Main Street Garden Park


Thomas Balsley Associates was selected from an outreach to national and international design firms to design a new park for the Dallas Central District –the first of three called for in its open space master plan. A key component in the downtown revitalization strategy, Main Street Garden Park required the razing of an entire city block of buildings and garages making way for its transformation into a vibrant public space teeming with civic life.
This two-acre park is intended to foster downtown residential and commercial growth and is being designed to accommodate the needs of residents in adjacent high-rise residential buildings, university students and faculty, office workers and Main Street shoppers.
Extensive public outreach and a carefully designed program for this constituency will ensure the park’s success and sustained public embrace.
The design of the park acknowledges adjacent architecturally significant buildings such as the Beaux Arts City Hall and Mercantile Bank Building yet strikes a dramatic 21st century design profile at this key location in Dallas’s emerging new urban core.
The park includes an open lawn and performance space, a public art installation of light, a green roof civic canopy, seating areas, tot lot, central plaza, a unique “urban stream” sculptural water feature, a “striated” garden, an urban dog run, illuminated glass study-room shelters, shade structures and lush plantings throughout.
An artful light installation will animate the garden room shelters and enhance the Main Street corridor edge throughout the evening.
This variety of spaces, ranging from large open lawn and café terraces to fountain plazas and garden rooms will host neighborhood and civic events that, together with daily use, bring life and vitality to downtown Dallas.

Wood Comb Giant- an urban furniture idea


4
Achieved by the Knowhow Stores LA, This Wood Comb Giant bike racks are made for the installation of public art for the city of Roanoke.
Giant comb was handcrafted out of Mangaris: use full mortise and construction of thorns; while the hair is made of powder coated steel with a giant comb weight reached 82,5kg.
Nevertheless, this is a better way to evoke the use of bicycles in the city, rather than provide residents with a cool and original infrastructure.
Good Photos

Underground gardens

 we share a garden style which is totaly different than the previous posts of our site. Type of an underground garden, that is to be defined as Forestiere Underground Gardens.
It was built single-handedly in the early 1900s’ by a Sicilian immigrant named Baldassare Forestiere, a self-taught artist / architect / engineer / Horticulturist / builder, 1879-1946.
The founder; Baldassare Forestiere, says:
“Some men see things as they are and say why. I dream things that never were and say why not”
  
Forestiere planted multiple varieties of fruit-bearing plants at different underground levels. Oranges, lemons, grapefruits—many on a single tree—as well asmore unusual varieties like kumquat, loquat, jujube, strawberry, quince, and dates could be easily plucked from the surface by simply bending down.

North Burnham Park Soldier Field


North Burnham Park Soldier Field was designed by HOERR SCHAUDT landscape architects.
The sculpted landforms of North Burnham Park / Soldier Field conceal the 2,500 underground parking spaces.
The project added 17 acres of new parkland surrounding the Chicago Bears’ Soldier Field and include a children’s playground, a winter sledding hill, the winding entrance to game day, and a vantage point for the city skyline.

Nashville Public Square

 City of Nashville undertook a multi-million dollar renovation to its Metro Courthouse complex including a 5 level subterranean parking garage and “rooftop” public plaza.
The total downtown site, consisting of approximately 7.5 acres, includes a 2.25-acre state-of-the-art intensive greenroof over the parking structure. A cornerstone of the design team’s concept was the establishment of a truly civic open space that embodies the term “Public Square”, providing unfettered access to all citizens to this civic hub from which a new pedestrian connectivity to the surrounding city could be realized.
The civic lawn, native gardens, fountains and seating areas provide an urban respite for both passive and active recreation that was previously missing from the downtown area. The space is now sought after to host civic events, large gatherings or Frisbee players.
This new park not only complements the renovated 1930’s art-deco styled courthouse architecture, but accentuates its grandeur from all perspectives using rich, timeless materials that are also authentic within its contemporary design interpretation.

The Reece School


The Reece School is designed by  Platt Byard Dovell White Architects, LLP Architects.
The glass screen façade of this school for young children with special needs captures the sun to bring big patches of color into their classrooms. Fit onto a small site, the building also includes offices, a gym, an art room and an outdoor recreational terrace. Tying in with the rhythm and proportions of the adjoining tenements, the school’s lively presence accelerates the revival of its urban neighborhood.