The park also includes several HWKN-designed pavilions clad in a topographical layering of limestone block—sourced locally—as well as a café, an ice rink, a winter skate rental facility, a children’s playground, and a soon-to-be-realized outdoor stage.
The overall concept was as much about ensuring longevity as it was site-specific integration, taking into account the different facets of the site’s history while facilitating its auspicious destiny as a beloved public space. “With this project being the first of its kind, a lot of details are novel but, at the same time, have already informed work we’ve done in other projects,” says Matthias Hollwich, HWKN founding principal.
Hollwich believes that the team’s approach to finding climate resilience in preexisting natural systems can be a model for urban placemaking and revitalization in other cities as well. “It’s about creative programming that enables people to do things they want to do, and identity-generating architecture that makes a place recognizable—and filled with future memories,” he concludes.
