OVERVIEW of Lecture Context: Reading a site: history, form, meaning

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2 OVERVIEW of Lecture Context: Reading a site: history, form, meaning Situate Skyline Park (ca. 1973) within the work of landscape architect Lawrence Halprin & Associates, San Francisco Flow and event: Halprin s ideas water, people, urban spaces Denver 1960s: Urban Renewal and the DURA Master Plan Water Flow: an urban drainage system mitigates Cherry Creek floods - Engineering collaboration; storm water retention basin calculations - The concealment of this within the design, in a system hidden to everyday users Water Event: Fountains. When water falls, its surface is broken and aerated and it becomes luminous and alive. - Design role linking the park s blocks to create perception of unity - Fountains served as focal points on each block, with each unique in character Closing Discussion: Preservation challenges for mid-century works 2

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15 Halprin was retained by DURA in 1970 as designer and consultant Some critics have suggested that DURA is not sensitive about good urban design. However, the urban concepts study for the Skyline area, performed under DURA s direction, won two national awards, one from the U.S. Housing and Urban Development Department for design excellence, and one from Progressive Architecture. We expect the Skyline Project to be one of the nations outstanding examples of a new urban environment dedicated to making a major part of downtown a most pleasant place for people. J. Robert Cameron, DURA Executive Director. Rocky Mountain News, May 1, 1972,

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24 In a 1999 international symposium, Ben Urbonas, Chief of the Master Planning Program in the Denver Urban Drainage and Flood Control District, used Skyline Park as an exemplary model for urban storm water runoff management. He noted that Skyline was among the very few examples of: detention facilities that provide an aesthetic fit and a public function, such as parks, within the developments they serve. [Skyline Park] illustrates a detention basin within the central business district of Denver and also serves as a plaza park for this very dense commercial district. It is almost 1/2 kilometer in length and about 10 meters in width and is located between several streets. Its function is to detain flows for up to the 100-year storm and release the water at a rate compatible with the capacity of the downstream storm sewers. During dry weather periods it provides a pleasant environment for the shoppers, business people and workers to rest, walk, eat lunch, socialize, etc. Urbonas, Ben. Two Decades Of Stormwater Management Evolution. Paper presented at the Symposium on Urban Drainage, Belo Horizonte, Brazil, November,

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58 Halprin in reflection Skyline Park was an important open space design for its time. It remains an early example of how to bring nature into the city not as a romantic visual image, but as a living presence. I designed the park as a quiet refuge but one which would also allow a special kind of participation in nature. Water was introduced as a primary element to be experienced in many different ways; for its sound, for its spray, as a fountain to walk in and through and enjoy experientially. Most importantly, I specifically designed Skyline Park to echo an aura that would express the fact that it was in Denver. I wanted it to be a unique symbol of Denver no other place. Excerpt of letter, June 2, 2001 from Lawrence Halprin to Charles Birnbaum. Copy in Collection of Connie Wanke, Head, Friends of Skyline Park. 58

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60 What s there today? Thomas Balsley Associates design, produced through a public process managed by the City of Denver, reflects a design solu?on that is a compromise. Their aaempt to keep elements of the Halprin era park produces not the idea of a site s memory but rather a jumbled appearance, and the intent to use design to resolve social issues did not succeed at the desired level. 60

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65 The demise of Skyline Park Points that made the park vulnerable factors affecting the site and eventually contributing to its demolition include: The success of the 16 th Street Mall Neglect and cuts in maintenance budget in the City Changes in adjacent land uses and failure to adhere to the Master Plan when development occurred Urban demographic changes and accompanying needs for open space Shifts in adjacent land owners and businesses the privitization of public spaces Perceptions of the park - Issues about safety Changes in taste a failure to value the design, which seemed dated and out of touch with current ideas Preservationists failed to cultivate appreciation of Halprin s design and its importance in the city s life and history too little too late. 65

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