Spokane Tribal Gathering Placeh

In 2012, Avista Utilities decided to redevelop Huntington Park in downtown Spokane, Washington to commemorate the company's original Monroe Street hydroelectric generating station built in 1889, and its 125th anniversary of supplying power from the powerful flow of the Spokane River. Prior to renovation the park was overgrown, ill-maintained and generally inaccessible to the public. Avista also funded the development of a plaza on the city hall parking lot. Construction began in 2014 on the 100-acre park, which is directly atop the hydroelectric facility.

The weir water feature, designed by landscape architect David Nelson,
 reflects the connection between the city and the Spokane River, where energy, transportation and commerce forever transformed this area. The water feature is a combination of concrete and cut basalt stones arranged in patterns representing the Monroe Street hydroelectric development, and the natural outcroppings of the Spokane River lower falls.
 A major constraint to the park and plaza design was the gondola ride dating from Expo 1974. The gondola begins in Riverfront Park, crosses the plaza and continues over the hydroelectric facility to the lower end of the falls. The supporting pylons limited grade changes and the height restricted tree locations throughout the project.

At the heart of Spokane, Washington are the spectacular waterfalls of the Spokane River. Spokane (pop. 208,916) omega speedmaster replica is in upper eastern Washington state, east of the Cascade Range, 92 miles south of the Canadian border, and just 20 miles from the Idaho border. The Spokane River provided fishing and a gathering place for Spokane and Nez Perce Indians. Pacific northwest settlers harnessed the power of the falls to build a city and fuel industrial growth. The original Monroe Street generating station built in 1889 is still in use today at Huntington Park, part of the hydroelectric development operated by Avista Utilities.

The Battery Point staircase is the new gateway into Huntington Park. Between the substation and a bridge abutment was a decaying brick battery storage building. Land Expressions was also charged with repairing the building's exterior and designing and installing a grand staircase around it to provide access to a river viewing area, now called Battery Point, overlooking the upper falls and the river gorge.

Park Redevelopment Commemorates Power Plant's 125 Anniversary
In 2012, Avista decided to redevelop Huntington Park to commemorate the company's 125th anniversary and its partnership with the community. Spokane has many annual events that bring hundreds of thousands of people to the downtown. The Lilac Bloomsday Run, which began in 1977, attracts tens of thousands of runners annually from all over (61,298 runners in the 1996 was the peak year). Hoop Fest, a 3-on-3 basketball competition, fields over 7,000 teams playing on 450 courts. Many parades, conventions and a First Night event on New Year's Eve all bring out the community and visitors. It was time for Spokane to upgrade Huntington Park and create a new modern plaza with increased access to the river.

Having worked successfully with Land Expressions before, Avista contacted the firm early on for how to best proceed and to consider design solutions for the park.

As a gift to Spokane, Avista Utilities also funded the development of an urban plaza on city land. This came about because the only thing separating Huntington Park from the west end of Spokane's 100-acre Riverfront Park was a city hall parking lot. The city council voted to give up the parking in favor of this new connection between the parks and the upper and lower falls of the river. The powerful public/private partnership between the city and the utility company made possible this new economic asset, building tourism and allowing residents and visitors to experience the tremendous power of the great Spokane River.

Spokane Tribal Gathering Place
To honor the original residents of the area and reflect the original function of the falls, the new plaza is named "Spokane Tribal Gathering Place." The public has embraced and celebrated this plaza, particularly because it has vast views of the river and falls. An ADA accessible vista point overlooks historic Monroe Street Bridge and the French Renaissance architecture of the Spokane County Courthouse north of the river.

Land Expressions removed and disposed of over 2,000 cubic yards of contaminated soil to design a terraced entry to the Spokane Tribal Gathering Place, transforming a parking area into a staired gateway to Huntington Park. The railings are the design of Land Expressions and custom built by Rick Nelson, owner of Ornamental Gate. The fall colors are Bloodgood Japanese maples (red leaves top left), native serviceberries (orange-red shrubs), Katsura (yellow leafed trees at top), and Rocky Mountain maples (yellow leafed trees at bottom).

Challenges
Land Expressions was retained as prime consultant to design and build the entire project, and given a time-line of only 18 months for the landscape architecture, permitting and construction. The city partnered with Avista by offering a deferred submittal permit to expedite plan review and meet Avista's deadline for the grand opening. Due to the short timeline, a large portion of the installation took place during Spokane's winter season. Equally challenging was the necessity of removal and disposal of 2,000 cubic yards of contaminated soil. That and other obstacles increased costs and labor, but the deadline remained.

