Project Location
Between the National Western Center and Washington Street along the S. Platte River in Denver, CO.
Purpose and Approach
The Globeville Landing Park project is the reimagining of an underutilized park to better serve the historically underrepresented immigrant community, to integrate a regional stormwater project, and to honor the site’s history and cultural context. The park, originally designed in 1974, was one of four pilot projects undertaken by the city as a catalyst to create the South Platte River Greenway. It is also the location where the largest drainage basin in Denver enters the South Platte River. The previous storm drainage system was severely undersized and could barely contain a 2-year storm event. The basin had no open channel and is located in a densely developed portion of the city. The entire storm drainage system was improved to contain the 100-year storm event and provide flood protection for over 5,000 residences and businesses.
The project vision, driven heavily by the landscape architect, was to treat the stormwater from the drainage basin outfall located in the park before it is released to the South Platte River. Adding to the challenge is the fact that the park site is also located on a Superfund site due to contamination from the site’s previous use as a smelting plant. To achieve this vision, several goals were identified: provide appropriate interventions for the contaminated site, create unique engineering strategies for the treatment of stormwater and conveyance of 100-year floodwaters to the river, involve adjacent communities in park program development, and use the context and history of the site to create a unique urban space.
Residents most impacted by the flooding were historically low-income people of color. The team conducted a 15-month public process to provide project information and obtain input about the community’s vision for the park. Interviews, surveys, workshops, open houses, site visits, focus groups, and meetings at local bingo nights, elementary schools and recreation centers were conducted to maximize input. All meeting materials were presented in Spanish and English to support the outreach efforts.
Role of Landscape Architect
The landscape architect was integral to the development of the project vision and ensured that principles of urban design and landscape architecture played a key role in the site design. The landscape architect led the design team to find solutions to complex engineering issues with ecology, habitat, aesthetics, and community in mind. The primary role of the landscape architect was to incorporate the programmatic wishes of the community while achieving all the functional requirements of the stormwater infrastructure and meeting the extensive regulatory requirements. The landscape architect was heavily involved in the public outreach and oversaw the development of the site design and integrated grading solutions for the regional trail, riverbank, and park spaces.
Context
The park site creates the southern gateway to the National Western Center Campus (NWCC) which is being redeveloped into a campus of Western heritage, agricultural innovation and entertainment. The South Platte River Trail passes through the site, providing important regional and local connectivity. A light rail line is located directly to the west of the site with a stop at the NWCC. The former industrial area is a rapidly redeveloping mixed-use area.
Special factors
History/Smelting/Superfund Site
The site was a smelting plant from the late 1800’s until 1950 and was important to the early growth of Denver. It also resulted in extensive environmental contamination and Superfund designation. This project hauled off much of the contaminated soil, provided a synthetic liner under the open channel outfall so contaminated groundwater cannot mix with stormwater, and capped the rest of the contaminated soil in place.
Historical use as Design Inspiration
The landscape architect drew inspiration from the smelting process to design the park, educate visitors about the history of the site, and create unique project elements. Smelting produces metal from ore found in rock by transforming raw materials to metal byproducts.
Two “Raw Materials” plazas bookend the site and showcase quarried stone slabs and sandscape pavement to reflect materials brought from nearby mountains. Colored pavement ribbons signify mineral seams and define the pedestrian promenade, connecting the plazas and other park elements. The pedestrian promenade continues to the “Metallurgical Plaza” which is a community gathering place and central park hub with a large shelter. The shelter columns include gabion baskets containing crushed rock.
The playground includes a custom climbing wall which includes a natural cliff face, transitions to quarried blocks for climbing and features a tipping crucible slide to reflect the molten metal processed from the raw materials. The molten metal pouring out of the crucible is delineated in the rubberized playground surfacing.
Finally, the “Chimney Overlook” located along the streetscape is sited near the location of the former smokestack for the smelting plant. When the smokestack was built in 1892 it was the tallest in the world, standing 350 feet tall, and was a Denver landmark for nearly 60 years. The landscape architect created this overlook plaza with the same dimensions as the base of the smokestack. A “Chimney Shadow” planting bed reflects the height of the smokestack on the ground plane with a metal gateway at the end to illustrate the height of the structure and its impact on the land.
Historic Sanitary Sewers
Denver’s first brick sanitary sewer lines are still in use today and currently run through the project site. Two six-foot diameter sewers – built in 1895 – transport sewage from Denver to a treatment plant. The sewers had to be protected and no trees or structures of any kind were allowed within a 75-foot corridor above them. The landscape architect creatively organized the improvements so this constraint would not be evident.
Wetland Channel/Intake Structure/Spillway/Piping Under Sanitary Sewers
To provide treatment for the stormwater from the drainage basin outfall, the landscape architect collaborated with the ecological consultant to design a wetland channel to maximize treatment and habitat diversity. The grading of the channel created different hydrologic zones for different seed mixes and plugs. Close collaboration with the geotechnical engineer/liner designer was also required to protect the liner and obtain federal approvals. A variety of forbs and grasses were specified to provide maximum water quality benefits, habitat improvement and protect the channel liner.
An intake structure was required to drop the stormwater flows under the sanitary sewers. This structure’s unusual 300-feet long x 3-foot-tall design minimizes flow velocity during storm events for public safety and is practically unseen by park users. A ten-year storm event flows through the intake structure while anything greater flows over a spillway to the channel and river below. The landscape architect collaborated with the engineering team to design a multipurpose lawn and concrete walk that functions as an “invisible” spillway and enhances the park usability.
Environmental Sensitivity and Sustainability
The project incorporates numerous principles of sustainability including: addressing environmental quality through improved habitat and natural ecosystems; incorporating disaster resilience through floodplain engineering; conserving water by creating limited turf areas surrounded by native plants and grasses; redevelopment of a previously environmentally contaminated site; and improving the quality of life for the community around the park.
Significance
The project serves as a model for integrating a regional outfall into an urban park within a historically contaminated ecosystem. The strong collaborative design team allowed the landscape architect to lead the effort toward a fully integrated, elegant, dynamic design solution to a complex technical and regulatory challenge. The extensive public process allowed the landscape architect to fully understand and implement the community’s vision for this important park. It is a prime example of reimagining underutilized sites to provide health and social benefits to adjacent communities and the regional network beyond.
