New welcome center designed with Keller, accessibility in mind
The new North Alabama Welcome Center planned for U.S. 72 in Tuscumbia will have a few things that set it apart from similar buildings in other parts if the state.
As part of the press conference announcing the completion of funding for the project on July 18, Mayor William Foster brought local architect Brad Bernard to the fore to talk about the design of the center.
He said the welcome center has been designed to be both accessible and informative. Given its prospective location in Tuscumbia, some of the design choices were done with Helen Keller in mind.
“It has been my pleasure to design this thing,” Bernard said. “I put my heart and soul into this design. There are some things that are just work, and there are some things that are just in you. This building has been one that was just in me.
“This building is designed around the legacy of Miss (Helen) Keller. You will see bits of Ivy Green in this design. You’ll see a lot of stuff, especially once it’s built and you get inside, that not only accommodates people who are deaf and blind, it privileges them. There are a lot of textures inside.”
One of the most unique features of the welcome center will be Braille installations on either side of the front of the building.
Braille is a system of writing and reading for those who are vision impaired using a series of raised dots to represent letters of the alphabet.
An artist rendering of the new North Alabama Welcome Center.
“We are going to use this building as a teaching tool,” Bernard said. “We are going to have all the Braille letters on one side, and we are going to have a Braille phrase on the other side. So, you have to go all the way around the building to figure it out.”
Given the tie in to the legacy of Keller, the building has been designed to be very accessible to all manner of people.
Bernard said one of the reasons this project is near and dear to his heart is he has a 9-year-old son who has hearing loss.
“We take things for granted,” he said. “We put in a lot of design and thought for a community who maybe doesn’t receive a lot architecturally. I am proud of this thing and everyone who helped put it together.”
The building will include lots of restrooms “like any good welcome center should,” lots of information on local attractions provided by the Colbert County Tourism Bureau and office space for Tourism as well.
Susann Hamlin, the executive director of Colbert Tourism, said she and her group feel terrific the new welcome center is finally coming to fruition.
“Even though we have a really nice office now, there is nothing like having what we really need,” she said. “It will be built the right way. Having this nice center where we can have lots of great displays will just be tremendous. We will make sure to have state-of-the-art exhibits and ensure it is as good as anything else in the state.
“We can’t wait, and we look forward to the process. It is very exhilarating to have a project move forward. It will be started soon, and I think everyone will love it.”
Foster said Colbert Tourism. The Helen Keller board, three local cities (Tuscumbia, Sheffield, Muscle Shoals) and the Colbert County Commission have come together to support the project.
“There is a lot involved with this,” Foster said. “I am looking forward to this adventure. I’m ready to get this project started, and I can’t wait for it to be done. This is a big day for Tuscumbia, our county and the state of Alabama.”