A major constraint to the park and plaza design was the gondola ride dating from Expo 1974. The gondola begins in Riverfront Park, crosses the plaza and continues over the hydroelectric facility to the lower end of the falls. The supporting pylons limited grade changes and the height of the cables restricted tree locations throughout the project.

The Spokane Tribal Gathering Place features an event plaza designed by the staff of Land Expressions, with support of TD&H Engineers, Trindera Engineering, GeoEngineers, Coffman Engineers and South Henry Studios. The plaza features a cut native basalt amphitheater and low retaining wall, scenic overlooks of the river gorge, two water falls, interpretive signage and an industrial-themed 23' tall steel fire beacon designed by landscape architect Dave Nelson with Paul Herrington, AIA. The beacon is lit each evening, a reminder that natural gas service helped build and fund the construction of the plaza. The plaza plants"?u"Blue Oat' grass, "Admiration' barberry, "Blue Balloon' Caryopteris, "Alpine Daphne' and "Magic Carpet' Spirea, "Tvurdy' yew, Bloodgood Japanese maples and Katsura tree"?uwere designed in blocks to show large areas of color when viewed from the upper floors of city hall (building in background), and also to have a contemporary arrangement to suit the plaza architecture.

Street Improvements, Rain Gardens and Pedestrian Access
The project also encompassed street improvements, including rain gardens to slow traffic and create pedestrian access to the plaza. This was done adjacent to an Avista substation, a registered historical landmark. Between the substation and a bridge abutment sat a decaying brick battery storage building. Land Expressions was also charged with repairing the building's exterior and designing and installing a grand staircase around it to provide access to a river viewing area, now called Battery Point.

Salmon fishing and trading were central to the life of the Spokane and Nez Perce Native Americans along the Spokane River. The plaza celebrates that connection, creating an upper and lower falls for the plaza to represent the downtown falls. Designed by landscape architect David Nelson, the falls feature a combination of natural and cut basalt stones arranged in patterns representative of the terracing topography of the river's falls. LEDs were chosen for all fixtures in the upper plaza to reduce power consumption and provide a neutral white, contemporary lighting style. Accent uplighting features, white frosted and amber lenses to "warm" the space. Submerged "Hockey Puck' LEDs (Roman Fountains) add a cool blue contrast.
 The stairs are lit with recessed wall LEDs (Bega-U.S.). The electrical engineering was Trindera of Spokane.

The hydroelectric facility includes a concrete dam intake structure, penstock and turbine-type generator with a gravel road traversing the site for crane access. The penstock is under a grand stair that serves as a river promenade. The penstock pressurizes the water to the turbine, which sits under a public plaza at the lowest elevation of the falls. During spring run-off this area draws visitors thrilled by the spray and tremendous volume of water tossing full size logs over the lower falls.

Right The terrace amphitheater comprises cut basalt stones weighing up to four tons each. The terrace was designed by the creative staff of Land Expressions, and installed with artistic flare by team members Jon Rettman and Max Slater.
 Dense evergreen plantings in the terraces were specified to handle heavy foot traffic. Flower colors were also a deciding factor. Plantings include "Wooly' thyme (foreground), "Firewitch' Dianthus "Emerald Gaiety' wintercreeper, "Vancouver Gold' Genista and evergreen "Candytufts'

Huntington Park is on the south bank of the Spokane River, adjacent to the lower falls. Park visitors come to the edge of the river to witness the awesome power of the river as it drives the Monroe Street hydroelectric plant.
 Brought into operation in 1890, this is the oldest hydroelectric operation in the state still in operation. It's considered a small hydroelectric plant. In 1992, five of the 1890 generators were replaced with a single state of the art turbine-generator unit, doubling the plant's megawattage capabilities. The Spokane Dam, i.e., the lower falls, was rebuilt in 1974. It is 24' tall, and 200' wide.

Native Basalt, Plants and Sculptures
Land Expressions' design program for Huntington Park was to reflect the ancient history as well as the recent industry of the area. Interpretive signage has been installed throughout the project. The local geology is represented using hundreds of tons of columnar basalt, cut and placed for benches in the park and to form an amphitheater in the Spokane Tribal Gathering Place. The remnants from the benches were used for retaining walls and water features. Native plants were planted exclusively in the park, which deer and marmots still call home. The "Salmon Chief', and two other sculptures by Virgil "Smoker" Marchand celebrate the salmon resources harvested by Native Americans.

