Facilities
Arnold School of Public Health
The new 104,860-square-foot Public Health Research Center anchors a public health research-oriented block in the new Innovista research and innovation district.
Greek Village
The Greek Village along Blossom Street, open since 2002, is home to 17 fraternity and sorority houses, with plans for three additional houses. With well-manicured lawns and shrubs, inviting porches anchored by grand columns, the houses' interiors feature full kitchens, rooms for dining, meeting and entertaining, and both suite and hall bath-style living quarters.
Horseshoe
Carolina's Horseshoe is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Rutledge is the oldest building on campus, dating to 1805, and nine of the other 10 buildings are also from the 19th century.
Inn at USC
The 117-room Inn at USC opened in September 2005 and has the unique feature of being built around a circa-1913 house that was renovated and incorporated as the hotel lobby. The Black House's restored mahogany accents and hardwood parquet floors are complemented by photography and artwork from USC students and faculty throughout the inn, and the latest in modern amenities such as high-speed wireless Internet access.
Strom Thurmond Wellness and Fitness Center
Opened in spring 2003, the Strom Thurmond Wellness and Fitness Center is a state-of-the-art facility with every conceivable workout amenity in its 192,000 square feet. It has a four-court gymnasium, a 52-foot climbing wall, 1/7-mile track, cardio and weight equipment, racquetball and squash courts, indoor and outdoor pools, and sand volleyball courts.
West Quad
In summer 2005, South Carolina's 1-year-old West Quadrangle Living and Learning Center, the largest “green” dorm in the world, received LEED Silver certification for the project from the U.S. Green Building Council. LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. Construction of the 172,000-square-foot facility incorporated recycled materials, and the complex has a number of environmentally friendly and energy-efficient features.
Future Facilities
A number of additions are in store in the coming years around the Columbia campus:
- In addition to the Public Health Research Center, two new buildings at the Horizon Center (corner of Assembly and Blossom streets) and two new buildings at the Discovery Plaza (bounded by College, Park, Greene and Lincoln streets). In summer 2006, EngenuitySC, a nonprofit economic development council, announced a $400,000 grant to fund a wet-lab incubator space for fuel cell innovation at the Horizon Center.
- A yet-to-be-determined site for a new, larger NanoCenter, where South Carolina will engage in the micro-scale research of nanotechnology. The new center has received $10.8 million in state money for a total of $35 million in investment capital.
- A new baseball stadium for Coach Ray Tanner's Gamecocks, one of the nation's elite teams and a College World Series participant from 2002-2004. The stadium will site nestled along the Congaree River, west of Huger Street and south of Blossom Street, and will be complete in time for the 2009 season.
- The addition of a new wing at the rear of Thomas Cooper Library. The wing will house two of the University's most valuable collections, Rare Books and Special Collections and South Carolina Political Collections.
- A 34,800-square-foot building that will house the dance program and marching band. The facility, located on the east side of Sumter Street diagonally behind the Blatt P.E. Center, will include dance studios, dressing rooms, classrooms, a rehearsal room large enough for the entire band, storage for instruments, and an outdoor practice field.
- South Carolina's String Project-a music outreach program for community children as well as a teaching tool for University students-will have a new 6,600-square-foot space on the ground floor of the parking garage at Discovery Plaza, one of the new sites in the Innovista research district. The lobby of the facility, in the southwest corner of Park and College streets, will face the rear of the School of Music.
