Archinect - News

OLIN, Agency Artifact envision $4.8 billion ‘Central Park for the San Fernando Valley’

2023-11-03T13:53:00-04:00

The City of Los Angeles Bureau of Engineering has announced plans for a new master plan of the San Fernando Valley’s Sepulveda Basin from OLIN, Agency Artifact, Geosyntec, and a team of collaborating consultants.

The $4.8 billion Sepulveda Basin Vision Plan will unfold over 25 years and covers an area spanning more than 2,000 acres between Van Nuys, Lake Balboa, Reseda, Sherman Oaks, and Encino that is currently considered ‘park-poor’ by urban planning standards, according to Urbanize LA’s report on the announcement Wednesday.

The area includes segments covered in the LA River revitalization plan. The project will rehabilitate existing wildlife areas while installing a total of 46 new projects, some of which are scheduled to be included as venues in the 2028 Olympics. A new civic plaza and pedestrian walk will also be created along Victory Boulevard. Olin says it will become the “‘Central Park’ for the San Fernando Valley.”

Image courtesy City of LA/OLIN

By acreage, the plan covers ...

NBBJ and ESI Design's newly renovated Nickerson Gardens Playground in Watts opens

2023-08-21T17:31:00-04:00

NBBJ shares details of its Nickerson Gardens Playground renovation project in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles as part of a grand opening held on August 16th at the site, which forms the center of what is the largest American public housing development west of the Mississippi River.

The project is part of a larger $1 billion redevelopment of the Nickerson Gardens public housing tract that was first designed by Paul Revere Williams in 1955. Along with the 17,656-square-foot renovation, the new life breathed into the site will also include a fitness center, new slides, a carousel, and other brightly-colored children’s play equipment from Kompan.

Project image render courtesy NBBJ.

Completed project build. Image courtesy NBBJ and photography by Ty Cole.

NBBJ designed the project pro bono alongside its East Coast experience design studio ESI Design and with the incorporation of a community feedback process that was led by the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles (HACLA). Red...

$82 million park space beneath LA's new Sixth Street Viaduct has broken ground

2023-08-09T08:00:00-04:00

Just over one year after the Sixth Street Viaduct replacement made its debut, Los Angeles city officials have commenced work on 12 acres of new park spaces at the foot of the $588-million bridge.

A groundbreaking ceremony was held on August 5th for the $82 million project, also known as the Sixth Street Park, Arts, and River Connectivity project (PARC). Landscape architecture firm Hargreaves Jones led the design.

Previously on Archinect: Take a look at new Iwan Baan photos of LA's Sixth Street Viaduct ahead of its grand opening

The park, which sits beneath the recently completed Sixth Street Viaduct, will include seven acres of open space on the east side of the Los Angeles River in Boyle Heights and five acres of space in the Arts District on the west side.

The Boyle Heights section will feature grass fields, picnic areas, a splash pad, event space, and sports fields and courts. The Arts District section will include a new arts plaza and river gateway, which will host spaces for performances, a café, and restrooms. Construction on PARC is expected to last around two-and-a-half years.

Sasaki Associates will lead in designing the largest public park in Athens, Greece

2023-08-03T13:52:00-04:00

The city of Athens is preparing for a groundbreaking addition to its already historic city. Thanks to the efforts of Lamda Development, the city will welcome Ellinikon Metropolitan Park, set to not only be the largest park in Athens but also "Europe's largest coastal park."

Urban Land's Bennett Voyles reports that "after 3,400 years, Athens will soon get its first big park [...] When completed in 2030, Ellinikon Metropolitan Park will be 600 acres (243 ha), about three-fourths the size of New York City’s Central Park, an enormous addition of public green space that may prove as important to Athenians as Central Park is to New Yorkers."

Project render of Ellinikon Metropolitan Park shows design details inspired by the Olympic venues. Image courtesy of Sasaki Associates.

Spearheaded by international planning and design firm Sasaki Associates, the site acts as another unique factor to the development, with areas of the new park being "leftover remnants" of venues from the 2002 Summer Ol...

