While still a relatively recent addition to Salem, the Riverfront Carousel has become one of the community’s most iconic buildings. AC + Co designed a facility that houses a carousel of 36 hand-carved horses and other animals. The building, located at the South end of beautiful Riverfront Park in Salem, is 5,000 square feet and includes a gift shop, office, repair and maintenance area, and meeting room/rental space. Large sliding doors adjacent to the carousel allow for wonderful natural ventilation and also for the organ music to be heard throughout the park and along the edge of Salem’s neighboring downtown historic district.
The Rotary Centennial Pavilion, the tangible result of years of lobbying by Rotarian Mark Wulf, is a complex timber roof structure with almost entirely compound joinery. Mark proved himself adept at corralling local support for this event, as evidenced by the number of names that are on the sign at the site. The Timber Framing Guild laid out, cut and assembled a large free-span roof as guests of the Rotary Club in Salem. Timber framers with expertise in scribing and square rule timber framing were recruited from the United States and the United Kingdom, making this an impressive international effort. This highly visible public structure is located downtown on the newly reclaimed waterfront. The pavilion is 42’ from pier to pier, making it an impressive structure. The roof was raised via cranes onto the existing masonry piers.This structure depends upon four masonry columns to resolve outward forces, making it possible to create an airy and open roof system without major tie beams from corner to corner. This evokes the earliest uses of heavy timber construction in the great cathedrals of Europe, with their masonry walls supporting and resolving the thrust of lofty roof systems.
Awards
2001 People’s Choice Award, American Institute of Architects, Salem Chapter
2001 Hammurabi Special Artistic Award (recognition of excellence in masonry and/or tile)