Urban Spaces: Urban Parks

Source: Debbie Franke archdaily.com

Old Post Office Plaza, St. Louis, Missouri, USA, 2009 designed by Baird Sampson Neuert Architects

The winning design of an international competition, Old Post Office Plaza serves as an urban catalyst for revitalization while forming an iconic event space for downtown St. Louis. Inspired by a large public sculpture, “the Torso of Icaro” by noted sculptor Igor Mitoraj and donated for installation in the project, the design creates a three dimensional armature of spaces and program that spiral upward and around the work to explore the deeper structure of ideas that the myth of Daedelus and Ikarus evokes.  -- ArchDaily

Source: Jose Hevia archdaily.com

Parc Pintor Vila Closes, Manresa, Spain, 2009 designed by David Closes

With the proposed topographic configuration, and especially with the location of the most characteristic park structures (the umbracles and pergolas), the goal  is to split the park and visually distinguish these elements. This fragmentation aims to turn the park into a rich and complex place, spatially-generating the perception that the park is larger than it actually is while maintaining the formal unity of the whole. -- ArchDaily

Source: Jordi Bernadó archdaily.com

Blas Infante Square, Lleida, Spain, 2010 designed by Domingo Ferré

Based on the existing parking lot an artificial topography is created, formalized by the intersection of two pyramids, which merges with the Segre river and connects with the sidewalks of the surrounding streets with inclined planes, ramps or stairs, thereby continuing urban routes.  -- ArchDaily

Source: Günter Richard Wett archdaily.com

New Design for Eduard-Wallnöfer-Platz Public Square, Innsbruck, Austria, 2010 designed by LAAC Architekten + Stiefel Kramer Architecture

The new topography sets a landscape-like counterpart to the surrounding. But it turns into an urban sculpture through its city context, its finish in concrete and through its function. Accessibility and the layout of paths result from the modulation of the surface which deals with spatial constraints, functional requirements and with morphological considerations.  -- ArchDaily

Source: Steven Evans archdaily.com

NPS Podium Roof Garden, Toronto, Canada, 2010 designed by PLANT Architect & Perkins+Will Canada

The new green roof consists of three formal conditions: a sedum mosaic, a paved courtyard that frames the curved chamber and a deck café that occupies the prow. The perimeter garden is treated as a field in purple, pink, yellow/orange and green sedums. This ground cover is planted in a prevegetated tray system with shade tolerant species concentrated in the shadows of the City Hall’s towers. -- architect's web site

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Source: architectural-review.com

Merida Factory Youth Movement, Merida, Spain, 2011 designed by Selgas Cano

The building is designed as a large canopy that is open to the entire city and available to anyone who would like to come. This canopy is composed of a series of volumes with oval floor plans with treated as isolated modules, allowing independent access.  -- ArchDaily

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Source: 42architects archdaily.com

Hyttgardsparken, Falun, Sweden, 2012 designed by 42architects

....a park that exists as a series of perceived trenches, in which concrete surfaces have been ‘discovered’ and ‘exposed’. As such the park blends in with the surrounding topography of mounds and pits, while at the same time remaining highly contemporary in its design expression. -- ArchDaily

A Square Gets Hip

the Occupy D.C. encampment is a low-slung and seemingly haphazard arrangement. But it has made this sleepy public space, used mainly by office workers and a few residents of nearby luxury condominiums, one of the busiest public squares in Washington. To use the argot of urbanism, the protesters who installed themselves at McPherson Square on Oct. 1 (and another group that has occupied Freedom Plaza a few blocks away) have done what so many planners, designers and architects strive for but fail to achieve: They have "activated" the urban core.  -- 11/10/2011, The Washington Post By Philip Kennicott via Architectural Record

“Freedom of Assembly: Public Space Today” by AIA Panel

On December 17, 2011, the New York Chapter of the AIA held a panel discussion about the Occupy Wall Street events that have spurred people from all over the country into political involvement.  The discussion featured nine panelists with introductory remarks from Lance Jay Brown and Michael Kimmelman and closing remarks by Ron Shiffman (all listed below).  It focused on aspects of the built environment, public spaces and how they reflect the way in which people assemble.  -- ArchDaily

Turkey: Fighting for Freedom of Speech and Freedom of Space

The impending destruction of the last public park in Istanbul was the straw that broke the camel’s back last Tuesday. When a peaceful demonstration to save Taksim Gezi Park was met with violent police retaliation, the situation quickly escalated into a nationwide protest against the increasingly authoritarian government. At this moment all across the country, thousands are standing up not only for Gezi Park but for the right to shape the place that they call home. -- ArchDaily