So much for the anti-aging, anti-oxidant propaganda.  It turns out that good ‘ol yogurt has the power to make the sturdiest facade look ancient.

It’s true! Designers of the renovated balustrade were puzzling through how to make the newly cut limestone columns match their eighty-year-old counterparts.  While the shape and size of the new columns was spot-on, age had stained the original stone with a rich patina.  The youthful additions were considerably paler.

Given the fact that yogurt has been widely used to encourage mossy growth on rock, it seemed reasonable to test its effect on the surfaces of the fresh limestone forms.

In fact, a little grocery-store yogurt and a little time did give the columns a less-youthful appearance.  Although this dairy experiment was a success, the design team ultimately favored a more controlled approach: blending the effect of two conventional construction stains to create a textured, natural looking patina.

An original, renovated portion of the balustrade.

A brand new addition to the balustrade - aged to perfection.

The results were so good, even the pros are hard-pressed to tell the difference. Can you?

After more than 70 years along the Scioto River, the limestone railing had all but lost its battle with the elements.

Steel pins and anchors that held the railing together slowly rusted through. Concrete sections, installed as a cheap fix for crumbling portions, didn’t match the weathered Indiana limestone.

“Besides the weight of the thing, you probably could have kicked it into the river if you wanted to,” said Darren Meyer, a senior associate at MSI Design’s Columbus office.

But now the railing and its balusters have been restored as part of a $44 million plan to link the Arena District and W. Main Street via a riverside park.

The project, called the Scioto Mile, will incorporate the John W. Galbreath Bicentennial Park and Battelle Riverfront Park. It’s scheduled to open in time for the city’s bicentennial in 2012, and it eventually could connect to the new Scioto Audubon Metro Park a little farther south along the river, near the Brewery District.

“The riverfront is a natural asset for Downtown that has been underused for years,” said Amy Taylor, spokeswoman for the Columbus Downtown Development Corp.

“It’s going to be a regional attraction and amenity and draw people to a section of Downtown that they haven’t been to in a long time.”

For the railing, the work meant a thorough examination by Schooley Caldwell Associates, the Columbus architects whose experts disassembled part of the balustrade to figure out how it was put together.

It’s a difficult procedure, because it’s right on the floodwall,” said Robert K. Smith, a principal at Schooley Caldwell. Rigging held a platform over the river during the project, and workers wore life vests in case they fell into the water.

About two-thirds of the original balustrade could be salvaged, Smith said. Reconstruction began behind the Ohio Supreme Court building, across the river from COSI Columbus.

Planners imported new limestone from Indiana to replace portions that could not be repaired. Crews sandblasted and stained the new stone to imitate weathering on the original pieces. The concrete was removed.

Work continues, but Meyer said the project is at least 90 percent complete.

The new railing will include metal pieces between the balusters to prevent anything or anyone from slipping through the space and ending up in the river.

“We’re sort of walking a fine line,” Meyer said. “We want to give it a face-lift, but we want to keep the patina of age — keep it looking like the historic structure that it is.”

dhendricks @dispatch.com

Pipes coming into the control room through strategically-placed holes.

Fountains look like fun. Heck, you can’t even SPELL fountain without f-u-n (and, for the word gamer, please also notice that there’s also no “P” in our fountain).

It actually takes a whole lot of preparation before the fun begins.  Especially when the fountains are as big as the ones designed for Bicentennial Park.  It takes forty-five pumps and more pipes than you’d ever want to count to move all that water.

With all the pumps and pipes comes a serious need for planning. The pipes are all strategically angled to efficiently move the water through the system. There are delivery pipes, drainage pipes, return pipes and suction pipes.  There are overflow pipes for times when Mother Nature enhances the system with rainfall.  And there are pipes to provide make-up water when she reclaims her goods through condensation and evaporation.

The fountains will be a stunning piece of Bicentennial Park.

And when the park debuts, the new fountain will be a 15,000-foot watery treat for the senses.  Gorgeous to behold, relaxing to hear, and equipped with ample opportunities for some family-friendly water play.

Bungee cords are an essential part of this operation.

Look closely at these photos, and you’ll see two very interesting elements:

1) First, notice the straps on the back of the man working on the prow. That’s neither a construction vest nor a fashion statement: it’s a bungee cord –the same sort of thing that daredevils wear when they plunge from cliffs and bridges.

Now that’s a fun job!

Actually, this particular craftsman has no immediate plans to jump over into the Scioto River. Like everyone else who works close to the floodwall, he’s wearing the cord for safety.  It’s an efficient, unobtrusive personal safety device that offers extra protection and peace of mind while working on the prow.

Who’d think that a recreational gizmo would have such a practical use?

First the concrete mold, then the concrete.

2) You’ll also notice a linear wood frame creating a border around the workspace.  That’s actually a mold for the concrete prow. Just as cake molds and jell-o molds have a distinctive look, so do the forms for concrete structures. The planks work as an internal support for the smooth concrete curve.

Sure, pictures are worth a thousand words, but these photos gain their value when a few words explain their unusual features.

Bicentennial Park Cafe's roof is sturdy and stylish.

What weighs 250 tons and sits right overhead?

Given gravitational pull and the atomic weight of oxygen, there’s probably a brainy conceptual answer to that question. But, in a very literal sense, there is an actual answer: 250 tons is the estimated weight of the roofs on the Scioto Mile’s cafe and the band shell. To put it in perspective, the weight of the two roofs is comparable to 62 elephants, or a whopping 125 cars – now that’s a heavyweight roof.

Why on earth are the rooftops so heavy? It’s poured concrete. Big pumps funnel the wet cement from the trucks up to the top of the structures where the construction team stands at the ready to smooth it out.

That leads to the next obvious question: So, why use concrete? What’s wrong with normal roofing material? There’s nothing wrong with “normal” roofing material. In fact, in some regions, concrete roofs are the norm. 

Although heavy, the roofs on the Scioto Mile’s structures aren’t solid concrete.

Heavyweight roofs require lots of support!

The medium is fortified with a dense maze of supports –so dense you could almost walk across the bare framework itself.

And the use of concrete gives designers the freedom to create pretty curves and shapes that just aren’t possible with big bulky shingles. That’s been a theme here at the Scioto Mile: pretty IS and pretty DOES.

Just wait ‘til you see what the Scioto Mile DOES next!