Stretching along the riverfront from the Arena District to the Whittier Peninsula, the reinvigorated Scioto Mile reconnects downtown Columbus to the Scioto River through parks, boulevards, bikeways and pedestrian paths.

Columbus, the capital and largest city in Ohio, is situated at the confluence of the Scioto and Olentangy rivers. The Scioto Mile, a long-anticipated improvement of the downtown riverfront, has transformed the urban core of the city and led to resurgence in downtown activity and investment. Conceived in the midst of the Great Recession, the decision to build a signature park was initially criticized by some.

The Scioto Mile ultimately succeeded in changing the minds of its critics as a testament not just to the design and content of the park, but to the public-private partnership that spearheaded the development of this landmark project.

MKSK designed an arch of five stainless steel halos supported on curving steel posts. They incorporate 1,100 specialty ruby-tipped fog nozzles to produce a supply of pressurized cold mist, and soft rain effects that arc down from the halos in a circular pattern. The halos were fabricated and assembled with lapidary precision by Stewart Ironworks of Covington, Kentucky, a century-old ironworks company. LEDs and projectors display images on the fountain blossom.

A 21st Century Model for Public Park Development
Columbus broke new ground with its approach to the Scioto Mile Riverfront Park. Prior to this project, park development in the city was almost entirely publicly funded and administered. The $42 million Scioto Mile project was funded with equal parts private and public contributions, and developed by a not-for-profit urban redevelopment corporation. The park was designed, promoted, and unveiled in a way that completely transformed the way the nation's 15th largest city perceived its urban core.

1,079 ground-level spray nozzles along a crescent-shaped scrim of water stretching 200 feet long and one-fourth inch deep create 24 moving water hedgerows. The water in the fountain is chlorinated and recirculated through a 110,000 gallon underground reservoir.

Everyone's Neighborhood
Leading a multidisciplinary design team of over 20 consultants, MSI Design, Now MKSK, Landscape Architects and Urban Planners, was charged with creating a signature urban park, a unique regional attraction and a public open space that would be the heart of civic events for Columbus and central Ohio. The explicit message from the client was that if the park did not draw people, it would not be considered successful"?udowntown is "everyone's neighborhood" and the park must serve a broad audience. To achieve that goal, MKSK played a large role in challenging and reshaping the initial design program established by the city and the client. A large-scale fountain originally proposed as a floating water feature located in the river was moved into the park to allow hands-on interaction between park users and the water. Initially over $17 million (nearly half of the budget) was slated for a lower-level river walk. This proved to be impractical due to frequent combined sewer overflows and prohibitive safety, health and accessibility issues associated with accessing the river. As an alternative, MKSK recommended these dollars be spent to reinvigorate an existing seven-acre park at street level, which could accommodate many thousands of additional park users and relate more directly to the urban environment.

The centerpiece of Bicentennial Park is a 15,000 sq. ft. interactive fountain designed by the Waterworx Company of Toronto, a prolific water features designer. Curved stainless steel "blossom" poles are tightly spaced to prevent access to the high-velocity bursts of water from the fountain jets that sky to 70 feet. The poles are plumbed to create an additional spouting water feature reminiscent of a flower blossom.

The redesign of this park also enabled downtown festivals and events, which draw nearly a million people to the riverfront each year, to be easily accommodated by replacing an ad hoc system of temporary water and electric supply with easily accessible built-in utility systems designed to meet the needs of the multiple festival organizers. MKSK extensively researched these needs, proposed a system of integrated infrastructure for festival service and coordinated with adjacent city and state public works projects to incorporate this system into concurrent roadway and bridge projects.

The landscape accents for the street are maroon colored daylilies, and London Plane trees (left) and Hornbeams (right). The safety bollardesque columns connected by chains are constructed of the same granite as the fountain, only with a polished finish.

