The Playgrounds Issue of Landscape Architect and Specifier News saw many firms submit their projects for feature consideration. Among several great projects, we at LandscapeArchitect.com thought Gates Park deserved to be showcased online.

 
Gates Park was in desperate need of transformation, with an aging pool and basketball and tennis court facilities that were in disrepair and underutilized. An assessment of the overall aquatic facility needs in Waterloo revealed that the city could no longer justify two outdoor pool facilities as they had operated for the past 40 years. RITLAND+KUIPER Landscape Architects (RKLA) was asked to lead a diverse public input process to identify what neighborhood and community members would like to see developed in the park utilizing the funds that would have been required to replace the pool. RKLA used that community input to create an actionable master plan for the redevelopment of nearly 30 acres of the park. The resulting vision includes an expansive inclusive playground and splash pad, a colorful lighted outdoor basketball court and skating rink complex that doubles as an amphitheater for outdoor performances and community gatherings, centralized parking lots with bioretention areas for filtering storm runoff, a full-sized irrigated soccer field, recreation trails, picnic shelters, restroom facilities, additional playground areas, and new landscape plantings.

Because of the highly volatile bidding climate after COVID, initial bids were well over budget, and the City was faced with very difficult decisions to deliver the project scope with the funds the City had available. As such, the design team worked with the general contractor in an extensive iterative value engineering process to help align the project scope with the budget. In spite of the many ongoing design changes in the execution of a very complicated project involving many trades, the playground and splash pad were completed early to allow the City access to offset another pool needing to close.

The $9.2 million project has received rave reviews from both the neighborhood as well as those in other parts of the community that are travelling to the park to experience its unique amenities. This park will serve as a beacon of light in a historically economically and ethnically disadvantaged neighborhood for years to come.

To see more Playgrounds projects, go to https://landscapearchitect.com/landscape-articles/lasns-playgrounds-issue-34717#article1
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