Amberg Park Design Plans!
by admin ~ October 22nd, 2009
Attached below are three long term development plans for Amberg Park. During the October 2009 Dutchtown West Neighborhood Association (DWNA) monthly meeting, representatives from Saint Louis University and Washington University in St. Louis made a presentation on their ideas/designs to improve our neighborhood park and solicited feedback from neighbors.
PDF Versions:
Amber Park Option A
Amberg Park Option B
Amberg Park Option C
Pictures (Click Image to Enlarge):
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- Amberg Park Option C
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- Amberg Park Option A
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- Amberg Park Option B
Take a look at their designs and leave a comment to this post with any ideas, suggestions, questions relating to Amberg Park!
November 11th, 2009 at 11:13 pm
I definitely like Option C the best. Who maintains the garden area, though? Maintaining a garden is not simple work.
I do not like the idea of a basketball court. These often attract loitering and often quickly become run down, becoming an eye sore.
Overall, like the ideas and glad something is being done about the park! There is a lot of wasted space that could be put to quality use.
December 3rd, 2009 at 12:32 pm
Here are my thoughts:
Part of me wants a basketball court (Plan B), so that way the kids might have a safer option than the street to play ball. I also like the idea of the community market — but I wonder if this can be blended with the court — so as to allow future overflow from the market to take place on the court. (This would be similar to Tower Grove Farmer’s Market, right?)
I think it’s weird that Option A and C both seem to feature this underground water collection tank. The tank seems to be called out more than any of the above ground features. Not sure why/how it’s needed.
The park is only on 2.7 acres, so I’m not sure if a fitness/health circulator path is all that necessary.
Try thinking of other small, successful urban parks and what makes them stand out. A park needs to be an oasis from home and work. Large trees offer shade during the summer months. The already existing (and now functioning) spray pool offers some reprieve during humid summer days.
Thinking of successful, smaller urban parks — the parks in Portland, Oregon have standout playgrounds — complete with all sorts of things kids can get hurt on. Real seesaws, monkey bars, zip lines, merry-go-rounds and old fashioned swing-sets seem to be quite popular. We have a large number of children in our neighborhood and a huge level of diversity (the International Institute is just down the street). Playgrounds bring the community together. In addition, enhancing the playground would fall in line with the park’s namesake.
Successful parks should be a gathering space. If we want the community to hang out together, let’s offer some seating. More than just benches, we want seats that are inviting and comfortable. We might try movable chairs and tables.
Just think of a community gathering place for potluck dinners. Let’s build in some grills where we can cook the food that’s grown in our gardens.
Lastly, let’s build a wall where we can project movies on summer nights.
Regards,
Michael