Designing Heritage Park: Inside the Halprin Archives, Part Three – The Design Comes Together
April 28, 2009 at 11:22 am | Architecture & Urban Design, Preservation | Tags: Downtown, Historic Preservation, Parks & Plazas, Trinity River Vision, Uptown, urban design
Continuing our look into the archives of Heritage Park designer Lawrence Halprin courtesy of District 9 City Council member Joel Burns, in Part Three we’ll be looking at sketches from the actual design of Heritage Park itself, and seeing how the park evolved as Halprin went along.
Our first image finds Heritage Park on the west side of the Paddock Viaduct, as we know it today.
At this point, the overlook had not yet appeared, and the configuration of the park was a bit more compact.
As the design progressed, the overlook appeared, though on the other side of the park. Some elements of the final design were starting to be seen, including the water wall along the park’s entrance on Bluff (one of the features that hadn’t worked for some time due to lack of maintenance by the time the park closed).
Halprin started to play with the location of the overlook, here thinking about the various sight lines from a location on the western side of the park.
Here, the park is starting to resemble the park we know a bit more – the overlook is in its eventual place, and the layout is starting to come together. The interior details are still a bit different, but the final design is starting to emerge.
As we start to arrive at the final design, here’s a section looking at the eastern elevation.
A view from the west, looking up what would eventually be the brick path that leads from the river to the park.
Halprin also did some sketches of the interior views, especially of the overlook and other various walkways.
Another walkway sketch, showing one of the cascading water features that follow the paths.
The overlook, extending from the bluffs towards the river on the north.
Finally, we arrive at the final design of the park. This gives an idea of how much more open and light the park felt when new, before lack of maintenance led to it being heavily overgrown. A lot of the problems with the park’s rather uninviting feel could be solved by trimming the trees back a bit.
Once again, a big thanks to District 9 City Council member Joel Burns for sharing with us these images from the archives of landscape architect Lawrence Halprin. They give us an interesting look into the design process of Halprin as he put together Heritage Park. We hope that the planned restoration of the park will give the city back this unique space on the bluff.