Palm Springs Downtown Park is an inviting 1.5-acre urban oasis for residents and visitors to Palm Springs, a design-forward desert destination nestled along the base of the San Jacinto Mountains in California’s Sonoran Desert. The site lies in the ancestral homeland of the Agua Caliente band of the Cahuilla people, who migrated seasonally between mountain canyons and the valley floor. The park is also on the historic site of the Desert Inn, Palm Springs’ first wellness resort, whose founder, Nellie Coffman, famously promoted the “space, stillness, solitude, and simplicity” of Palm Springs.

The park design draws inspiration from the natural beauty of the area, providing a comfortable space for the community in the desert heat. The park features a densely planted palm grove, offering ample shade, two event lawns, amphitheater seating for community events, shade structures inspired by palm fronds, and a grotto-like interactive water feature. Locally sourced stone and native desert plantings combine with user-friendly amenities to create a distinctive local sense of place for Palm Springs' diverse community.

The Palm Grove is densely planted with over 130 Washingtonia filifera, California’s only native palm. This design, inspired by team hikes to Palm Canyon on the Agua Caliente Reservation, aids in cooling during summer days. Custom aluminum park furnishings are movable for users to “follow the shade” throughout the day, and after dark, the grove is illuminated to glow like a lantern, promoting park usage in the cooler evening hours.

The Outcrop along the park’s northern edge was designed to obscure an adjacent parking garage and house the park restroom building and a police substation. Team hikes in Tahquitz Canyon inspired the colorful banded rock formations of shotcrete vertical walls and pre-cast concrete modular seat blocks. The Outcrop's layers reflect the tones of the adjacent San Jacinto Mountains, from reddish sandstones at the base to desaturated granite along the top. An interactive water feature within the Outcrop cools the park and brings the magic of the surrounding mountains into the urban core. 

 As temperatures drop at night, the Theater comes to life. Honoring the cultural heritage of Palm Springs, a destination for the performing arts, the Theater hosts events from live performances to film nights. With a capacity of over 1,000 people on the event lawn and amphitheater seat blocks within the Outcrop, the stage is framed by a palm frond-inspired shade canopy, with the Palm Springs Art Museum and the San Jacinto Mountains as its backdrop.