SLAS architekci designs colorful multifunctional public park in Poland

2023-07-07T15:06:00-04:00

Polish firm SLAS architekci has injected an eye-catching multifunctional public space into a university campus in the southern Polish city of Chorzów. Called “Activity Zone,” the project was a nominee in the 2022 European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture – Mies van der Rohe Award.

Image © Michał Kopaniszyn

The park was completed in 2019 for the University of Silesia. It is located at the former site of a demolished military building where there were a number of pre-existing trees.

Image © Michał Kopaniszyn

The main goal of the project was to transform this neglected, wooded area where the campus is located into a lively, leisurely location for the public to enjoy. It aimed to promote the university and establish a new green space for the city.

Image © Michał Kopaniszyn

“Activity Zone” was designed as a perforated concrete platform that hosts a diverse program, including a student leisure zone, children’s play devices, fitness areas, individually des...

Meet New York City Parks & Rec: Your Next Employer?

2023-06-26T15:59:00-04:00

Following last week’s visit to Los Angeles-based Kadre Architects, we are moving our Meet Your Next Employer series to New York City this week where we meet the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation.

With responsibility for the stewardship of 30,000 acres of land, or 14% of New York City, NYC Parks describes itself as a “city agency that builds and cares for public spaces for New Yorkers to connect, play and enjoy.” The department’s extensive list of properties includes 800 athletic fields, 1,000 playgrounds, 550 tennis courts, 66 public pools, 48 recreational facilities, 17 nature centers, 13 golf courses, 14 miles of beaches, 1,200 monuments, 23 historic house museums, 600,000 street trees, and two million more parks trees.

Over on Archinect Jobs, the department is currently hiring a Capital Projects Estimating Coordinator to join their New York City office.

For candidates interested in applying for the position, or anybody interested in learning more about the department...

U.S. playgrounds are becoming more unique, accessible, and "dangerous"

2023-04-12T11:38:00-04:00

Playgrounds today are becoming more varied, more accessible, and more customized, according to playground experts. Some, surprisingly, may even be getting slightly more dangerous, at least within the limits of U.S. safety standards, giving American children more opportunity to take risks and push limits.

As reported by Fast Company, the transformation of playgrounds across the U.S. has been driven by the desire for these spaces to reflect the unique qualities of their communities or this idea of “localized play”. The term was noted by Scott Roschi, the creative director of Landscape Structures, a designer and supplier of playground equipment.

An example of this approach can be seen at a playground in Denver’s Paco Sanchez Park, which is named after the founder of the region’s first Spanish-language radio station. Its playground was designed around the theme of sound waves, featuring ramps and climbing structures that form ribbons of waves throughout. The centerpiece is a structure encased in a three-story tower resembling a 1950s radio microphone.

New playgrounds are also getting taller, with more communities in the U.S. requesting climbable structures that give children an increased sense of risk. This approach is more aligned with the European model, where equipment is less cons...

New York City begins test pilot for parkbound modular public restrooms

2023-03-01T17:56:00-05:00

Nearly four years after floating the possibility, the city Department of Parks and Recreation is preparing for a trial run of prefabricated, kiosk-like bathrooms that cost a fraction of the multimillion-dollar price tag for building traditional restrooms. The modular bathrooms resemble curved newspaper kiosks, with slatted sides that are intended to provide needed privacy, but also enough sightlines to dissuade illicit behavior.

The New York City Department of Parks & Recreation says there will be one test toilet for each borough at a cost of $185,000 each. Five other “comfort stations” are also currently in the department’s construction pipeline. According to them, the new pilot is meant to “determine the feasibility of using this model in the future as an economical solution to building bathrooms in parks.”

The modular Portland Loo designs are a bit cheaper than the twenty JC Decaux-made facilities the city struggled to implement after signing a more expensive deal under the Bloomberg administration in 2006. Their presence, at a time when new chief public realm officer Ya-Ting Liu says she will move to make open streets and outdoor dining more permanent fixtures, is important also to the nearly 45,000 homeless people who live in the city.

If installed en masse, they'll join the new inventory of 5G towers cropping up around the city as the latest hallmarks of a changing streetscape remade by progressive d...

