A Park I Admire

I-5 Colonnade Bike Park
Seattle, WA

Not only does this park feature my greatest passion in life, mountain biking, but it does so in an urban context in a very challenging site underneath a mammoth piece of highway infrastructure. I love that the park content is user-generated and maintained, and that it unabashedly embraces a single-purpose program. So many public open spaces seem to equate unprogrammed, flexible space with high-quality design, but the result can often be generic and uninspiring (Think of the vast, empty lawns of most suburban neighborhood parks). Even the densest urban areas have leftover space from infrastructure or industrial residue for a park like this. If there's one thing this project teaches, it's that you don't need mountains or acres of pristine land to provide great recreation opportunities.

More info about the I-5 Colonnade Park.

If you like this, you'll probably like this other great example of a sport park in a reclaimed post-industrial landscape.