of palettes were systematically dismantled and the slats laminated together to make the benches that span between the concrete support piers. Throughout the design and construction process the students worked closely with city officials, materials suppliers, contractors, community members and design professionals. Although there were several small setbacks along the way the students exhibited resourcefulness and resiliency in keeping the project on schedule. Due to their efforts and those of the community partners, the difficult and innovative structure was completed in one semester. Now, The Temple Terrace River Park Pavilion stands as a testimony to the successful collaboration between the University of South Florida and the City of Temple Terrace to design and build an innovative public building that harmonizes with the natural surroundings of the park. The building combines research with necessity in serving the public as a gathering place which vitalizes the newly established River Park, while acting as an educational tool to teach the public about green building materials and sustainable building techniques.

Structure- Glue laminated beams; bamboo support struts; Welded steel connectors; Cast in place reinforced concrete piers; tongue and groove cedar ceiling; standing seam metal roof; Rammed earth

Architect- Stanley Russell
Structural Engineer- The Structures Group
Contractor- City of Temple Terrace
Design and Construction team-
Adam Barbosa
Wes Bradley
Jana Buchter
Sarah Deardorf
Matt Gaboury
Dusty Laurent
Jason Novisk
Jessica Phillips
Shane Ross
Alec Smith
Javier Valencia
Erica Williams
George Scarfe
Alberto Rodriguez