The 'healing nature' of Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects' new land bridge in Houston

2023-02-20T18:59:00-05:00

Named the Land Bridge and Prairie project, the new park was unveiled this weekend, when for the first time since the 1950s, visitors were able to cross over Memorial Drive and enjoy 1,500 acres of uninterrupted parkland at Memorial Park. Swelling like soft green mounds over a six-lane highway, the park is the latest example of how cities can mend the tears caused by disruptive roads without necessarily tearing them down.

Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects' Principal, Thomas Woltz, described his initial visit of the project’s site as a “post-nuclear landscape” when some 66 million trees suffered from a brutal drought in 2011. Since then, his firm has worked with city planners, archivists, and the Memorial Park Conservancy to consolidate the 20 disparate segments that had previously left the 1,500-acre park feeling “subdivided” to Houstonians.

Fast Company reports that "while the civic landscape was designed for people, the gently sloped nature of the mounds allows for small animals to cross over the highway as well (an underground stream allows for aquatic animals to pass under the highway, too.)"

With the addition of the land bridge, Houston joins Los Angeles County and San Francisco as communities aiming to adopt solutions for local wildlife to be able to move about freely. The total costs for the Land Bridge and Prairie project was funded by a $70 million donation from the local Kinder Foundat...

New York City’s interactive Tree Map offers live insights into over 860,000 trees across the city

2022-12-13T10:19:00-05:00

Did you know that the London planetree is the most common species of tree in New York City? The fun fact is one of many which can be gleaned from a new interactive map launched by the City of New York, allowing users to explore the city’s tree population. The NYC Tree Map replaces NYC Park’s previous Street Tree Map, and contains data on over 860,000 park and street trees within what the creators call “the most comprehensive and up-to-date living tree map in the world.”

Image credit: NYC Parks

Trees on the interactive map are represented by circles, with the size and color of each circle representing the tree’s diameter and species, respectively. Users can gather data for an entire species of tree, trees in a particular borough or neighborhood, or each individual tree across the map, learning about the tree’s contribution to stormwater management, energy conservation, or air pollutant removal.

Image credit: NYC Parks

For example, the map notes that the 4,265 trees recorded in the Lowe...

The state of Frederick Law Olmsted's most at-risk landscapes is examined in new TCLF Landslide 2022 report

2022-10-26T10:00:00-04:00

A new report and exhibition inspecting the state of some of the most at-risk designs by Fredrick Law Olmsted and his successor firms have been released by The Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF) in honor of the storied landscape architect’s 200th birthday.

This year’s Landslide report has identified twelve Olmsted projects in nine states and Canada that are under threat of a range of challenges including climate change, maintenance delays, and the overall lack of funding.

Washington Park in Milwaukee, WI. Image: Eddee Daniel, courtesy of The Cultural Landscape Foundation

“Landslide 2022 shows us that while the appreciation and value for Olmsted-designed landscapes in general continues to increase, some landscapes have been less fortunate. Our intent with this report is to foster greater awareness and curiosity about this exceptional legacy, and to encourage a stronger shared responsibility for its future,” said Charles A. Birnbaum, the TCLF’s president and CEO, in a preview.

Olmsted...

NYC Mayor Eric Adams announces $7.25 million federal grant to expand greenway network in underserved communities

2022-08-25T18:56:00-04:00

Earlier this week, New York Mayor Eric Adams announced that the city has received a $7.25 million federal grant to expand the greenway network across the five boroughs, with a priority on serving historically underserved, lower-income communities.

The funding is from the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) grant. The money will be used to fill gaps in New York City’s greenway network, improve cyclist and pedestrian safety with revitalized infrastructure, and provide green transportation options and greater waterfront access. The grant application was prepared by the New York City Department of Transportation (NYCDOT), the New York City Parks Department (NYC Parks), and the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC).

“All New Yorkers deserve access to our beautiful greenways, and we’re making that happen thanks to millions in federal funding,” said Mayor Adams. “This grant will help us do t...

