Masonry Magazine October 1989 Page. 37
New Dormitory at Rhodes College
New Dormitory at Rhodes College, Memphis, designed by The Crump Firm, Inc. of Memphis, and winner of an Excellence in Masonry Honor Award. W. A. Fortner Masonry Contractor, Inc., was the Mason contractor, while Martin, Cole, Dando & Robertson, Inc., was the general contractor. Judges said that "a feeling of timelessness is effectively created by the picturesque composition" of this structure.
"Masonry detailing almost lost to time has been handled here with a sure hand," they continued. "The building is sensitively sited to create nicely proportioned, focused exterior spaces." "The building is an anachronism, of course, but in this context, very appropriate, and marvelously well done."
More than 700 tons of Arkansas sandstone backed with concrete masonry units are used in the dormitory. Colors range from sand to oranges and rusts to dark brown.
Tennessee Masonry Awards
Seven Tennessee buildings took special honors for their designers in the 1989 Excellence in Masonry Architectural Awards Program.
The program, sponsored by the Masonry Institute of Tennessee (MIT) and endorsed by the Tennessee Society of Architects (TSA) recognizes outstanding use of masonry products in design. Only Tennessee architects and buildings are eligible.
A panel of Alabama architects, headed by Robert Watson of Holley & Watson, Architects, P.C. of Birmingham, selected the winners. Other panel members included Donald N. Holley. A.L.A., also of Holley & Watson, and Wayne A. Hester of Harry D. Hester and Associates, Inc., of Birmingham.
relates appropriately to the surrounding residential neighborhood in scale and character."
The judges also noted that "it is quite refreshing to come upon a solor application in which building form serves higher architectural goals and is not slave to this technology."
West Tennessee Center for Agricultural Research and Public Service, Jackson, Tennessee, designed by Nathan Evans Products & Taylor of Memphis, and winner of the statewide Excellence in Masonry Award. CIG Contractors, Inc.. of Corinth, Mississippi, was the general contractor on the structure, which is owned by the University of Tennessee.
Collierville Post Office, Collierville, Tennessee, also designed by Taylor Gardner Montgomery Architects, Inc., and winner of a 1989 Excellence in Masonry Merit Award. Memphis Masonry Company was the mason contractor for the project, while Airline Construction Company was the general contractor.
Judges felt that the solution here "convincingly addresses the historic civic importance of a community's post office. It also Judges said that "contradictory program requirements concerning building imagery have been skillfully resolved in the center. "It lyrically evokes a rural vernacular without a false or banal gesture.
"The playful banding works nicely to unify an architecturally rich interplay of form and to reinforce the human scale. And, the playfullness extends inside the building. How delightfully like barnyard fences are the interior railings.
"This is a very serious building," the judges continued, "which does not take itself too seriously."