Ah spring, it’s time to start thinking about landscaping. The plan for the Scioto Mile is a great place to look for a little inspiration. It integrates the natural wonder of the native riverside with the addition of 700 roses at Bicentennial Park and 5,000 daylilies throughout the Promenade.

And it has hardscapes too. Hardscapes require no watering. They require no fertilizer, pruning or mowing. Fuss-free and easy maintenance, there’s nothing that hard about hardscapes.

So, what are hardscapes? Project designers describe them as “non-turf”: sidewalks and paver installations. They make a huge contribution to the aesthetics of the Scioto Mile.

The Mile’s foundational hardscapes will use very classic brick pavers. There is an interesting difference between regular bricks and brick pavers. They share a ruddy red hue, but the pavers are more densely constructed, and can take on a variety of shapes.

There’s an even harder hardscape than brick pavers: granite. Granite is a type of igneous rock – the very hardest sort of stone. It’s part of the hardscape plans too.  Thick slabs (20”x 30”x 3”) will fall into place this June. 

Actually, the slabs won’t fall anywhere, the granite is laid by hand. It takes strong hands and backs to build the Mile. Granite weighs 168 pounds per cubic foot, meaning each of those slabs weighs in at about 100 pounds.

So there’s a little hard work involved in hardscapes, after all.

According to the wizards of Wikipedia, there is exactly one notable colonnade in existence.

That number is about to double.

No longer will the Louvre be a loner, the only member of the “notable” colonnade club. The Scioto Mile is beginning to lay the foundations for its very own colonnade. In a uniquely mid-western way, it’s quite notable too.

A colonnade (thank you for asking) is a series of columns, joined by their entablature. An entablature is something like a mini-roof. Columns and colonnades are part of a great architectural tradition. You’ll also find them at the Pantheon in Rome, Ancient Greek structures, the Vatican and Harvard Stadium.

The Louvre itself certainly qualifies as notable: the French museum is home to 35,000 works of art. Its colonnade is an integral part of the façade on one side of the building.

The colonnades' swings will be the perfect spot to relax on the Scioto Mile.

The colonnades on the Scioto Mile stand on their own. Literally, the columns

 are freestanding works of art. While the project’s colonnade is a tribute to an ancient architectural tradition, it features a very distinct element of Americana: swings.

There’s nothing quite as welcoming as a comfortable swing-seat, especially one that moves to the rhythm of the river and affords a lovely view of Mother Nature’s finest work.

There’s room for two on those swings. Surely there’s room in this world for two notable colonnades too.

In the marketing world, being “transparent” is all the rage. As audience members, we like to see what’s behind advertising claims. We prefer WYSIWYG: what you see is what you get.

In this context, glass walls are all sorts of interesting. The glass walls that compose about 80 percent of the restaurant structure on the Scioto Mile look transparent, but there’s a lot more going on than meets the eye.

Aluminum curtains are already being installed to support the Scioto Mile cafe's glasswork

Glass walls start with something called an “aluminum curtain.” It’s not actually a curtain at all – in any normal sense. It’s a bunch of aluminum mullions that support all the glasswork and keep it upright. The crew has already started installing the curtain foundation.

Beyond that, you’d think that transparent glass structures would be . . . really cold. It seems like there’s no insulation in those walls.

Think again, the insulation is invisible. Air sits between the layers of glass. That airtight layer of vapor is actually one of the best forms of insulation in the world. When it comes to energy efficiency, buildings with glass walls have better, more effective insulating features than most conventional structures.

In addition to providing top-notch insulation, when the restaurant opens for business the glass walls will offer diners a great view of the beautiful Scioto Mile. In that case, the walls really are transparent: WYSIWYG . . . gorgeous!

It’s been a rough winter. The average snowfall in Columbus for the whole month of February is 5.9 inches. Mother Nature doubled that monthly average in a single February day last month (the city was ambushed with more than 10 inches of the white stuff on February 15).

While schools closed, and businesses sent folks home early, the lights were still on at the Scioto Mile. The team was working on all sorts of projects – utilities, duct work, electrical wiring and conduit . . . indoors. Although the Scioto Mile development celebrates the great outdoors, there are plenty of indoor projects that have been moving steadily forward – inside the restaurant or beneath the band shell, or even underground.

Like everyone else in Columbus, the Scioto Mile team has spent hours shoveling snow (bulldozers are really nice to have this time of year). To be honest, weather conditions can slow down progress, but a savvy planning crew knows how to bring a year-round project in on time.

You’ve heard of floating a check, or floating an idea; smart schedulers use floating days. A float day provides some buffer time in a project. That extra time, plus longer sunlight hours in the spring and a few consolidated processes will keep this venture on schedule.

In fact, the Mile can even afford a few more snow days. Like it or not, March has always come with an average of 4.4 inches of snowfall in Columbus.