Los Angeles County to allocate more than $9 million for park projects in communities in need of open space

2022-07-20T20:01:00-04:00

The Los Angeles County Regional Park and Open Space District announced on Thursday, July 14, that it will allocate more than $9 million to support the development of park projects in communities in most need of open space. The grant funding is from Measure A, the LA County Safe, Clean Neighborhood Parks and Beaches Measure — a parcel tax approved by voters in 2016.

The funding will be allocated across 30 cities and in unincorporated areas in the Los Angeles region. According to the district’s director Norma Edith Garcia-Gonzalez, the funds will be critical in creating parks in areas with much less park acreage than the county average.

The Measure A funding will establish the Technical Assistance Program, which will help organizations with applications for grant programs for their park projects.

The TCLF will honor Frederick Law Olmsted, the father of landscape architecture, with a new digital guide ahead of his 200th birthday

2022-04-14T15:20:00-04:00

In honor of the 200th birthday of perhaps the most revered figure in the history of American landscape architecture, The Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF) has produced a wonderfully illustrated digital guide to more than 300 of Frederick Law Olmsted’s landscape designs.

Featuring landscapes from Maine, Massachusetts, Illinois, Canada, his home state of Connecticut, and 26 others, the guide offers a mapping system and database with important biographical information about his myriad employees and even more detail about the outsized impacts of his successor firms.

A daguerreotype of Olmsted writing in winter 1858 at Brookline, MA. Olmsted was an accomplished literary journalist during the Antebellum period before turning to landscape design full-time. Image courtesy National Parks Service.

The 20th in the TCLF’s series of “What’s Out There” guides, this edition gives equal weight to the 30 National Historic Sites and hundreds of other lesser-known designs associated with Olmsted, ...

NYC Parks invites landscape architects to reimagine greenspaces across the city

2022-03-23T17:25:00-04:00

The New York City Department of Parks and Recreation has issued a Request for Proposals in search of at least ten firms that will provide landscape architecture services for upcoming park improvement projects.

“We are seeking experienced design firms to advance projects that improve parkland across the five boroughs with a focus on equity, sustainability, and access,” said NYC Parks Deputy Commissioner for Capital Projects Therese Braddick. “The landscape architecture firms selected through this RFP will have the chance to make a lasting impact on New York City's park system by reimagining greenspaces for the communities they serve.”

While NYC Parks designs about 70% of landscape architecture projects in-house (its capital division employs nearly 500 team members, including more than 100 landscape architects), the department also works with consultants on a number of projects. The selected landscape architecture consultants will help ensure that various capital projects maximize th...

New York City lawmakers put pressure on Mayor Adams to double investment in parks

2022-03-16T14:53:00-04:00

Local lawmakers are putting pressure on Mayor Eric Adams to fulfill his campaign promise to make New York City greener by committing more cash to the parks department, something Adams did not follow through with in his preliminary budget. On Monday in Flushing Meadows, members of the City Council and environmental stakeholders called for a $1 billion investment in annual maintenance for New York City parks as part of a five-point plan for improving parks and access to green spaces.

This commitment means that the city would allocate 1% of its budget towards the parks department, which NYC Mayor Eric Adams promised during his campaign. However, in his first preliminary budget proposal, Adams only set aside about $500 million towards parks.

Today we unveiled about 5 point plan for parks across our city. We need to immediately invest more in our existing parks, and create new public, green, restorative spaces for all New Yorkers. pic.twitter.com/zmCnWgjYmd
— Shekar Krishnan (@voteshekar) March 14, 2022

Adams’ vague status on New York’s parks department has seen the unification of the city’s borough presidents, who are calling for the planting of one million new trees by 2030. This is one of the components of the five-point plan, with others including providing waterfront access to all, upgrading playgrounds, parks, and schoolyards across all of New York City, and the creation of a Parks Construction Authority with the aim of building new parks. Councilm...

New York City borough presidents unite calling for a million trees

2022-02-25T15:38:00-05:00

When Mayor Eric Adams named a commissioner last week to oversee New York’s parks department, he spoke of how important the city’s green spaces were for recreation and contemplation, especially during the pandemic. But he also acknowledged having no particular agenda or master plan for the more than 30,000 acres of parkland under his control.

