Design competition for the Lake Milada redevelopment in the Czech Republic. Completed for Civitas Inc.
Lake Milada Czech Republic
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Greenville has an unusually vibrant downtown, active with local businesses, restaurants and entertainment. Main Street was remade by Lawrence Halprin in the 70’s and remains a handsome street with a mature canopy of Willow Oaks. The corner of Main and Washington was the home of the Woolworths lunch counter that was the site of a famous sit-in by four young black men in 1960. Since then this corner has been the center of town, even though the lunch counter went to museum and the building is gone. One of the keys to Greenville’s revitalization was the creation in the early 80’s of the Piazza Bergamo, named after a sister city. The Piazza was home to events and concerts for 25 years but had become worn, and the concerts had devolved into weekly loud beer parties. It was time for change. Civitas was originally engaged by Hughes Development to conceive of a new role for the public space as part of a new mixed-use development on the Woolworths site. Civitas led a community engagement process that determined that people were ready for a more restrained, comfortable and attractive plaza for daily use, with the potential for smaller occasional events. Seating, sun and shade, water, color, and plants were used to make a place to wait, meet, chat, have a meal, and enjoy the active street life that makes Greenville enjoyable. The plaza design is themed from the history of the region as a place of weaving. Layers and folds of patterns, a long fountain and urban couch form that spine that attracts people to engage and relax. -
Over 10 years of public and private corporate cooperation has culminated in the creation of the Lane Field development opportunity in conjunction with the realization of the North Embarcadero Visionary Plan. The Lane Field development site is bound by West Broadway to the south, Harbor Drive to the west, Pacific Highway to the east, and the US Naval Facilities Engineering compound to the north. The site has been utilized as a surface parking lot for cruise and general public parking since the 1960's and prior to that was the location of a baseball stadium known as "Lane Field" which was the home of the Pacific Coast League Padres from 1936 to 1957. The Lane Field development team is working with the Port to redevelop an approximate 5.69 acre parking lot into a dual-branded hotel in a single building on the northern portion of the site fronting Pacific Highway and an approximately 2-acre public park on the western portion fronting Harbor Drive. The Lane Field development located at 900 West Broadway will be downtown San Diego's premier waterfront destination. Lane Field is perfectly positioned in relationship to the Embarcadero waterfront attractions, museums, and Cruise Ship Terminal and is within walking distance of all of downtown San Diego's demand generators: San Diego Convention Center, Gaslamp Quarter, Seaport Village, Horton Plaza, Downtown office buildings, and the Ballpark District. *Multiple phases completed for Oxbow Design Collective and Civitas Inc. -
The Wayzata Lake Effect is a community-wide multi-year initiative to redevelop Wayzata’s greatest asset for the 21st century. The Initiative is composed of multiple components and phases. The Lake Effect effort is focused on shared long-term goals for the city’s best asset: Revitalizing the lakefront, making it safer, more ecologically friendly, and improving access to and along the shore. “If we can accomplish that, we’ll have done the best we can for Wayzata.” – Mayor Ken Willcox On April 19, the Lake Effect design team presented the final schematic design book to the Wayzata City Council. The book includes perspective and schematic designs, the phased construction plan and cost estimates, and long-term maintenance and operations cost estimates and sources. Signature Park Design Highlights Eco Park/Section Foreman House – Eastern gateway to the lakewalk featuring a restored pond and marshland. A restorative “pocket park” that respects the natural state of the lake edge and provides an intriguing natural experience suitable for everyday enjoyment for people of all ages, as well as ecological education. Lake Walk – Entered from the east at Broadway, the lake walk zig-zags along the lake edge and is embraced by restored marsh. The lake walk will feel like a short walk in another world – only steps from the heart of the city. Active Beach – The plan is to expand and activate the beach in a way that’s suitable for families and people of all ages. By closing the retention pond and treating the storm water underground, space is made available to expand concessions. The beach becomes more inviting with the addition of shade structures and a diving pier. People-friendly Lake Street – Increase the bike-ability and walkability of Lake Street with an expanded sidewalk and dedicated bike lane, while keeping three lanes for cars. Modest treatment to paving and lighting suggest slowing down and enjoying the lakefront and can become temporary car-free gathering places during the occasional community oriented event. -
In 2012 Hurricane Sandy hit the Eastern Seaboard, destroying thousands of businesses, homes, public amenities and regional infrastructure including the iconic Rockaway Boardwalks in Queens, NY, a peninsula beloved by surfers and beachcombers from around the world. To replace the boardwalk, city agencies, alongside the Army Corps of Engineers, commissioned a team to reimagine the six miles of beachfront with a resilient, creative vision. Nearly $480 million was allocated to the project through Sandy-relief funding. The goal to achieve a resilient reconstruction of the boardwalks became the impetus to think more broadly and create an urban design framework and plan for climate change, not only for the boardwalk reconstruction but complementary plans for rebuilding the peninsula's parks and open spaces; this became the Rockaway Parks Conceptual Plan. Based on an extensive community planning effort, a cohesive vision for the boardwalk and parks emerged featuring playgrounds, skate parks, performance spaces, and shade structures tailored to the beach environment. The reconstructed boardwalk stretches nearly five miles along the beach and features a number of new amenities. The 40-foot wide boardwalk represents a model for innovative climate adaptation infrastructure. The design incorporates hard and soft measures to ensure the boardwalks’ longevity. Not only is the structure elevated above the 100-year floodplain on reinforced concrete piles, but the project also includes stabilization and planting of the existing sand dunes. The sand infill between the dunes is replenished and expanded and a new sand-retaining baffle wall under the boardwalk was added. A new “sand waII" minimizes sand movement off the beach but allows water flow. The two-fold goals of this reconstruction will help restore natural habitat in addition to reconnecting the residents of this barrier island. The "dune" walk is created with wave-shaped, sand-colored and blue concrete planks, a new "kit of parts composed of bench types, stepped ramps, decks, railings, and seat walls, as well as the largest installation of the new LED City Light. The curved lines running the length of the boardwalk mirror the sinuous coastline. The blue planks create the pixels of a new supersized font that announce the identity of this beach community in giant letters visible from afar and to planes landing at JFK. At dusk, the idea of the shore is reinforced by glow-in-the dark aggregate embedded in the blue planks, evoking the bioluminescence in the ocean. In tandem with the park amenity structures and the Conceptual Plan, the Boardwalk Reconstruction project creates a more sustainable, resilient and active shoreline for the Rockaways.