A Complex Urban Environment
The Scioto Mile is carefully stitched into the existing fabric of the downtown riverfront and stretches from the city's historic Civic Center District to the emerging residential River South District. The challenge of integrating the park into the surroundings was heightened by the fact that the park was bounded on all sides and bisected by new public infrastructure projects (multiple bridge and road projects under multiple authorities) being built concurrent with the park.

The bronze fish, which swim in a granite tiled basin, were sculptured by Spohn and Associates of Indianapolis, and cast by Deggenger's Foundry in Topeka. The planter by the fish contains Hornbeam trees, Green Velvet boxwood shrubs, tropical variegated ginger, chartreuse potato vine, purple wave petunia, and New Guinea impatiens.

Scioto Mile composes two main pieces"?uthe promenade and park. The promenade is a 30-foot wide linear garden walk with shade trellises, chess tables, relaxing park swings and elegant bronze fish fountains. Under MKSK's direction the promenade was created by narrowing a four-lane, one-way arterial roadway along the city's historic Civic Center Drive to a two-lane, two-way, pedestrian-friendly city street. The character of the promenade is compatible with the adjacent historic civic architecture, and features amenities of durable bronze, granite, copper, brick and cast stone. MKSK's design for the promenade has transformed it into the best place to watch a sunset in central Ohio.

The metal pergola/trellis structures are galvanized and painted. They were designed by Schooley Caldwell Architects and fabricated by Stewart Ironworks of Covington, Kentucky. The sandblasted precast concrete pergola supports were fabricated by Baxter precast. The landscape architect wanted the promenade hardscape to match that of phase I across the street"?uthe contrast of the silvery colored "Manganese Ironspot' (Endicott Brick) pavers against the white marble of the State Supreme Court Building"?ubut the client wanted more red brick, so there's a mix of reddish pavers ("Pathway Ironspot', Pine Hall Brick) and the silvery pavers. For the three grouped fish fountains, the manganese pavers blended well with the fountain basin granite (Polycor Caledonia medium). The remaining part of the promenade from the fountains north to Broad Street and south to Town Street became the reddish pavers.

At the southern end of the promenade is the park, John W. Galbreath Bicentennial Park. The main features of the park include a local, independent restaurant operating out of a new glass-enclosed 200-seat restaurant, an outdoor performance venue and event lawn, and a 15,000 square foot public interactive fountain. Whether one sits indoors or on the covered patio, the highly transparent restaurant offers commanding views of the park and fountain activity. The amphitheater and event lawn are used for weekend activities, such as movies in the park and concerts. In 2012, these events drew record crowds, with 8,000 people attending the opening concert and 3,000 people on average taking in the Saturday movie nights.

The stainless steel perforated lighting shrouds ("Boreal' by Schr????(R)???(C)der) emulate translucent paper lanterns. The benches, designed by MKSK, are precast concrete chairs placed side-by-side. The railing is solid bar steel and powder coated black (designed by MKSK; fabricated by Stewart Ironworks). Multicolored granite pavers and buff-wash concrete complement the precast seating, precast bed edging and the birch grove. The promenade sign (left) is water-jet cut solid aluminum and black powder coated.

Fountain Focus
The fountain is the centerpiece of the park and is anchored by a crescent-shaped scrim of water stretching 200 feet long and one-fourth inch deep. The crescent is embedded with over 500 nozzles that create moving patterns of delicate water hedges that provide the main interactive feature for park users. To heighten visibility of the fountain from across the river and from other downtown vantage points, MKSK designed five stainless steel halos supported on curving steel posts and a central stainless steel blossom that houses a 70-foot high burst jet. To protect children and fountain users from the high velocity water of the burst jet, curved blossom poles are spaced and arranged to prevent access, and also plumbed to create an additional spouting water feature, reminiscent of a flower blossom.

With over 1,000 specialty ruby-tipped fog nozzles, the five stainless steel halos supply a pressurized cold mist effect, plus a soft rain effect that arcs down from the halos in a circular pattern. The halos were fabricated and assembled with lapidary precision by a century-old ironworks company, which crafted the metal works in careful coordination with the requirements of the mechanical and fountain contractors. During the evening, LEDs and a projector system display images on the fountain blossom adding drama to the downtown skyline.

Some 8,000 people attended the amphitheater's opening concert, and thousands enjoy the Saturday movie nights. To resist compaction for the event lawn, which as you see attracts masses of humanity, six inches of high-sand content topsoil was placed before laying a sod mixture primarily of improved varieties of Turf Type tall fescue. Sod was laid approximately 60 days before the opening of the park. The park and promenade has a moisture activated, automatic irrigation system.

The Public Greets its Newest Park
When the construction fence came down on the evening of July 7, 2011, over 25,000 people converged on Scioto Mile Park for the grand opening weekend. Over the balance of the summer, more than 200,000 people filled the park for concerts, dining at a new local independent restaurant, enjoying the interactive water features, and just strolling along the riverfront. The crowds far exceeded expectations, which delighted and challenged all those involved in the development and operation of the park. In addition to the extensive event calendar and formal programming for the park, the Scioto Mile has been home to chess tournaments, bike club events, daycare class visits, tai chi, martial arts classes, and many other spontaneous examples of an appreciative public finding new ways to use and experience the park.

In 2012, the Scioto Mile attracted more than a million visitors who participated in various festivals, activities and simple relaxation along Columbus's Scioto River.

The custom-made swing benches are a popular amenity for relaxing and viewing the Scioto River at sunset. Clipped "Green Velvet' boxwood and maroon colored daylilies decorate the planting bed.

Bicentennial Park Supports Columbus
Bicentennial Park has had a significant positive environmental and economic impact on the adjacent downtown community. Through a significant reduction in impervious area, the project was not required to provide stormwater quality treatment facilities. However, by incorporating 600 linear feet of bioswales to treat stormwater runoff, Scioto Mile amassed stormwater credits for up to 7.5 acres of private development in the adjacent downtown blocks, thereby fostering private investment. In addition, by restoring over 1,000 linear feet of river edge, which had previously been lined with concrete walls and revetments, the project was able to add three acres of new park space. Through a partnership with American Electric Power, the energy consumption of the park is offset by over 150 solar panels arrayed on the roof of the Milestone 229 restaurant.

Perhaps the most unique water-conserving feature of the park was developed in conjunction with the Columbus Department of Public Utilities and the Ohio EPA, which permitted diluted storm overflow from the fountain basin to be routed to the bioswales for treatment and infiltration, in lieu of direct piping to the sanitary system. This provided critical relief of an over-burdened sanitary system with a history of overflow into the river.

Scioto Mile has ushered in a new model for public parks in Columbus, one centered on a strong public-private partnership to provide funding and oversight for project development, an unwavering commitment to high-quality design and construction, an energetic and informative social media campaign to engage the public, and an endowment to support maintenance and operational needs. The result has been the creation of a new social center of gravity for downtown Columbus, a catalyst for development and a symbol of civic commitment.

Project Roster
Owner: City of Columbus, Ohio, Department of Recreation and Parks
Landscape Architect: MKSK, Landscape Architects and Urban Planners, Columbus
Architect of Record: HKI Associates
Civil Engineer: EMH&T
Construction Manager: Messer Construction
Corporate Leader: American Electric Power
Design Architect: 360 Architecture
Fountain Consultant: Waterworx Co., Toronto
Geotechnical Engineer: Resource International
Halo Fountain Features: Stewart Ironworks, Covington, Kentucky
Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing Consultant: HAWA, Inc.
Pavilion and Balustrade Renovation Architect: Schooley Caldwell Associates
Sculpture Consultant: Spohn Associates
Sound and Video Consultant: Live Technologies
Structural Engineer: Shelly, Metz, Baughman, Hawk