In response, all five of New York’s borough presidents have come together calling for Mayor Adams to plant a million new trees by 2030, reviving former Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s Million Trees NYC initiative. In addition, they also asked Adams to honor his campaign pledge to allocate 1 percent of the city’s budget towards the parks department.

According to environmental nonprofit Nature Conservancy, only about 22 percent of the city is covered by tree canopy, with approximately 7 million trees for its 8.8 million residents. And, while about 650,000 trees line the streets, however, like parks, they aren’t evenly distributed. Low-income New Yorkers and communities of color have significantly less access to available green space than white and wealthy areas. The conservancy predicts that New York could accommodate 250,000 more street trees.

McMansion Hell's Kate Wagner dissects issues with big tech and the 'blurred line' between private and public space

2021-03-11T19:35:00-05:00

In February, Amazon announced its latest design for a $2.5 billion headquarters in Arlington, "the Helix." Once visual renderings for the campus were released, the architecture community was quick to respond. Besides heavy criticism of its overall design, discussion regarding its surrounding public space was soon questioned. Architecture critic Kate Wagner addresses the long-rivaled issues between big tech corporate campuses and their intentionality behind fostering a so-called "engaged environment" with public space.

Her article in The New Republic, "How Big Tech Devours Public Space, " assesses large tech companies like Amazon and their double-sided plans to create spaces available for public use. She explains, "Amazon is presenting the Helix as a companion structure to 'the Spheres,' the indoor gardens at its Seattle headquarters. But as a space of consumption and leisure, the Helix actually resembles a lot of classic starchitecture. It is a towering, glass-clad, tree-dotted baub...

Zaha Hadid Architects reveals details of their latest museum project, Shenzhen Science and Technology Museum

2020-12-02T14:36:00-05:00

In true parametric fashion, the design team at Zaha Hadid Architects reveals their plans for a new museum located in Shenzhen, China. The new Shenzhen Science & Technology Museum will be the "pearl" of the city's technology and innovation corridor in the Guangming Science City. The latest visuals showcase voluminous forms and eye-catching undulating terraces, and U-shaped volume.

According to the team at Zaha, "The design is a volumetric response to the distinct conditions of the site. Responding to the city to the east, the design is defined by its solidity and dynamic curvilinear geometries that express the many urban circulation routes."

East side of the museum © Zaha Hadid Architects. Visualization by BRICK

Shenzhen Science & Technology Museum © Zaha Hadid Architects. Visualization by Slashcube

The museum is approximately 1,345,483 sq. f (125,000 sq.m) in size and is set to be a focal point for...

The NYC Parks Department wants to shrink public bathrooms to cut costs

2019-11-15T11:15:00-05:00

The Parks Department is looking to curb the cost of constructing new public bathrooms — by making them smaller...the agency is exploring stand-alone units tested in other cities, such as the Portland Loo and trailer-like bathrooms in Boston.

Following a $4.7 million comfort station at Ferry Point Park West and the prospect of a $6 million bathroom for another park on Staten Island, Mayor Bill de Blaisio vowed to address the rising costs to taxpayers, reports THE CITY. Parks Commissioner Mitchell Silver has called the current phase an "exploration" to find "more inexpensive ways of building bathrooms."

Oklahoma City’s Scissortail Park embraces a city-to-nature approach

2019-10-19T18:00:00-04:00

Opened in late September, [Scissortail Park] is a new civic front yard on the edge of downtown, framing views of the city’s skyline with its concert stage and broad lawn. “It’s an aspirational park, in that it’s the kind of amenity that people in Oklahoma City used to imagine only existing in other places,” says Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt.

Regarding the park’s generous, publicly-oriented design, CityLab’s Zach Mortice writes, “As a gathering space in the heart of the city, Scissortail Park aims to find a large and diverse audience with a wide range of features and landscape types. Pedestrian and biking paths alternately curve or slice across it, though nearly everything orbits the park’s ovular great lawn and concert stage venue.“

The transformative park is designed by Hargreaves Associates with architectural assistance from Butzer Architects and Urbanism.

