Ten Eyck Landscape Architects has restored a “leisure heart” to a downtown park in Austin, Texas with vernacular structures, play areas and a rejuvenated environment.
In 2014, the city of Austin embraced a vision prepare for the future usage and care of the 84-acre Pease Park, the earliest public park in the Texan capital, that concentrated on developed components, historical functions and cultural resources.
Ten Eyck Landscape Architects teamed up with Clayton Korte and Mell Lawrence Architects to revitalise the park’s southernmost part– referred to as Kingsbury Commons– into a location for individuals to play and commemorate the park’s history.
“The difficulty was to weave a heavy program of play components, tracks and other park centers into the topography without frustrating the native setting in a restricted area,” stated main expert Christine Ten Eyck.
“We hope Kingsbury Commons sets a requirement for Austin parks by incorporating enjoyable and play within nature.”
Completed in 2021, the refurbished Kingsbury Commons works as a brand-new, available “front door” for the park, welcoming visitors in through historical stone archways and fully grown live oak trees.
The group got rid of utility pole, an old splash pad and a washroom to clear an open activities yard with sweeping views of the park and access to the nearby Shoal Creek.
“The brand-new park style weaves together the fully grown existing greenery with a robust program of centers and facilities consisting of occasion rental areas, brand-new bathrooms and storage centers, a treetop observation pod, natural play grounds, a basketball court, and an interactive water function that remembers the karst limestone aquifers discovered in the Texas Hill Country,” the group stated.
The ingrained leisure facilities motivate visitors– both young and grown– to communicate with nature and main Texas geology.
Kids can climb up through the tree cover in an all-abilities play ground with climbing up structures, swings, and natural wood balance components; while grownups can work out or play bocce in a riparian repair zone.
The group likewise worked to bring back a 1920s Tudor home that rests on a bluff ignoring the park.
The run-down structure was formerly utilized as bathrooms and storage, however the group changed it into a single-room occasion location with a brand-new risen roofing system structure and big northern window that match the existing wood shake roofing system product and cleaned up outside.
The home style was granted the Preservation Austin Merit Award for rehab in 2021.
In addition to the conservation work, the group tucked a set of brand-new assistance structures versus the park’s western hillside.
“Featuring steel mesh walls and a color scheme influenced by the landscape, the structures decline into the background,” the group stated.
The bathrooms are made up of vernacular dogtrot structures with vanities in the breezeway, and a structure opens to a linking yard with terraced limestone seating that develops a little amphitheatre below the cedar elms.
“Architectural components were purposefully developed to highlight instead of eclipse the natural setting,” the group stated.
Known as Treescape, a two-level, 40-foot (12-metre) steel orb develops a treehouse observation pod with a freight net hammock and main oculus. The lower level links to disintegrated granite tracks, while the upper level is accessed by an ADA-accessible bridge on the hillside.
Materials for both the architectural and landscape components were picked for toughness throughout the location’s significant flood occasions.
A low ribbon-like limestone wall winds through the park alleviating the elevation modifications. At numerous points in its course, it ends up being stepped seating and eventually highlights a brought back natural spring that feeds native plants.
The job likewise consisted of a rehab of the existing tree canopy including hundred-year-old oaks and elms, environmental repair of upland and riparian zones, elimination of intrusive types and native soil repair.
Kingsbury Commons holds a USGBC WEBSITES Gold accreditation and got a Texas ALSA Honor Award in 2022.
Nearby, Clayton Korte– previously referred to as Clayton & & Little– embedded a wine cave into aTexas hillside.
The photography is by Casey Dunn unless otherwise mentioned.
Project credits:
Landscape designer/ prime expert: Ten Eyck Landscape Architects (Christine E. Ten Eyck, Stephanie Saulmon, Tim Campbell, Jia Li)
Architect: Clayton Korte (Nathan Quiring, Joseph Boyle, Hanna Leheup)
Treescape: Mell Lawrence Architects
Civil engineer: Garza EMC
MEP engineer: Jerry Garza & & Associates
Structural engineer: Architectural Engineers Collaborative
Lighting designer: Studio Lumina
Graphics and wayfinding: Page/Dyal
Water function: GPSI
General specialist: Harvey-Cleary Builders
Owner/ customer: Pease Park Conservancy, City of Austin Parks and Recreation Department
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