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Discovery Place Parking Deck and Music School Annex

The University of South Carolina

Completion Date
Fall 2008

Project Budget
$15 Million

A key component of the University’s InnoVista initiative, the USC Discovery Plaza parking deck supports adjacent bio-medical research and future office buildings. This 1400 car garage is eight stories and features facades organized to reflect its pre-cast concrete structure. Colors and materials compliment the other research buildings occupying the block. The USC Strings Program occupies space fronting Park Street and across the street from the USC Music School. It features several rehearsal rooms, practice rooms, and other support space for this popular University outreach program, and addresses the University’s goal to provide activity on the street level of the garage. This new facility also addresses other urgent parking needs in the Vista, supporting events at the University’s Koger Center for the Performing Arts and the Colonial Center arena. The nationally recognized USC String Project is a unique program designed to provide accessible string education for community children as well as creating a teaching opportunity for USC students. Quackenbush Architects + Planners served as the Design Architect with the LPA Group as Architect-of-Record.

Showcase Project

SCVRD Lyman Center

As the first new Center to be built for the South Carolina Vocational Rehabilitation Department in over twenty years, the Lyman Center reflects the current mission and philosophy of the Department, providing counseling, rehabilitation, and work production services. The new 35,000sf structure, to be constructed in two phases, is subdivided into three major program components: an area office, a 10,000sf production/training floor, and a special services unit for occupational and physical therapy. Designed for an organization that values its relationships within the business community, the facility appeals to corporate and technological aesthetics while also blending with its organic, wooded site on the Middle Tyger River.

Northeast Engineering / Science Classroom Facility Construction

This 68,000 sq. ft. classroom building addition at the Northeast Technology Campus will become the new home of the Engineering and Science departments of the College. The program features teaching labs and classrooms focusing on clean energy technology, biotechnology, and advanced manufacturing, supporting the mission of the College’s regional research partners. The design features strategies to provide student centered “casual” spaces that encourage social interaction and collaboration. The facility will showcase flexible spaces and planning strategies to respond to changes in mission and technology.

School Designs Change with the Times

If back-to-school brings visions of the proverbial little red schoolhouse, better think again. Today’s schools are more a combination of brain research, educational advancements, sustainability and technology, bringing new challenges for school architects and designers. This amphitheater was built into the design of the Center for Knowledge as another area of learning. (Photo/Courtesty Quackenbush Architects & Planners) “It’s really like the chicken and the egg,” said architect Doug Quackenbush, as educators and architects collaborate on designing new schools using resources and ideas from both fields. “We give school districts good advice on a fully performing 21st century school while they inform us of new teaching techniques and educational trends.”