Landscape architects Spackman Mossop Michaels turn vacant Detroit parking lots into thriving parks

2019-08-23T09:00:00-04:00

Detroit natives can recall the neighborhood of Fitzgerald and its transition from a lively community to a vacant and foreclosed part of town. Today, the neighborhood is poised for change again, as landscape architects Spackman Mossop Michaels (SSM) work to help revitalize the community alongside the Fitzgerald Neighborhood Revitalization Plan with a series of design strategies that populate the neighborhood's vacant lots. In a recent Metropolis article, writes, "it’s a unique model for Detroit—or anywhere else—because it rebuilds equity not only by restoring what was taken but also by deepening residents’ relationships through the new landscapes."

With the aim of piecing together 26 lots connecting to and surrounding the Ella Fitzgerald Park, the plan is to create a linear greenway filled with native meadows and larger orchards within the neighborhood. Mortice writes, "the Fitzgerald Neighborhood Revitalization Plan weaves together refurbished single-family homes within a network o...

Have public parks transitioned into privatized spaces filled with defensive urban design techniques?

2019-07-26T14:18:00-04:00

There is the vision of parks, and public space more generally, as space free from institutional control or coercion—from police, or parks ambassadors, and encroaching privatization. And then there is the vision of public space as controlled and orderly, for passive use, or for recreation and entertainment. 'Users of this space must be made to feel comfortable, and they should not be driven away by unsightly homeless people or unsolicited political activity...'

With the privatization of spaces steadily increasing the idea of a genuine public space seems to be an ideal of the past. The importance of public space, specifically public parks is an integral part of a thriving city and community. However, laws and new policies are being re-configured to appease spaces like public parks to satisfy a specific demographic.

According to a recent article by Toronto-based journalist Matthew Braga, he shares the looming possible future of a city's battle with public space. In his piece for The Local, Braga shares, "There is a long history of bureaucracy and bylaws being wielded against the poor, and cities have gone to great lengths to make those experiencing homelessness feel unwelcome in public spaces." Initiatives for local city government's enforcing defensive design techniques.

A balance between maintaining public space for all while regulating disruptive behaviors are approached with conflicting views. Have public parks become new territories fo...

Interboro Partners, H3 Studio among designers of 17-acre “Nature Playscape” for Forest Park, St. Louis

2019-07-16T19:34:00-04:00

“We want this to be an evolving place for people to come back again and again,” said [Lesley Hoffarth, president and executive director of Forest Park Forever]. It will change with the seasons and change as people decide how to use it, she said.

Having easier access to green urban spaces and thoughtfully sprucing up public parks would ideally be higher priorities for cities across the U.S. In Missouri, nonprofit conservancy Forest Park Forever and the City of St. Louis celebrated the groundbreaking yesterday of the upcoming 17-acre Nature Playscape in historic Forest Park, located in the western part of town.

Scheduled to open in 2020, Nature Playscape is being built to encourage local residents of all backgrounds to get outdoors and allow kids and their developing minds to engage with nature and reap the benefits of spending time outdoors. The project is the first of its kind at this scale in the region.

The Meadow at the Forest Park Nature Playscape. Image courtesy of Forest Park Forever.

A team of landscape architecture and play-space experts that included the Natural Learning Initiative, H3 Studio, Interboro Partners, and Rubus Landscape Architecture developed and designed the project in collaboration with Forest Park F...

Central Park's long forgotten design alternative

2018-11-09T19:03:00-05:00

The iconic landscape of New York wouldn't be complete without a view of Central Park. But, what if the beloved New York staple could have looked different? It's hard to envision Central Park any other way, but after the uncovering of a long forgotten park plan was rediscovered renderings could prove otherwise.

In 1858, a design competition invited individuals to submit their ideas for the construction of, at the time, an area of unused space. For a prize of $2000, submissions had to include various features ranging from a fountain, skating arena, parade ground, four major cross streets, and a room for an exhibition hall.

After reviewing 33 potential park designs two individuals by the name of F.L. Olmsted and C. Vaux and their plan, "Plan Number 33," was selected. Thanks to their submission Central Park loo...

