Residents urged to keep fit as outdoor fitness equipment fitted at park

11:42am Saturday 21st September 2013 in News

OUTDOOR fitness equipment has been fitted into a Ferryhill park to help users keep active and fit during their visits.

Ferryhill Town Council secured the funding to pay for outdoor fitness equipment which has been fitted at the Dean Bank Park.

The funding for the project came from Premier Waste Management Landfill Communities Fund.

The scheme formed part of a major scheme to regenerate the Dean Bank Park. It is hoped to install new seating and to carry out landscaping.

A multi-use games area and new play equipment has already been fitted at the site.

A council spokesman said: ““The town council and the Friends of Dean Bank Park community group, who campaigned for this project are thrilled that their ideas have been brought to fruition.

“The project demonstrates just what can be achieved when the town council and local community work in partnership together.

“On behalf of both the town council and the Friends group I would like to say a huge thank you to Premier Waste Management who has made this project possible.”

Dean Bank Park is also one of five sites maintained by the town council to secure the prestigious Green Flag status in 2013.

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When you think of the University of Pittsburgh, you can’t help but envision the imposing 42-story Cathedral of Learning, with its inspiring Nationality Rooms, and, of course, the nearby Heinz Memorial Chapel — one of the finest college chapels anywhere.

But, in most other ways, this sprawling urban campus has always been distinguished architecturally mainly by a lack of distinction — with a large number of mundane buildings in a wide variety of styles, often set with no relationship to each other.

Yet, all of this is gradually changing today, as the university pursues a substantial program of modernization, additions and new buildings in a way that promises to gradually bring some coherence to a very diverse urban campus.

New dormitories built in recent years (a fine new one opened just last month), some stunning additions to existing science and engineering buildings, and even the giant Petersen Events Center all point the way toward a better future.

Moreover, there are now guidelines in place for the use of materials on buildings and an important signage program that makes all university buildings instantly identifiable.

It has taken quite a while, though, to establish any sense of cohesion.

Pitt settled in Oakland in the early 1900s, acquiring a 42-acre site along the steep side of Herron Hill, which rises some 250 feet above the Oakland plane.

Architect Henry Hornbostel, a famous practitioner of the Beaux Arts who also designed Carnegie Mellon University’s campus, prepared a 1908 master plan for a grand classical-style acropolis on this hill.

He envisioned 30 hillside structures that would look like Greek and Roman temples, culminating in a majestic “forum,� not far from where the Veterans Administration Hospital sits today. He thought underground escalators could be used to move students up and down the steep hill.

But only five of Hornbostel’s buildings were built. Barely a dozen years later, an ambitious new chancellor, John Bowman, abruptly rejected the Acropolis idea. Bowman coveted the flat land at the center of Oakland for the university he dreamed of building. So, with the all-important support of brothers Andrew and Richard Beatty Mellon, he acquired land and set out to build his iconic skyscraper “Cathedralâ€� — to symbolize the importance of the university to the city.

Bowman sought for this project one of the best-known collegiate architects of the day, Charles Klauder of Philadelphia. Klauder did major parts of much-admired campuses at Princeton, Duke and Yale. And he did not disappoint in Pittsburgh. Although modernist architects disdained his Gothicist style (Frank Lloyd Wright once called the Cathedral of Learning the “largest keep-off-the-grass sign� in the world) he did three finely wrought buildings for Bowman, including the Heinz Chapel and the Stephen Foster Memorial.

Yet, Pitt still had a disjointed campus. Even today, it has three distinct sections — the familiar flat areas around Forbes and Fifth avenues; the side of Herron Hill, where science, engineering and medical buildings predominate; and the top of the hill, where athletic facilities are clustered along with large newer dormitories and fraternities.

Pitt had a major opportunity to expand its lower campus after the late 1960s, when it became clear that Forbes Field would soon be torn down. But it did it incoherently, with buildings that are so different, it is the architectural equivalent of trying to play baseball, football and hockey — all on the same field and all at the same time.

Three of the buildings — Posvar and Lawrence halls and the Law School were rendered in the then-fashionable “brutalist� style, but without the sophistication that it takes to make brutalism attractive. They exhibit pretty much the worst modernist ideas of the time — overbearing, cold-feeling buildings with barren plazas between them.

A fourth, the Hillman Library, has a somewhat restrained but still quasi-brutalist facade. Yet, its podium wall is intended to echo the Renaissance-style rusticated stone base of the Carnegie Library across Schenley Plaza. Inside, contradictions continue. The main floor is serene — modeled on a different modern style, that of Mies van der Rohe, with lots of warm teak, black-metal framing and plenty of light.

The later glass-walled Katz Graduate School of Business, also on the Forbes Field site, has a pleasing, dark, modern elegance and turned out much better. It’s close by the Frick Fine Arts Building, a stone-and-marble imitation of an Italian Renaissance villa. The Frick building had nothing new in the way of architectural ideas about it, but both buildings have quality.

More recently, one of the worst of the barren spaces — between Posvar and Hillman — was rescued with an effective landscaping program that leads into the new Schenley Plaza. Hillman, in turn, was enhanced with restoration of its own plaza and entrance.

Other bright spots include the Mascaro Center, a recent addition to the engineering complex that provides some sophisticated excitement along O’Hara Street, and a deft addition to the Chevron Science Center that helps make a dull building look interesting. The 11-year-old Sennott Square building on Forbes and the just-opened Nordenberg Hall freshman dorm on Fifth are both done in the now-routine Post-Modern style. Though not visually challenging, they seek to harmonize with older non-university structures around them.

John Conti is a former news reporter who has written extensively over the years about architecture, planning and historic-preservation issues.

