Landscape Architect & Specifier News

MAR 2018

LASN is a photographically oriented, professional journal featuring topics of concern and state-of-the-art projects designed or influenced by registered Landscape Architects.

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Working with the city of San Luis Obispo and an ad hoc skate park committee, RRM Design Group led the design team to develop San Luis Obispo Skate Park, a 15,000 sq. ft. in-ground concrete park. Recognizing that the skate park was only one component of the overall recreational experience within Santa Rosa Park, RRM shaped the skate park into a multiuse facility for the entire community to enjoy. Some of the key design features include flexible plaza space that can accommodate vendors, events and bleacher seating; a raised platform that serves as a stage, with an informal amphitheater for awards ceremonies, music or movies in the park; and a perimeter walk with built-in seating. Upon entering the skate park, visitors are immediately struck by four iconic tree sculptures. Originally conceived as a creative solution to provide shade in an unforgiving environment, the "Concrete Jungle" is the brainchild of two local San Luis Obispo artists that were selected through the city's Visual Arts in Public Places program, and who became active participants in the project design team. These concrete and steel trees 'grow' seamlessly out of the skate deck. Their multilayered canopies are formed by word clouds of skateboard vernacular; their trunks have become an unexpected skate feature. Raw, unfinished materials add further grittiness to the overall sense of place, and punchy pop-art inspired graphics throughout the park reinforce the concrete jungle's urban aesthetic and skateboarding culture. The skate terrain is a combination of street and flow elements, including the signature feature, a breaking wave that serves as a vertical extension to the popular snake run, while acknowledging local surf culture. One of the primary goals the design team achieved is the blurred edge between the active skating zone and the adjacent park site. There is no security fencing, A professional skater navigates the 'snake-run' in front of an enthusiastic crowd on opening day of the San Luis Obispo skate park. PHOTO: J. FERBER 90 Landscape Architect and Specifier News Santa Rosa Skate Park, San Luis Obispo, Calif. Landscape Architecture, Civil Engineering, Surveying by RRM Design Group

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