University Commons Dedication Set for April 26th From: University Currents Date: March 31, 2000 By: Mary Bridget Reilly Phone: (513) 556-1824 Photos by: Dottie Stover Archive: Campus News, General News That "uncommon ground" -- University Commons --with its dramatic cone, pyramid and serpentine forms will be dedicated at 4 p.m. Wednesday, April 26, marking the latest in a series of 1999-2000 UC Dreams events. University Commons, adjacent to Martin Luther King Jr. Drive and bordered by Vine Street and Eden Avenue, is an elegant green space created by nationally renowned landscape architects George Hargreaves and Mary Margaret Jones. According to UC landscape architect Len Thomas, the commons is a space expected to be most readily used and enjoyed by UC students, staff and visitors in the surrounding buildings: Procter Hall, the Vontz Center for Molecular Studies, University Hall and the Kingsgate Conference Center. Prospect Point, a 30-foot-high earthen cone topped with trees and a bench, is accessible via a spiral walkway and crowns the University Commons landscape. It is adjacent to an earthen pyramid, even taller than the cone, topped by artist George Rickey's burnished, stainless steel sculpture, Five Fingers in Parallel Planes, with elements moving gracefully in the wind. Other art that is part of the commons includes Belief, a cast-bronze sculpture in the shape of a leaf by Terry Allen, and an untitled, elongated, bronze piece by modernist sculptor Joel Shapiro. In tandem with the sculptural works of steel and bronze, the entire University Commons landscape is used as a sculptural metaphor with earthen serpentine forms (about 5 feet high) and terraced landscape south and west of the Vontz Center and near the brick plaza outside the Kingsgate Conference Center. This garden basin also includes a granite fountain, which can also be used as an amphitheater fitting 350 people when water is turned off and sprays water patterns by varying the size and force of the jetting water, according to Thomas, who added that the fountain can also send out an "atomized-mist fog" able to lend a theatrical quality to the entire bowl-shaped area. During the dedication of the commons, the university will also recognize the donors who helped make this space possible, according to Mary Newman, associate director of the UC Foundation. Donors include Betty J. Ahrens, who funded the fountain; Marjorie Hiatt and the late Dr. Harold Hiatt, MD, who funded Prospect Point; as well as Fifth Third Bank, which funded the paved plaza adjacent to Kingsgate. University Commons is just one part of the UC Master Plan, which is dramatically changing the face of campus. The University Commons dedication is free and open to the public. For more information, call (513) 556-6422.