As Auburn progresses to become a pedestrian friendly campus, some historical areas have become lost along the way.
One area in particular was the "heart of Auburn."
The area referred to as the "heart of Auburn" was installed in 1981 in the old Katherine Cater Cooper lawn design in the center of campus.
Franklin Olmsted, who designed Central Park in New York and Riverside Park in Chicago, established the original design for the Samford Hall and Cater lawn areas.
"There was a perfect heart with a little lawn around it," said Paula Backscheider, an English professor that works on the ninth floor of Haley Center and could see the heart from her window. "There were some benches around it and that is where people would go to propose."
A committee of people including Cathy Love, university engineer, agreed on the plan for the Thach pedestrian way.
Bulldozers moved in and construction began in 2004.
"I saw the bulldozers moving in and I ran down to ask if they intended to take out the 'heart of Auburn,'" Backscheider said. "I don't know if they didn't know what it was or if it was just for progress. But the bulldozers squashed the 'heart of Auburn.'"
Sasaki & Associates created the plan.
The new concourse promotes a pedestrian inner core for Auburn's campus and the safety of campus pedestrians, skateboarders and bicyclists.
"In my opinion the 'heart of Auburn' was a relatively short lived area of campus," said Greg Parsons, a university architect. "I would not consider the area to hold historical value. It could have held sentimental value to students who spent time in the area."
The redesign addressed a number of issues on campus: not only the conversion from vehicular to a pedestrian dominant campus, but also the deterioration of existing walkways and materials and declining health of trees in the area.
"Replacement was done on major underground utilities including hot water, chilled water, natural gas, domestic water, storm drainage, site lighting and electrical distribution," Parsons said. "Improvement was made on wheelchair access and emergency vehicle access."
Another new concourse was designed last spring to replace all the bricks on the concourse and replace it with concrete.
"I support the idea of a pedestrian inner core for our campus, but I don't like all the concrete and would prefer permeable pavers, recycled concrete paving or permeable concrete," said Charlene LeBleu, an associate professor in landscape architecture. "We have missed opportunities to implement sustainable practices such as rainwater recapture, green roofs, rain gardens, ecosystem restoration and "heritage landscape" restoration. I think being a leader in sustainable practices is what being a land grant university is all about."
The 'heart of Auburn' is long gone with all the university changes and upgrades, but to Paula Backsheider and those who remember it, it will never be forgotten.
"Every once in a while I used to see an old couple come and sit on the bench in front of the heart and take a picture," Backscheider said. "When I would see a couple do that, I knew they got engaged there."
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