Set to inspire creativity, exploration, and connection, Taylor Farm Park represents a transformative investment in public park infrastructure in Central Virginia. Located in Sandston within Henrico County's Varina District, this 99-acre public park - master planned by Rhodeside & Harwell and designed by Timmons Group - reimagines a site with deep history and ecological significance as a contemporary civic landscape where people of all ages, backgrounds, and abilities can come together through play and exploration. The site formerly owned by the namesake Taylor family includes their homestead location and a portion of the working farm which they operated for over a century, reflecting a deep local legacy and a forward-looking vision for public space.

At its core, the park addresses a critical need. National research continues to highlight inequities in access to high-quality parks, with underserved communities often lacking both the quantity and quality of recreational amenities available elsewhere. As the first large community park constructed in the county since 1982, Taylor Farm Park fills a decades-long gap in major public infrastructure while elevating expectations for what a modern park can achieve. The impact has been immediate: within its first year of operation following its July 2024 opening, the park has attracted nearly one million visitors, a clear indicator of both latent demand and the success of its design strategy. This level of visitation mirrors broader findings that well-designed parks can increase foot traffic and support surrounding businesses, reinforcing the role of public space as both a social and economic catalyst.

Rather than relying on isolated amenities, Taylor Farm Park is organized as an interconnected landscape that encourages movement, discovery, and layered experiences. A fully accessible mile-long trail loops around and through existing forests and wetlands tying together the various amenities including nature-based play areas, water features, an expansive "all-wheel" park, a memorial honoring veterans and first responders, and event lawn. These elements are deliberately integrated to create a cohesive experience, allowing visitors to transition seamlessly between active recreation, quieter moments of reflection and social gathering.

As a priority for the county, the design team leaned into inclusion as a defining design principle. From early community engagement efforts, accessibility emerged as a central priority, shaping both the programmatic mix and spatial organization of the park. The playground incorporates sensory-rich features, wheelchair-accessible equipment, and carefully considered circulation routes that support a wide spectrum of physical and cognitive needs. This approach aligns with best practices in inclusive design, which emphasize not only removing physical barriers, but also fostering social inclusion through shared, integrated experiences. At Taylor Farm Park, inclusive design is not treated as a separate layer, but as an embedded characteristic of the landscape, ensuring that all users can participate without segregation or limitation.

 
The arrival sequence further reinforces the park's role as a civic destination. A memorial garden and event lawn at the main entrance establish a strong sense of identity and purpose, honoring local service members while providing flexible space for community gatherings, performances, and informal recreation. This duality - combining commemoration with activity - illustrates the expanding role of parks as places that support both collective memory and everyday life.

The custom-designed playground serves as a centerpiece of the park's experiential approach. Blending into the site's existing tree canopy, the play environment departs from conventional post-and-platform structures in favor of immersive, open-ended systems that encourage imagination and exploration. Treehouses, rope-net climbers, slides, and ziplines are carefully arranged to create a gradient of challenge and discovery, inviting users to define their own play experience and risk tolerance. This type of innovative design aligns with emerging research demonstrating that playgrounds incorporating natural materials, varied terrain, and flexible play elements attract significantly higher use and generate substantially more physical activity than traditional models. In this way, the playground functions not simply as an amenity, but as a dynamic environment that supports both physical and social development.

Water play is similarly integrated as a central design driver. The park's spray park and interactive play stream - composed of steppingstones, shallow pools, and small cascading waterfalls - offer multi-sensory experiences that appeal to a wide range of users. Layering in specialized misting mounds, these features are more than recreational; they contribute directly to the performance of the space and provide the critical opportunity to cool down in the increasingly intense summer heat. Research has shown that water-based play environments can significantly increase children's physical activity levels while also fostering longer dwell times and more diverse patterns of use. At the same time, spray parks are widely recognized for their inherent accessibility, providing barrier-free environments where individuals of all mobility levels can participate equally. By combining playful form with inclusive design, these elements reinforce the park's broader goal of creating a space where everyone can engage fully.

The park's "all-wheel" facility represents another key innovation, reflecting national trends in recreation planning. Anchored by a 17,000-square-foot skate park and complemented by a 12,000-square-foot pump track and expansive bike skills course, the facility is one of the most comprehensive of its kind in the region. This approach responds to growing demand for multi-use recreational infrastructure that supports skateboarding, cycling, scooters, and other wheeled activities within a single, flexible environment. Market research indicates that pump track development is expanding rapidly, driven by increased interest in outdoor fitness and community-oriented recreation. Studies of existing facilities further show that pump tracks attract diverse users, provide critical activity opportunities for teens and young adults, and encourage extended engagement, making them some of the most heavily utilized components of contemporary parks. At Taylor Farm Park, the inclusion of multiple skill-level zones ensures that the space remains both welcoming to beginners and challenging for more experienced users.

Ultimately, Taylor Farm Park demonstrates how contemporary landscape architecture can respond to complex social, environmental, and recreational needs through thoughtful, collaborative design. By uniting inclusive play, nature-based experiences, and high-performance recreational facilities within a single cohesive framework that respects the history and ecology of a site, the park redefines the expectations of a community park in the 21st century. Its success underscores a broader shift within the profession toward creating spaces that are not only functional, but deeply engaging, equitable, and responsive to the communities they serve.

Team List
Landscape Architect: Timmons Group and Rhodeside & Harwell (Master Plan)
Civil Engineer: Timmons Group
Structural Engineer: Dunbar
Environmental Engineer: Timmons Group
Architect: Worley Associates
Owner/Client: Henrico County Recreation & Parks
Water Feature Design: Roman Fountains
Skate Park / Pump Track: Pillar Design Studios
Lighting Design: Lighting Virginia
MEP: Salas O'Brien

As seen in LASN magazine, September 2026.