Construction begins on Atlanta's largest public park by John Portman & Associates

2018-09-10T15:49:00-04:00

Construction has begun on Atlanta's soon-to-be largest park by John Portman & Associates. The repurposed quarry pit will not only provide an outdoor recreational area but also create 2 billion gallons of emergency drinking water for Atlanta, increasing the city’s emergency water reserves from 3 to 30 days.

The first phase of Westside Park at Bellwood Quarry includes constructing a signature gateway for the park's entrance. Once completed, the new green space will be 100 acres larger than Atlanta’s currently largest park.

Francisco Pardo Arquitecto designs urban parks to revitalize neglected suburban neighborhoods in Mexico

2018-08-30T15:18:00-04:00

In Mexico City, a set of urban parks have been built on the city's outskirts to revitalize the neglected suburban neighborhoods in which they reside.

Designed by Francisco Pardo Arquitecto, the Mexico City-based firm has replaced a once contaminated water stream and paved lots with basketball courts, skate ramps, pavilions for public events, children’s playgrounds, and spots for a more general meditation.

Parque Héroes. Photo by Jaime Navarro.

Parque Colinas del Sol. Photo by Jaime Navarro.

"It is important to change not only the physical condition but also the perception of the space" said Francisco Pardo, who leads the eponymous firm behind the transformations. "As a designer, I believe that supporting local communities to achieve better public spaces for their families helps the greater community."

Parque Colinas del Sol. Photo by Jaime Navarro.

Using low-cost materials such as concrete, steel and cement blocks, the architects have created flexible space layouts that foster sponta...

Diller Scofidio + Renfro's Moscow park sparks wild urbanism on another level

2018-08-24T13:58:00-04:00

As Moscow’s Zaryadye Park approaches its first birthday next month, the city’s chief architect, Sergei Kuznetsov, is defending the Diller Scofidio + Renfro-designed green space for an unexpected feature: its aphrodisiacal properties. Just a stone’s throw from the Kremlin, the firm’s carefully crafted experiment in “wild urbanism” has lived up to its billing, apparently, becoming something of a hotbed for outdoor lovemaking.

Moscow's one year old $245 million public park by Diller Scofidio + Renfro was meant to bring freedom of exploration and a feeling of comfort within the urban setting. The space provides visitors with an amphitheater, flora-covered terraces, green spaces with views of the city, and a 230 foot walkway over the Moscow river. The public space has also seen a high number of couples caught on park cameras having sex. "Wild urbanism" indeed.

Charles Renfro exclaims, “I love this! What freedom our park has brought to Moscow, and what tolerance it seems to be engendering from the authorities.”

Artificial nature: Frederick Law Olmsted and the invention of landscape architecture

2016-08-30T12:52:00-04:00

An unmistakable irony creeps vinelike through Olmsted’s landscape theory: It takes a lot of artifice to create convincing “natural” scenery. Everything in Central Park is man-made; the same is true of most of Olmsted’s designs. They are not imitations of nature so much as idealizations, like the landscape paintings of the Hudson River School. Each Olmsted creation was the product of painstaking sleight of hand, requiring enormous amounts of labor and expense.

For more on Olmsted and his parks today, check out some past articles:

NYC's Lowline is approved by city officials, becoming world's first underground park

2016-07-14T14:25:00-04:00

What do you do with a sad, funky, abandoned trolley terminus? Well, if it's the former Williamsburg Bridge Trolley Terminal under Delancey Street in New York City, you make the world's first underground park by virtue of adding some mirrors, skylights, and vegetation. One acre in size, the freshly city-approved park (which took nearly a decade to go from its initial concept to getting the green light from the city) makes use of solar technology to pour sunlight into the former terminal, which has remained unused since 1948.

"Every designer dreams of doing civic work that contributes to society and to the profession," said James Ramsey, Lowline Co-Founder and Creator. "Over the last 8 years, we just stuck to what we thought was a great idea that could make our city and our community better. We're thrilled to move ahead on designing and building a space that people will enjoy for generations to come."

For more on innovative design news in NYC: