
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, July 23, 1995                   TAG: 9507210027
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: F-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: JEFF STURGEON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

THERE'S NO ACCOUNTING FOR TASTE, SO THEY'RE THROWING ROCKS AT IT

Roanoke's soon-to-open pedestrian bridge is not without critics, including a long-time resident who complains it is unsightly and misplaced.

"It's the worst architectural mistake that's been made in my lifetime in Roanoke," said Roanoke resident Hoskins Sclater, who is 77 and lived here since he was 9. Sclater, a retired lawyer, spoke his peace to City Council in December.

While it is not clear whether his view is widely shared, the bridge is anything but mundane. Though it stands in stark contrast to the First Union Tower beside it, "it looks very big city-ish, which is good," said Annette Campbell, 22, of Roanoke, who was walking downtown last week.

To India England of Hardy, who was headed into Hotel Roanoke for lunch, "it's very open, it's got plenty of light and you can see what is going on."

But Sclater compared it unfavorably to something assembled from an Erector Set, a toy with miniature construction pieces. He said it partially blocks views of the hotel from the City Market area and clashes with the hotel's historic facade.

The bridge's designers said some blocking of the hotel was inevitable, but insist that the pedestrian span needed to be distinctive to stand on its own, architecturally speaking.

"This is a bridge nobody wants, but we want to walk across the tracks," said Timm Jamieson, director of architecture for bridge designers Hayes, Seay, Mattern & Mattern Inc. of Roanoke. It was not an easy project, he said.

While modern in design, the 363-foot-long bridge shares characteristics of both the Hotel Roanoke and Conference Center and First Union Tower - without copying either one, he said.

Towers at either end of the bridge are encased in the same color limestone affixed to roughly the lower third of the hotel. The towers' green pointed roofs resemble those on the conference center and bank tower. And the shape of the hotel-side bridge tower - somewhat like a rook on a chess board - duplicates that of at least two corners of the hotel.

As for the bridge itself, the glass exterior captures the "modernist" look of the tower, while making the bridge nearly transparent to enhance security, Jamieson said. Its girders call to mind a railroad trestle, which was considered appropriate for a bridge over train tracks, he said.

The beams aren't cosmetic, however. They need to be where they are. They were painted white to soften their appearance.

Early plans called for aligning the bridge with Market Street. But that would have dictated connecting the bridge directly to the hotel's Pine Room lounge, which was ruled out, Jamieson said.

With the bridge shifted west and cocked slightly, designers achieved agreed-upon goals of placing a main entrance and exit right outside the conference center and another at the second floor of the First Union Tower parking garage, which has 725 spaces, Jamieson said. The only other alternative - putting it somewhere between the two options - would have compromised the view of the hotel most severely, he said.

by CNB