 |
challenge
Maximize the potential of this public-private partnership
solution
450 architects worked for the community and with the city in one of the
first successful community-based design projects for the San
Francisco Recreation and Park Department. Friends of Walter Haas Park,
our client, sought assistance in working through the bureaucracy
involved in improving their park. This public-private partnership
was among precedent-setting success stories that led to the proposal,
and passage, of a local bond issue underwriting more such collaborations.
challenge
Create a safe urban park
solution
We realized this site's potential with an affordable design the
neighborhood could respect and maintain. Our design included developing
safe and clearly separated facilities for pre-K tots, young children,
and teens. Parents now have a comfortable place from which to supervise
infants in the toddler play area and older children in their own
nearby playground. A newly created amphitheater, popular with teens and
adults, provides a spectator bowl for the park's basketball court.
Our design also took advantage of the site topography by shaving back
an overgrown hill and removing an unsightly, graffiti-marked concrete
retaining wall. Addressing concerns about user safety and sightlines
into and across the park, we made it comfortable to occupy and made
park activities easy for neighbors and passing police to see. Newly
opened sightlines also offer beautiful downtown views.
challenge
Balance multiple interests
solution
450 architects' design process is based on consensus-building.
By empowering neighbors to speak their mind, we identified a wide
range of very specific concerns and interests. The design team responded
with a series of different spaces and places within the park for both
active and contemplative uses—a large open playing field, toddler
and school-aged children's play areas, and an ever-popular basketball
court. We incorporated a new handicapped-access pathway as well as a
non-fenced dog run.
This process also led to the selection of a landscape architect with
whom the design team worked to maintain existing trees on the park's
uphill side, which add beauty as well as a windbreak, and to
supplement the existing landscape with new native plantings. We
also ensured the inclusion of a charming planted labyrinth on the
property that was highly favored by the community.
|
|
|
 |
    
Friends of Walter Haas Park
|
|
|
|
