River Park Richard Burck Associates

Landscape Narrative

DESIGN STATEMENT / APPROACH

Our vision – goal for River Park is to fulfi ll the requirements of the competition brief in a dramatic way that creates a strong sense of place and instills a sense of mystery and a magical quality to the landscape for all users. Topographically, River Park has steep escarpments defi ning fl at terraces that are cut by a ravine on the south end of the parcel. Walking above these 40 and 50 foot high escarpments, one gains a sense of almost being in the canopies of the trees that populate the slopes above the narrow meadows below, recalling the perspective of a child in a tree house looking out and down at the world below. Our design goal is to engage these emotional responses and amplify them by using a distinct family of structures such as bridges, suspended stairs and tree house outlooks to heighten one’s experience of the site.

People understand the qualities of a place from the perspective of the path they take. There is a long and colorful history (FL Olmsted, Stanley Abbott, Gordon Cullen, Kevin Lynch, etc.), of conceptualizing pedestrian paths as a linear narrative of “place” – one viewing, resting, contemplation, education setting after another. River Park Parcel 6 lends itself to this method of interpretation because it is a linear landscape marked with dramatic features – the escarpment, ravine and the river. It is the purpose of our design to employ this “serial viewing” experience in varied ways – from theatric to secluded.

Along the series of paths, pedestrian structures are sited as a series of places (like charms attached to a bracelet), allowing one to experience the site in different settings – in different ways, alone with a book, lunch up in the trees, or together with a group of coworkers or friends gathering for a birthday celebration. The “bracelet” constitutes a network of pedestrian paths creating a continuous river edge passage way while also creating a series of overlapping circuit pathways within the project area. All of this will be done in a manner that expresses the most diverse and dramatic qualities of the landscape while transporting users to various destinations – café, boat launch, playground, play meadow, or simply passing through the property to another destination.

The site structures proposed include bridges, suspended stairs, park loggia, picnic shelters, and “tree house overlooks” and have been studied schematically by our structural engineer in a modern industrial esthetic incorporating wood posts, beams, crafted steel connections, handrails, and tension cables. This design approach is intended to create a common and authentic identity within the River Park landscape that will be evident to users and seen in contrast to the verdant natural plant associations that comprise the site.

The open spaces, paths, site features, and park program are intended to engage all age groups, users, seasons, special events and be a memorable link or destination within the larger regional circulation network.

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

VILLAGE GREEN – The Village Green is the key feature of the developed part of the project. It is designed having two parts: the Green, an unprogrammed, oval-shaped lawn elevated slightly above the adjacent roadways. Four feet above the Green is the Garden – a smaller, more intimately scaled setting edged with ornamental plantings and featuring a small fountain. This elevated garden is screened and more removed from the surrounding context. The Green would be designed with a “high activity” lawn capable of supporting uses including farmer’s markets, informal sports activities, a winter skating rink and concerts. A loggia structure serves as a gateway that both separates and connects these two landscapes becoming a key seating location for viewing into both open spaces. The loggia decking is at the Garden level and is therefore elevated above the Green. As such it provides a shaded overview of the Green and its activities and can be used as a stage for more concert-type events.

ALLEE – The allee is the key integrating element of the developed part of River Park. A generous width pedestrian / bicycle path fl anked by sugar maples and oaks, it assumes the role of “connector” and “organizer”, subordinating the vehicular roadway. The allee begins at the entry sign and constitutes one of the key linear open spaces of the project.

ENTRY SIGN – The entry sign is the key “identifi er” of the project while also being an important part of the pedestrian allee. In the latter role, it becomes the “threshold” that signals the beginning of the project. In all, it combines a modern statement of place, internally illuminated, sitting partially in a small pond with a misting cloud at its base. A bridge crossing the pond makes this a pedestrian experience as well as a vehicular one and initiates the design vocabulary of the rest of the development.

ESCARPMENT PATH – The “high path” of the river setting, this path offers the most dramatic experiences within River Park. Overlooking the steep escarpment, grassy meadow below and Connecticut River beyond, it connects to steeply descending stairs, crosses bridges and affords suspended walks out to tree house overlooks within the canopies of the forested slope.

RAVINE PATH – The “low path” of the parcel, this path connects the Village Green to the Connecticut River in a dramatic way, wandering down within the steep walled ravine among ferns, carpinus, witch hazel and rising tree trunks in a quiet and deeply shaded corridor.

LOWER MEADOW AND PATH – The ultimate destination of River, meadow and corridor pathway. The grasses in the lower meadow are maintained at a taller height towards the north as animal habitat and shorter towards the south to accommodate play.

BUILT FEATURES – The proposed park structures are intended to amplify one’s experience of the park – the Green, paths, escarpment, ravine, and lower meadow. This family of related structures, both in materials and engineering, along with an almost singular planting approach, form a consistent identity for River Park creating a strong “sense of place”.

PLANTING – Three distinct kinds of planting are proposed for River Park. The fi rst is the Village Green “garden”, a richly planted intimate garden space. The second is the “allee”, a corridor of closely spaced sugar maples and oaks. The last is the existing Semi-rich Oak - Sugar Maple Forest Association and the same rich plant association used for all other newly planted areas including the Village Green, street edges and interstitial spaces between buildings.

PHASING STRATEGY

Phasing of site construction should be scheduled in direct relationship to building projects to consolidate project management efforts and as a way of dividing site work in discreet parts, tying the construction cost of those parts directly to larger building projects. Such a phased approach may look like this:

Phase I Entry Sign Village Green Allee – Phase I

Phase II Ravine Walk Boat Launch Allee – Phase II

Phase III Escarpment Walk Escarpment Bridges (3) and Staircases (2) Allee – Phase III

Phase IV All Tree Houses (4) Allee – Phase IV

Phase V River Walk Play Structure Picnic Shelters (3)

Phase VI Café