In 2016, a multi-disciplinary team led Sanders Pace Architects was commissioned to create a comprehensive framework for the future development of a collection of significant cultural and historical sites located just two miles from downtown Knoxville. Working closely with the City of Knoxville and The Aslan Foundation, the team proposed a long-term planning strategy for what would become known as the Battlefield Loop, a network of recreational assets expanding Knoxville’s “Urban Wilderness” to incorporate a number of industrial relics that are foundational to the city’s early role as a manufacturing leader in the post-civil war New South. As a catalyst project for the Battlefield Loop, Augusta Quarry re-positions an abandoned industrial site at the base of historic Fort Dickerson as a public recreation destination. The quarry, which was founded as the City Quarry in 1930’s and then abandoned in the late 1970’s, is now a City-operated crystal-blue swimming hole and a civic staple for Knoxville’s hot summer months. The project program introduced recreational amenities to the park including a vendor kiosk, three restrooms, and a changing room near the quarry’s entry. New site circulation includes paths that connect the amenity structures to quarry overlooks and a network of floating docks that host and animate various scales of gathering, recreation and leisure. Architecture and Landscape design are grounded in sustainable strategies that engage the site and visitors through a light touch, allowing the natural beauty of the quarry and civic life to remain a primary focus.
