Hyatt Park Placemaking: Supporting the City in Reimagining a Neighborhood Park
What We Did
- Space Planning
- Visioning
- Research
- Design
Partners
- City of Hyattsville employees
- Hyattsville City Council
Supporters
- City of Hyattsville
The Challenge: Improve park infrastructure for increased use and programming
The City of Hyattsville purchased an adjacent lot to some already city-owned land to create the current park footprint. Since removing wild growth and a vacant home on the site, not much has been added in the way of park infrastructure. Now, agencies are ready to explore how the land can better serve the city. We were brought in to lead a full co-design process, bringing together city employees, neighbors, and our staff designers.
The Site: A neighborhood scale park with room for flexibility
Most of the park’s users are residents of the surrounding blocks. The community garden is so popular with neighbors that there is a waiting list to get a plot. Located on a major walking route to the subway station, the West Hyattsville Metro stop is just under a mile away, lots of commuters pass the park on their way to and from work, opening the possibility for a larger user base and the setting of city-wide events.
The Vision: A colorful, musical gathering space
We worked with city employees to identify goals both aesthetic (types of amenities, art, landscaping) and functional (how many daily average users? Will the city host large events here?) We began work on a conceptual design for the space based on the following identified priorities:
FLEXIBLE USE
PLAY FOR ALL AGES
STAGE FOR PERFORMANCES AND LARGER EVENTS
IMPROVED BORDER
Exploring new possibilities with fun activities
One of our main goals with the project was to challenge the City to explore new possibilities. We accomplished this by leaving behind the age-old charette, instead favoring fun, creative activities, designed by our staff, such as a ‘dating profile’ and pairing a realistic scenario with a fantastical one to spur imagination.
“We wanted them to take the blinders off and see that parks can be so many things, our way to do that was getting people laughing.”
— Allie O’Neil
The Plan: Play spaces and flexible use
The output of our engagement work was this design by staff members Allie O’Neil and Laura Kendrick featuring a tree allée and lighted walk along the Hamilton Street border, a multi-use outdoor stage, and new play equipment and seating.
The Build: advising on installation
Work began on park improvements in Spring 2019. After our hand off of the design, we continued to support the city through the build process, advising on installation and substitutions of species in the landscaping plan.
High quality equipment for longevity
The park improvements came in two phases; first the hardscaping such as the stage, lighting structure, ADA accessible seating, and tree plantings, then the play objects and landscaping. Implementation of our design was fully completed in summer of 2020.
Key successes
The stage
Larger events, such as the Hyattsville summer concert series, are now possible thanks to the access road and multi-purpose stage on site.
The Scramble
Inspired by our childhood games of ‘the floor is lava’, the scramble offers a myriad of free play and connection to the existing playground.
Musical Instruments
These outdoor musical instruments are a favorite for all ages; we see children, families, adults, and teens all playing them.
Lighted Allee (Hamilton Buffer)
The lighting structure and accompanying trees creates a visual barrier between the roadway and the park and improves pedestrian experience. An unexpected outcome; the city loves to reprogram the LED lights throughout the year!
Seating
We were sure to choose long-lasting, low-maintenance seating, and made sure at least 50% of all tables are ADA accessible.
