Profile Story

Cole Riley has watched the downtown skyline transform in the last 35 years.

Buildings such as the Tiger Hotel have remained a constant fixture on the skyline, but as the years went on, Riley saw the construction of various parking garages become more dominant throughout downtown Columbia.

Over the course of a year, Riley decided he would change the downtown Columbia skyline himself by using greenery to decorate the Fifth, Sixth and Walnut Street parking garage.

(The south side of the Fifth, Sixth and Walnut Street parking garage. It is located behind Providence Bank.)

“I've had this concept brewing for about a year, and now, finally, it has been brought to the attention of head officials,” Riley said. “So that is great.”

Riley plans to use 100 percent passive energy and gravity to feed water to flower beds that will hang on the south side voids of the parking garage. Funds for the project will be provided through private donations.

“I want to give power back to the people,” Riley said. “So, next is the website and spreading the news that this project can accept donations. I am hoping for micro donations, like $3-$5 per person.”

When residents make their donations on the website, they will have the opportunity to choose among different options of flowers. Donators will have a choice in what flowers hang on the parking garage, and they will be able to see how their money is being used.

“The project is aiming to involve individuals within the community so everyone can input their ideas,” Riley said. “More the merrier.”

On March 4, Riley was granted the opportunity to present his plan to the Columbia City Council.

It is a great garage, and it does its purpose, Riley said, but he envisions even more for the garage’s outer appearance.

“When it comes to the garage, I don’t like the whys, I like the why nots,” Riley said.

During his public comment, Riley reminded the council that in 1997, the Percent for Art Program had been approved by the Columbia City Council.

According to the Columbia City Council’s meeting minutes, the Percent for Art Program would allocate 1 percent of the funds for any project over $1 million to be used for public or visible art. The Fifth and Walnut Street parking garage was estimated to cost $14 million, which would leave approximately $140,000 for art.

Riley pointed out that $140,000 was used to purchase and then place eight blue glass panels in another parking garage. According to the Columbia City Council’s meeting minutes, Riley understood how the public could be disgruntled with eight blue glass panels at that price.

Riley said the Fifth, Sixth and Walnut Street parking garage is particularly dominating and suggested complimenting the red and beige concrete with natural elements like ivy and flowers. He argued that his suggestion to add greenery will make the parking garage more beautiful and will create more of an impact on the downtown Columbia skyline.

“The garage is so minimalistic that it looks unfinished,” Riley said.

(The red and beige concrete of the Fifth, Sixth and Walnut Street parking garage.)

Riley wants the implementation and maintenance of the greenery and flowers on the parking garage to be as cost-free as possible. For the project to use 100 percent passive energy, water will be taken from the floor above, which will then be rerouted to flower beds. This water will naturally flow 24/7, and the only cost to the city will be to refill any tanks.

“Next is the validation from the City Council,” Riley said. “If I get an OK to proceed, I will most likely ask for a floor to test this whole thing on to see how well that works and if the flow of water will work autonomously and as easy as I'm thinking, which it should. If so, I'll ask for the whole southern facade or a bigger portion.”

At the end of Riley’s public comment, Mayor Brian Treece advised Riley to contact the Office of Cultural Affairs for guidance and advise on expediting the parking garage plan.

“I appreciate your creativity, ideas and engineering. I bet someone from the Office of Cultural Affairs will reach out to you,” Mayor Brian Treece said. “You put together a nice presentation.”

Sarah Dresser, Manager of the Office of Cultural Affairs, constructed a report and presented it to the Columbia City Council on April 1, regarding the feasibility and cost that will be associated with the project.

“The City Council is interested in learning more,” Dresser said. “We are taking the lead on what details will be needed. I have done research on other companies with living walls, and I have found other climates similar to Columbia’s, like Colorado, Nebraska and Indiana, that serve as comparisons.”

The council requested more information from other city departments.

“Any changes or improvements to a city facility will require a process and involve multiple departments, public input and council approval,” Dresser said. “If we need to install anything like plumbing or drainage, then we need to figure things out like weight capacity, man hours and labor. We contacted the Public Works Department to get the garage qualified for the project, but their schedule is pretty packed, with three to four months backed up because of the road damage in the winter. They will get back to me by mid-August because of the projects they have.”

The project is in a waiting game, Dresser said.

“Once we know, then we can make a plan about funding,” Dresser said. “To my knowledge, we do not have a current mechanism to receive outside donations for a specific city project, so I will be looking into that process as well on how that could work.”

(A close-up view of the parking garage’s design. “The garage is so minimalistic that it looks unfinished,” Riley said.)

In the meantime, Riley works for himself doing architectural and design work out of a design company in Phoenix, Arizona called Outhouse.

“I love design and spent a lot of money on researching it, so I will never stop wanting to create,” Riley said. “First is the garage, then we practice and reinvest those surpluses of donations to do the next project, one of those huge grey smoke stacks that are right next to our university. But that is a future larger goal if all this goes well.”

Riley was born in Columbia, Missouri in 1985 to a medium-sized family. He grew up playing soccer and always had an interest in architecture.

“I had always known I wanted to do architecture from a very young age,” Riley said. “I remember thinking about it when I was 3 or 4 in our very first house. I was like this is it. I just knew. I was very grateful and blessed to know what my path was. I think that a lot of people struggle with that. Some people never find it. And some people find it and aren’t able to do anything with it.”

As Riley grew older, he began to take soccer more seriously, so he began looking at Columbia College.

“Soccer was booming in Columbia when I was growing up,” Riley said. “All of my friends played sports, and Columbia was a good community. As I was getting older, I was doing well at soccer and Columbia College was always there. I never really looked at higher education because I had taken architecture classes at school. Mizzou doesn’t have a national certification for architecture. In Missouri, they want to ship you to Kansas and give you in-state tuition. Being from Columbia, Missouri, I didn’t want to go to Kansas at the time.”

Deciding to stay in Missouri, Riley attended school at Columbia College for two years. After the two years, Riley began to think about studying architecture and what other schools offered that area of study.

“I played at Columbia College for a couple of years, and that was when I was getting to be more mature,” Riley said. “I realized what will lead me in the future and how I was going to make money and be happy later on.”

Riley discussed his school options with his family. He wanted to look at schools that offered soccer, architecture and warm weather.

“I had my filters, and I was looking at all different places along the southern border,” Riley said. “I didn’t want to go too far west because I didn’t know too much about that. We had always gone down to Florida as a family, and Georgia is close. So, I looked at SCAD, the Savannah College of Art and Design. I fell in love with it and with what I saw of the program. I went there for a soccer visit and that was it. None of it was about the school, it was just a trip to try out for the team. It went pretty well.”

While at SCAD, Riley took a variety of courses, which ended up shaping his architectural background and how he designs.

“My background is very architecture-related. When I was at SCAD, I had these amazing teachers,” Riley said. “I took fashion courses because one of my studios had to collaborate with a fashion class. That was awesome and it opened my eyes. Everyone was learning from one another. I love learning. My teachers tried to instill in us to not forgot about art – since it was the Savannah College of Art and Design. Savanah was when I started taking it seriously. I took art seriously and then incorporated it into my design.”

After completing school in Savannah, Riley moved back to Columbia and began working at various architecture and design companies.

“I am grateful for Columbia,” Riley said.