Sneak a Peek at Cincinnati s Coming Basketball Hall of Fame

City groups and a team of University of Cincinnati faculty/student designers have jump started the process that will bring a Greater Cincinnati Basketball Hall of Fame to Sawyer Point in about two years’ time.  The proposed site is on land owned by the Cincinnati Recreation Commission, at Sawyer Point directly under the Big Mac (Daniel Carter Beard) bridge. 

Initial designs from UC’s

College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Plan

ning faculty and students are off the drawing board and have, in fact, recently received approval from the Cincinnati Recreation Commission, the Cincinnati Waterfront Board and the Greater Cincinnati Basketball Hall of Fame Committee.  The GCGHF board now begins the fund-raising drive to make the design concepts a reality.

It’s estimated that about $1 million will be needed to build and maintain the design, to occupy a space about 200 feet by 20 feet, which will celebrate players, coaches, schools and organizations prominent in local basketball, according to Stephanni Cohen of the recreation commission.  “Actual construction should come to about $500,000, and we also want to raise an equal amount to set up an endowment to permanently maintain the site,” she added.

The final design form began to take shape in January when about 70 UC students gathered for an entire day to

brainstorm design ideas

.  James Postell, associate professor of architecture and interior design, then took those suggestions and worked with a small team of students to synthesize the best ideas into a unified whole.  This design is now the core of the project, though additional graphic design elements and some architectural refinements will likely be added as the process continues and construction documents are produced. 

According to Postell, materials used in the design include concrete pillars that incorporate bronze accents and reflective mylar, concrete benches, metal poles and terra cotta  lighting elements.  Interspersed among the permanent elements will be several panels of brick and reflective mylar.  Explained Postell, “These panels will be updated every year or every other year and will include information ranging from players’ names, likenesses and statistics.  Also, on the brick pavement of the site, we’ll have short, arcing timelines providing a wide range of interesting facts relating to the sport, like the longest overtime game ever played in the Tri-state.”

Students and alumni who teamed with Postell to complete the schematic design are Ben Crabtree, Kevan Rutledge and Steve Wethington along with interior design alumna Kristie Pudlock.  They all took on the project in order to serve the city and to gain real-world experience.  Postell also admits that he learned a lot.

“Before I started this project, I didn’t even know how high a hoop was,” he admits with a smile, adding immediately, “It’s ten feet off the ground.”