InsideTheMile

Air Max. Air Jordan. Air Shox. Air Yeezy?

We’ve got some air that the sneaker companies haven’t yet conquered.  Introducing the Air Spade.

C’mon, the air spade sounds cool already and it’s not even a shoe.  It’s a spade- a real functional tool that looks a little like a weed whacker.  While most regular garden spades have sharp edges, an air spade has wicked pushing power… using only puffs of air.

The air spade also has a very important purpose on the Scioto Mile: root protection.  You may have noticed (and appreciated) the fact that the riverfront is already home to several gorgeous leafy trees. Those trees have roots underground and preserving those nutrient pipelines is a priority- even as the Scioto Mile’s construction team carves paths into the landscape. 

The air spade permits the team to work with surgical precision. An air spade blows away the dirt to reveal tree roots, without snapping them. The roots can then be trimmed around the path to preserve the health of the tree for the long haul.

Sure, a bulldozer can solve a lot of problems in this world, but on the Scioto Mile we’d rather “Just Do It” with an air spade.

When you think of precast forms, you usually think of ready-made, off-the-shelf items.

At the Scioto Mile, we’ve got some precast structures that are custom-made, one-of-a-kind Scioto Mile Exclusives.

And we call them “steps” and “columns.”  Really, they’re just steps and columns.

Well, not “just” steps and columns.  They’re pretty special.  That’s why precast was the best way to build them.  We love Mother Nature, we truly do . . . but wind and high heat and rain and insects can make it difficult to build something artistic right out on the site.  So, some of the structures are formed off-site and inserted into the landscape with the assistance of big trucks and cranes.

These steps not only complement the design of the Cafe, they will be THE place to sit and enjoy the Fountain

Consider the stair steps on the Scioto Mile. Stairs are part of the band shell and the restaurant, and the steps have custom curves that reflect the design of those structures. Sculpting the slabs also requires extra measures that add texture and enhance the hues. By precasting the steps, the controlled environment makes it easier to achieve ideal results on the first try.

Precast structures can also make use of elements like rock dust to give a certain luminescence to the end product.

The air-conditioned comfort and quality control are a compelling argument for precasting the whole Scioto Mile project. If only there was a way to work out the logistics of transporting a 10,000 pound concrete roof  . . .

This soil will help form the River's Edge.

A big pile of dirt, when exposed to rainfall and other water sources, will wash clean away to nothing.  It’s the same sort of physics that explains where the mulch goes every year- it erodes and washes away.

Although routinely exposed to all sorts of water, riverbanks do NOT wash away.  The green-stuff (trees, plants, grasses) holds soil in place with a busy network of roots.

That said; things currently look a little sparse on the riverbanks by the Scioto Mile.  From all appearances, there’s nothing more than big piles of dirt by the river.  It’s a good thing that there’s a whole lot more going on beneath the surface.

Something special is holding that dirt in place as we speak: geotextiles.

You can figure out lots about geotextiles by looking at the word itself: “geo” is a reference to earth, and “textiles” are woven materials. Geotextile fabrics sit beneath topsoil (the Scioto Mile has two layers of geotextiles) and serve the same purpose as roots –they hold the earth in place.

Structurally speaking, the fabric and the roots have much in common: roots weave together to hold dirt, just as the fibers in the textiles weave together to hold the riverbanks in place.  The Scioto Mile’s green stuff is coming soon too.  Seeding will begin before the end of summer, and the textiles will help keep the seeds from washing away while they germinate.

Heard the ad slogan “Tide’s in, dirt’s out?” With geotextiles, even the Scioto’s highest tides can’t touch our dirt.

You can use a scale to weigh out a perfect pound of ice cream, but most of the important things in this world defy proper measurement.

There’s no scientific barometer for assessing beauty. Nor is there a gauge that will read someone’s level of road-rage.

That said: there are some cold hard facts that help measure the value of urban parks like the Scioto Mile.

According to scientists, your brain functions in two ways: top-down or bottom-up.  When you walk on city streets or work at your job, your brain is doing top-down activity. It’s deluged by mountains of information (jogger/sign/trashcan/STOP signal/donuts/turn), and your mind is busy sifting through all the input to find the important stuff.

All that “top-down” work is exhausting. Literally –with constant stimulation, the brain gets burnout and functions less efficiently.

In natural environments like the Scioto Mile, the brain switches its processors to bottom-up. Without the flurry of urgently competing stimuli, the mind is free to explore its surrounding and marvel at the discoveries.

The switch in processing is so restorative that it’s been the subject of several cognitive studies. It turns out that a visit into nature actually improves your performance at work. The scientists call the process Attention Restoration Therapy.

Unlike so many other forms of healing, Attention Restoration Therapy (abbreviated ART) at the Scioto Mile will be available to all, without an appointment . . . and just steps from Downtown’s busy streets.

Shoot, we knew the Scioto Mile was ART, and now science proves it!

All our big fancy words like “equipotential bonding” are impressive, but plenty of the words used in the Scioto Mile project are more familiar. Some of the terms and phrases are downright funny-sounding . . . even when you know the context.

Consider Hot Box. While the urban dictionary staunchly maintains that it’s a room for elicit drug use, our engineering team would beg to differ.  According to them, it’s a water equipment enclosure.

Recently, the team has been engaging in a practice called sheet-piling.  It’s a process whereby you pile (literally) sheets of metal to build a super-sturdy barrier. Sounds odd? Tell that to the North American Sheet Piling Association.

Speaking of piles, that takes us to the pile driver. It is not, contrary to popular belief, properly named for an especially effective professional wrestling move.  Honest, the construction world has first dibs on the term. In fact, the first draft of a medieval pile driver dates back to the fifteenth century.

We can agree that pile driver is the formal name for piece of construction equipment.  Know what it does?  Exactly what its name says: it drives piles (concrete or steel) into the ground to form a foundation for a structure.

As for the other version of pile driver, you won’t see that on the Scioto Mile unless there’s a wrestling exhibition at Bicentennial Park.