The story…what was once a residential property the site, with the house now gone, has become an opportunity for not only a new pocket park in the city, but a new pedestrian connection within the neighborhood. Utilizing creative walks, a rich landscape and public art opportunities the new public space would be a community investment and commitment to good stewardship of the natural environment.
Public access: is curved into the site for two reasons. One reason is to pull people into the park to bring awareness to the new space, but more importantly it is to utilize the space as a stormwater/green infrastructure opportunity. Utilizing native plants this area can help with cleaning stormwater as it moves through the site.
The Garden: the park, overall, is a passive park. This creates an opportunity to create a botanical garden of native plants and spaces for quiet reflection. Evergreen plants are surrounding the site to create a bit of a privacy screen for the park and neighbors. Pollinator gardens are also strategically places throughout the design. The small "upper" green could be used for picnics or just hanging out. The paths widen along curves to create seating opportunities that will not impede on pedestrian flow; the paths are also handicap accessible with an "offroad" path that would be a woodland path. Native understory trees would highlight the tree canopy with a few larger Oaks and Maples to create a larger canopy space.
The Green: on the lower elevation zone of the park there is a larger green for small programmed activities like yoga. There is also an opportunity to acknowledge the history of the area. Bringing in small steel pieces reflecting nearby Atlantic Steel, that the community can paint and interact with creates a sense of ownership to the park for the community. Since the connection to Lyle Place is the lowest area of the site a grove of water loving trees is utilized.