Skatepark design thread?!?!

[j....soy.....]

There's a DIY thread but no park thread.....skaters love to pick apart design so I'm surprised it doesn't pop up much on here. 

I suspect like pros....the design guys would/do pop their head in and so any praises or critiques would be appreciated.....maybe.

Just saw this footage and it looks fun....lots of parks try to cram in too much stuff.....I don't mind a push here and there....and it cuts down on collisions.....

Nuevo Skate Plaza en 'Les Corts' Barcelona

[Willie]

Here's a no-push park I think I'd like. Doesn't look like anything is bigger tha 5' either.

http://youtu.be/wTGQUFmqQ7A

[j....soy.....]

See.....that park looks fun as hell but I'm starting to judge parks on what they would be like at their worst.....

This would be a death trap...scooters....bikes....a mess......

It's impressive for sure though and I'd love to skate it....

You like the idea of all under 5?  I do but I get the impression dudes are building stuff big.

[Willie]

You are right in saying that park is probably unusable if crowded. Actually, that is kind of a peeve of mine: parks that essentially only one person can skate at a time. Some of those first generation NW parks are like that.

I think that park you posted initially looks pretty sweet. Having a lot of space is underrated. Too many parks try to cram stuff in, often with no regard on how one might even get to a particular obstacle. I've noticed that some of these more linear parks end up being more successful in avoiding this. I do find these designs a little more dull (back, forth, repeat) but they do away with some of the cross traffic issues at wider parks. I did a much better job staying out of people's way at the linear SOMA plaza than I do at the wide open Paine's Park.


My ideal park would be tranny centric with pump bumps and some bigger walls to get speed but stuff you are forced to ollie as well. Some ledges, small manny pads, stairs.

I think that might be one thing a lot of parks miss. Having plenty of the smaller stuff.

[dirtyweemidden]

the indoor in my town is half way through a rebuild..  look decent but some of the local trannyphobic street rats are less than stoked

apparently the designer wanted to have 3 seperate sections to minimise collisions but not so seperate that when its quite you cant cruise the whole space, bmx jump section, tranny section, and a 'street' section..



edit: better quality pics and build updates on their website, txskatepark.com

[j....soy.....]

The moment bikers get their park....guess who wants to ride it?

[ttching!]

I want to flip this upside down and skate it.

[j....soy.....]

Me too....but at the same time...I've seen one too many decksless half pipes.....

[HyenaChaser]

I did my senior project around designing a park that would encourage people to think of skateboarding as art, I don't know that it worked all that well but when I was researching I found this film "The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces". It might seem kind of dry at first but it's actually pretty interesting and has a bunch of rad plazas in it and design ideas that could be used in skateparks. It's worth blasting a joint and watching.

The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces: William H. Whyte

[posguy]

My hometown of Everett, WA had 2 parks when I was starting skating. There was Everett and Mill Creek skate parks. Everett SP was in a sketchier area and farther away from me and mostly dominated by bikes. Mill Creek was nice enough but it was all big stuff. Certainly skateable for most of decent skill but intimidating to most others. I think I largely saw the bowl and ramps pretty much ignored except for going down and coming back up. When Martha Lake Airport Way park was built everyone rejoiced when they unvieled this.

Everything is more mellow and more laid out in a consistent with most skate park formats. I think we all enjoyed things a little smaller.

*I'll add more later since I'm on my way out of work

[HyenaChaser]

I used to go to the Everett park when I was like 8 years old! That bowl used to seem huge. I remember this one time some dude with a mullet showed up with his whole family wearing matching Nascar jackets and he was riding this motorized scooter around the park super recklessly, almost taking kids out. Somebody finally confronted him and fight broke out. I totally forgot about that shit till you mentioned it!

Sorry, totally digressed from the topic