Lighting, electrical upgrades, road improvements, and renovations to the historic Post Street Substation (brick building) were part of the project. The substation was designed by Kirkland Cutter and built by the Washington Water Power Co. (Avista) in 1910. The building housed the transformers and switches for the city's street lighting, power for the streetcars, rail lines and distributed electricity throughout the city. It remains an operating substation. The planting design for the plaza and terraces is by Kathryn Swehla. The plantings in the park are all native, but not those in the plaza (right of substation), which are populated by Rocky Mountain maples and Douglas firs. Above the custom stained Redi-Rock retaining walls, the ground is hydroseeded with a native grass seed mix: "Sodar' streambank wheatgrass, "Goldar' bluebunch wheatgrass, "Critana' thickspire wheatgrass, "Canby' Sandberg bluegrass, "Winchester'Idaho fescue, and prarie junegrass. The bright orange shrubs are Serviceberries (larger) and Spirea betulifolia "Tor'. Overall the planting design for the park was to be natural but organized in appearance, Kathryn explains. "The park used to have Ponderosa pines and a lot of nonnative invasive species that we removed."

To represent Spokane's industrial history, old turbines and gears salvaged from local dam sites were placed in Confluence Plaza. Railings and grates bespeak the industrial theme, and two new functional sculptures were designed and installed by Land Expressions. Both sculptures are based on dam spillway lift gate structures. One is the 25-foot red arbor in the park; the other is a 23-foot tall gas-fired feature in the Spokane Tribal Gathering Place.

Land Expressions Team
All 34 members of the Land Expressions team worked on the park/plaza project under the leadership of Dave Nelson, owner and principal landscape architect. The landscape architects and designers at Land Expressions have enjoyed the satisfaction of seeing the public use the park and plaza as they envisioned during the design work, with families, downtown workers, bicyclists and runners using the park for concerts, events, picnics, wedding photos and nature walks. After the grand opening, visitors to the park increased from 8 people to over 650 per day. The finished project has been an extraordinary success for Avista and the city of Spokane, connecting people to the river, instilling a new vibrancy to the downtown core and generating appreciation of how fortunate residents are to live where the majestic Spokane River runs right through the heart of the city.

Reflective of the hydroelectric spillway lift gates, this steel arbor within the spray zone of the Lower Spokane Falls is 25' long by 18' tall. The arbor is oriented to maximize views of the Spokane River Gorge and historic Monroe Street Bridge.
 To ensure maximum shade throughout the seasons, the joists were strategically placed using three-dimensional models and sun/shade studies. The existing railings were repainted. The benches and trash receptacles are from Fair Weather Site Furnishings. The turfgrass is drought-tolerant fescue blend (Basin Sod). The lighting is "Granville' series leaf-style luminaires with metal halide ballasts on 12' Holophane poles.

There are three life-size Native American artworks at Huntington Park. The 12' tall Salmon Chief sculpture by Virgil "Smoker" Marchand depicts a chief raising a salmon for the river to bless, while two Native American women on a nearby cliff (not in view) hang salmon to dry. The Salmon Chief provided a spiritual blessing over the catch, decided when and where to fish and divided the salmon among the tribes. The sculpture sited and oriented the sculpture to the Spokane River's lower falls, the source of life for untold generations.

Huntington Park is in the shadow of the historic Washington Water Power Building and on the south bank of the Spokane River's lower falls.
The renovated park reflects site history with hydroelectric artifacts, industrial references, Native American artwork, and native stone and plant material.


HA mid-block crosswalk and reduced road width coupled with unique plantings, furnishings and lighting, alerts pedestrians and vehicles as they cross from the existing public park to the new "Spokane Tribal Gathering Place' plaza. The design is by Land Expressions with engineering support from Spokane based Thomas Dean & Hoskins Engineers.
 The 16' tall light poles (Lumca) have ornamental bases, mounting arms and aluminum luminaires with neutral white, high-powered LEDs. The bike racks (Iron Age Designs) are the Spak 36" bollard style. The foreground plantings are "Blue Oat' grass, "Admiration' barberry and Katsura tree.