The Eastmark Great Park and its surrounding entities"?uPalm Plaza, lakes and amenities"?uis owned and operated by the city of Mesa Parks & Recreation Department. The park is modeled after some of the great urban parks of the nation, and is intended to be the place for large community celebrations, educational exploration of habitats, company picnics, water play, sporting competitions and other recreational uses. At completion, this public park is planned to span a mile-and-a-half long, and cover 106 acres.

Eastmark is a vibrant, evolving regional community poised to become Mesa, Arizona's "heart and hub of the East Valley." The community is situated at the center of a transportation hub encompassing three major freeways and anchored by the Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport, numerous businesses and educational institutions. At five square miles (3,200 acres), Eastmark represents an opportunity to develop a large-scale community based on a long-term vision. It is designed to artfully blend residential areas, resort components, employment cores, recreational spaces and commerce"?uand conveniently connect all of these areas by the expansive Eastmark Great Park.

The park offers open fields, walking trails, a lake, a stream and a splash pad (operated by the city of Mesa). Phase II for the park added an event pavilion, restrooms, play equipment and the three-quarter acre urban sculpture/play structure dubbed the "Orange Monster."

The play pieces independent of the Orange Monster"?uthe short slides (left) and swings (Xccent Play)"?uhave engineered wood fiber underneath as the safety surfacing.
Photo: Roger Marble Photography

The "Monster"
"Designed by kids for kids," the "Orange Monster" delivers on their ideas for fun structures to climb and crawl on. The Orange Monster carries over Eastmark's orange branding. The undulating, two tandem pipe frame of the Monster is 8.5" o.d. steel pipe, custom bent into the shapes needed for the design. The twists and turns design is meant to give children a variety of ever-changing experience as they move through it, up and down from the ground to over nine feet high for almost half an acre.

The designers requested the general position for each of the 11 LED downlighting luminaires for the two undulating, twisting, turning tandem pipe frame structures of 8.5" o.d. steel, with rope netting extending from near the ground to over nine feet high. The hollow pipes made excellent channels for the electrical conduits. Dynamo Industries verified the precise location to ensure that there were no conflicts with safety and standards compliance. Each final location puts the housings the most out of reach of climbing children. The LED luminaires create an interesting ambiance, spot lighting the "UltraFlex' (Flexground) poured-in-place thermoplastic vulcanized safety surfacing beneath the Orange Monster.
Photo: Luke Pierzina, Aerial Raiders

Constantly changing angles and approaches mean the children are using varied muscle groups and grips as they progress over the rope courses. Landscape architect Daniel Cleland, Southwest regional director of land development for Westwood Professional Services, has many years' experience in designing play areas. He wanted something special for this project to match the Eastmark's development "city in a city' concept. "The entire structure," explains Rob Lockhart, CCPI, CPSI, of 
Dynamo Industries in Rockland, Ontario, Canada, "was "dry fit' at our factory prior to shipping to ensure there were no deficiencies or noncompliance issues." He notes the hollow pipes made excellent channels for the electrical conduits. "We provided access points for the electrician in the structure, and he ran the wires later. Housings for the lights were made of custom cut pieces of similar steel pipe that welded to the bottom of the frame."

Eastmark Great Park area lighting is a city of Mesa approved slim LED street lighting fixtures on 14' gray exposed aggregate square Ameron concrete poles. A 26-watt compact fluorescent lamp (Philips) in a pendant light fixture (Q2P-B-1-F16) is mounted to the apex of the roof's beam to down light the pavilion space. The ingrade lighting is LED low-voltage (Vista).
Photo: Roger Marble Photography

The assembly of the structure required coordination of work from different teams. The delivery of the main structure was in two ocean-crossing cargo containers, which had to be unloaded immediately. Separately from that was the shipment of the pieces for two bright orange tube slides. While preparing for the delivery, the installation crew had prepared all of the concrete footers for the structure. Once the frame sections were assembled, the welder finalized the light housings, and then the painters went to work. Once the painting was complete the assembly could be finished with the hanging of the nets and the attachment of the slides. The final step was the electrician adding the connections and lights, which Lockhart was told took "less than an hour." The Orange Monster is a fitness challenge, but the playground also offers swings and slides for more conventional, less intimidating fun.

Phase II for the Eastmark Great Park added an event pavilion (cladding welded on site), restrooms, play equipment and the three-quarter acre "Orange Monster" structure. The Orange Monster play area is shaded with 60" boxed Chinese elms. "Red Bush' pistache (Pistancia Atlantica Intergerrima) is planted along the park perimeter and along the main walkways. The benches are the "Atticus' series from Keystone Ridge Designs. The pond is stocked with fish.

Design and Construction Team
City of Mission Viejo, Calif.
Owner: City of Mesa, Ariz. Purchaser: Andrea Moore, Park Development and Operations Administrator, Mesa Parks, Recreation and Commercial Facilities Depart.
Developer: DMB, Inc. Scottsdale, Ariz.
Project Manager: Eric Tune, PE

Design
Prime Consultant / Landscape Architecture / Civil Engineering: Westwood Professional Services, Scottsdale, Ariz.
Landscape Architect / Orange Monster Design: Daniel Cleland, PLA, ASLA
Electrical Engineer: Wright Engineering, Chandler, Ariz.

Construction
General Contractor (overall park & Orange Monster): A.R. Mays Construction, Scottsdale
Landscape Contractor: Gothic Landscape, Inc., Phoenix
Orange Monster Fabrication: Dynamo Playgrounds, Rockland, Ontario, Canada, Rob Lockhart, CCPI, CPSI,
Business Development, Safety & Compliance
Play Structure Installation Co.: MICON Construction of Arizona, Inc., Mayer Ariz.
Installation and Play Area Surfacing: Arizona Recreation Design, Inc., Phoenix
Local Distributor: Tim Nolan, AZ Rec Design
Electrical: EF Charles Electric, Carefree, Ariz.