DETAILS
After an extensive public dialogue on its original design and performance, the City of Denver decided on a redesign of Skyline Park, downtown Denver’s only public open spaces. The three-block-long, three-acre, linear park is at the center of downtown Denver and is bisected by the 16th Street Mall, a lively pedestrian space that connects many of Denver’s attractions and transit hubs. Designed by Lawrence Halprin in the 1970s with sunken fountains, walls and berms, and without a sidewalk, the park was seen by many as a failed space, disconnected from nearby activities and streets, unsafe and plagued by a variety of social ills. The city’s goal was to carefully rethink the park’s program and profile in the re-emerging downtown and transform it into a vibrant civic venue for residents and workers as well as a locus of civic gatherings. An extensive public dialogue and outreach to Halprin ensued resulting in a direction for the park that would be based on memory and downtown’s future.
The linear park is conceived as a series of interwoven ribbons of new elements and materials. Existing Halprin elements, such as the fountains, have been sensitively retrofitted and combined with shade tree canopies and open lawns. Throughout the park are lawns—some flexible level areas that host a variety of celebrations and events; others lawn promontories from which daily urban life can be viewed. Café kiosks, shade pavilions, and interactive fountains contribute to the park’s extended activity. This system of intermingling layers—of elements old, new and adapted, at ground level and overhead—dramatically transforms these three blocks into a vibrant, successful and beloved park in the heart of downtown Denver.
Silver Park
An entire 42nd Street block, in Manhattan’s west side, has been developed as a new residential tower complex whose central public park space is common ground to be shared by the neighborhood and new residents. A strong architectural edge at its 42nd Street sidewalk is created by fall portal light pylons and a trellis “room” from which visitors can view the str...
Capitol Plaza
Capitol Plaza is located in the lively neighborhood of Chelsea Heights amid weekend antiques markets, art galleries, hip hop stores, design studios, residential towers, and Flower District shops. This narrow swath cuts through a block just east of Sixth Avenue and is one of dozens throughout the densest portions of Manhattan that bring a moment of respite and ...
Jinbocho Redevelopment
Situated in central Tokyo’s university and publishing district, this new mixed-use project brought urban streetscape character to its immediate neighborhood through the introduction of plazas whose fountains, seating areas, cafes and sculptures serve residents, workers, and the community as a refuge from the busy streets.
A diagram of pedestrian flows t...
Nelson Mandela Park Master Plan
Identified by the City as one of its “Big Five” open space projects, the conceptual master plan for Nelson Mandela Park will create a much-needed central open space for the city’s south district, an industrial area along the waterfront that is home to a growing and increasingly diverse population. Here the city seeks to transcend its current park paradigm of l...