NORMAL — A new 45-foot-long, curved sitting wall soon will grace the front of Normal Community High School, thanks to the work of Illinois State University students.

About 14 of ISU landscape professor David Kopsell’s Urban Landscape Management students got their hands dirty Friday for the project, which also includes 700-pound concrete benches for seating. The work, funded by $7,500 raised by the NCHS Alumni Association, is expected to continue today.

“The goal of this project is not only to provide NCHS students with an attractive and comfortable place to wait outside and possibly to meet for classes, but also to provide a great learning experience for ISU students as contributors to the quality of life in their college community,” said Mary Ryder, alumni board member and project coordinator.

When the alumni group wanted to do something to improve the area, they knew exactly who to contact. Kopsell and his students have been maintaining the landscaping there for years.

Earlier he had landscape design students come up with ideas for the project as part of their final exam, and the end result was an amalgamation of several student ideas.

“I love it. I’m an outdoorsy girl,” said student Sarah Kuppinger as she waited for the cue to start shoveling Friday. The Naperville senior said being part of the project will help her to learn things she can use in future work, at home and in landscaping competitions.

The wall’s yellow bricks and red accent details coincide with the color scheme of the existing building. The concave shape also compliments the curves of the existing structure, and the grade was carefully considered so water will flow slightly downhill and not pool on the surface, Kopsell said.

The wall has an added benefit of blocking litter that had blown from the parking lot into the landscaping.

Plants were chosen to withstand baking summers and icy winters and with a nod to NCHS’ orange-and-black school colors and mascot. Orange perennials were chosen along with an ironwood tree — a tribute to the Normal Ironmen that also is hardy and will be an appropriate size for the space, Kopsell said.

The plan includes paving blocks with an area that will remain covered with river rocks for now. Eventually the existing path of red bricks engraved with donor messages can be extended into the area.

Watching the joy on Kopsell’s face as he helped direct students, Kuppinger remarked, “He’s so passionate about this.”

The ISU group also worked with Brandt Bollmann, a professional landscaper whose father, Dave Bollmann, is NCHS’ principal. With a smile, he kindly showed one student when she was using a piece of equipment backward.

The materials cost about $5,000, and about $2,000 was set aside for ISU student labor. Materials were provided by Darnall Concrete of Normal.

The labor donation will help cover the students’ cost for participating in the Professional Landcare Network’s PLANET career days and national landscape competition, Kopsell said.

I love hearing from readers with gardening questions as well as those offering advice. I receive about a dozen questions a week via email and another one or two per week through the U.S. Postal System. One of the most wonderful things about gardeners is their ability to share constructive ideas and advice, and their willingness to seek appropriate answers to even the most vexing question.

I try my best to address every question I receive, though it may take me a few months to do it! I keep each and every letter and email I receive, and do my best to select timely topics during the appropriate season. I get some really fascinating questions, and I greatly enjoy researching and learning about some of the more unusual topics. Many of the letters I get are concerning similar topics, and I can often address multiple inquiries in a single column. I love it when that happens.

To that note, a number of inquiries and suggestions have come in over the past year regarding using household products like ammonia, salt, shampoo, bleach, soap and others to control weeds and/or insects in the landscape or to fertilize plants. This practice was popularized about 50 years ago by a master gardener who began to promote the use of cleaners and other household items in the landscape under the guise of turning “back to the basics.�

Unfortunately, many of these “basics� are synthesized in a laboratory and are not, in fact, natural solutions. Using many of these “basics� essentially means using one chemical to replace another. Most household cleaners are full of chemicals that have no place in a healthy garden.

Another issue I have with this is that the household products often recommended for use in the garden have not been researched for their safety and effectiveness under such circumstances. They are not approved by the EPA and other certifying agencies for use in the garden. (I know what you are going to say: “I’ve been doing this for years and I have never had any problems.â€� And that may be true, but just because you haven’t had a problem yet, doesn’t mean you won’t. And some of the problems these products cause are not necessarily observable — unless you’ve got a microscope.)

Bleach and ammonia can and do kill earthworms and scores of other beneficial soil organisms and benign insects, not to mention the fact that they can burn skin and eyes and cause respiratory distress. The salt and vinegar that many folks use to kill weeds also kills these soil-dwelling organisms as it washes down through the soil. Many household products also can adversely effect the soil pH. Even a slight alteration in this critical measurement can readily affect how, and even if, certain nutrients are available to feed your plants.

Many household products also remain in the soil and on plant tissue for many days or weeks after use. Some do not dissipate or breakdown for a very long time, if ever. Bleach, for example, is made of several highly reactive ingredients that when mixed with other products can produce toxic gasses. Even soap (in all its forms) can prove detrimental to the garden. It can coat foliage and breakdown plant-cell walls if overused, and it can kill beneficial insects as quickly as it kills pest species.

In my opinion, avoid using all household products in the garden, and instead, turn to natural, non-chemical product solutions and fertilizers formulated and reviewed specifically for use in the landscape. If you aren’t sure if something is safe for your organic garden, look for the OMRI (Organic Material Review Institute) seal of approval on the label. Or, drop me a line and I’ll do my best to answer your question in a future column.

Horticulturist Jessica Walliser co-hosts “The Organic Gardeners� at 7 a.m. Sundays on KDKA Radio. She is the author of several gardening books, including “Grow Organic� and “Good Bug, Bad Bug.� Her website is www.jessicawalliser.com.

Send your gardening or landscaping questions to tribliving@tribweb.com or The Good Earth, 503 Martindale St., 3rd Floor, D.L. Clark Building, Pittsburgh, PA 15212.