Designers were asked to use Engage to gather community feedback on their proposal. See that people said
For Stage 1, designers were asked to use Engage to gather community feedback on what they would like to see in the select site.
Here is your chance to provide design feedback to the designer. Please be respectiful.
"This proposal for Dusable Waterfront park in downtown Chicago stems from the city's intrinsic grid pattern and encompasses cultural and social elements that lend Chicago its unique character. The five elements considered are Sports, Music, Food culture, people that have positively impacted the city's history and arts.
The park is divided into zones based on these elements, forming a stepped landscape that is interconnected through rows of native trees and shrubs. The planting in each zone thus softens the grid and edges of the paved surfaces. For the visitors, the avenue pattern of planting creates a seamless transition from the city roads, as we see trees in place of skyscrapers. The entry promenade is the highest level in the park and the landscape slopes down towards the water edge, encouraging visual connectivity between the zones and allowing filtered light to penetrate through layers of planting.
We begin our journey through the park from the entry promenade where there will be a visitor's center and inviting sculptural elements. The walk is through dense planting beds and water features. From here, we walk into the sports pavilion that will buzz with activity with a splash pool centrally connecting sporting courts. Free standing walls display information about the park and parts of it can also be used as a canvas for the visitor's to express themselves.
Each of the zones is of a different width, designed based on the activities they are dedicated to. For example, the musical museum zone, which we step into from the sports zone, is intentionally narrow, offering a more intimate experience, with the avenue trees forming a canopy over the open museum. The cafeteria and performance park on the other hand is large, airy and open as it will be the zone where most people engage in conversation and there is more floating traffic. The art district is again narrow, with a similar intention as the music museum. Finally, the viewing gallery is designed as a seamless open deck connected to the water and offering spectacular views of the city and lake.
Thus the proposed design is simple in its layout, which makes it easy for the users to navigate and at the same time is also interesting and engaging by the way in which the softscape and hardscape are interwoven.
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