John/Rebecca urban park

[ZTrade]

LMAO those pictures above made me laugh the hardest I did today. Messy crop circles.

[king10]

Thats like 50% asphalt?

[ScreamingViking]

Originally Posted by SteelTown

Jason Farr
https://twitter.com/JasonFarrHamOnt

Good grief

Do the smaller circles/humps light up if one jumps on them? Are they bouncy?

[ChildishGavino]

Oh.

My.

God.

[bigguy1231]

Well that looks like crap. Who designed that mess?

[Hamil60]

Small circles are made of rubber to bounce on. In upper right area on pic above there is a skating rink and splash pad. Yet to be added is a large pergola and lots of benches.

[Crapht]

Yes there is furniture and some structure still to go in but asphalt as a finishing material is embarrassing. The design is ok I guess. I don't need more green space in a downtown park. It's not for sports. I do know that the middle circle in the foreground of the pic above has a big mound of brick underneath it. Mature tree roots won't do very well in that. It's just that asphalt. I can't believe it!

[palace1]

It does look like a high ratio of path to park.

With respect to asphalt vs. gravel the parks department is inconsistent.
Gage Park has had crushed gravel paths since it was designed 100 years ago but all the paths will now be paved with asphalt because it is better for handicapped accessibility.
But Durand Park was recently redesigned with crushed gravel paths and it was lauded as environmentally friendly permeable paving.

Does anyone know why the plans for the John Rebecca Park show an existing and future property line along John Street?



Source: https://www.hamilton.ca/sites/defaul...n-09202018.pdf

[ScreamingViking]

Originally Posted by palace1

Does anyone know why the plans for the John Rebecca Park show an existing and future property line along John Street?

My first guess would be the road widening allowance dictated by the city.

[ScreamingViking]

Originally Posted by Hamil60

Small circles are made of rubber to bounce on.

Really. I was only joking in the comment I made earlier about that.

[BaconPoutine]

I don't think there's much need/want for a lot of grass area downtown, there's too much foot traffic, the grass will be impossible to keep alive. The asphalt is ugly, but I think the hard surface is better than grass.

I think this park will be a nice space in 15yrs once those trees mature property and provide shade as well as visual interest.

[King&James]

But all asphalt trimmed in concrete. No pavers - perhaps not enough budget.

[ChildishGavino]

So I got the chance to go and see it myself, and I must say it's an awful park. I think it'd be better to label it as a square, because as a public space it doesnt look TOO bad. Maybe once there's some actual buildings facing it & that new Woonerf is built it won't be such a disappointment.

[Crapht]

With respect to asphalt vs. gravel the parks department is inconsistent.
Gage Park has had crushed gravel paths since it was designed 100 years ago but all the paths will now be paved with asphalt because it is better for handicapped accessibility.
But Durand Park was recently redesigned with crushed gravel paths and it was lauded as environmentally friendly permeable paving.


Churchill Park also has new crushed stone screenings pathways as well and it makes sense there. Any other hard surface like concrete, flag stone or pavers would have been a better option than asphalt. This has got to be a budget thing. On top of that if you get a close look the craftsmanship is just poor. Give me a break. Concrete is not difficult to get right.

[bvbborussia]

It will only look and feel better as the trees grow and mature, but that's a long way off. I don't like the asphalt but I suppose if you consider accessibility it makes sense. This is downtown Hamilton after all. The whole design strikes me unnecessarily modern or outside the box. Like someone's urban design thesis project.

[thmx]

Something about the design gave me the feeling of 90s nostalgia. I couldn't figure out why, but then it finally came to me.....

source

[King&James]

^^^ that is awesome, and omg true. Maybe the City can get some park ambassadors...

[Dr Awesomesauce]

In one of his tweets, Farr mentioned the input the City got from citizens in the design of this park.

Cities ie buildings, parks, streets should be designed by experts with the best interests of all citizens in mind. That's tricky and we have to elicit input where appropriate. But in the end the expert, in this case a landscape architect, must take responsibility for producing a beautiful and function public space.

Complete fail. I can only hope the City learns something from this.

[GeneralLea]

The asphalt makes this look like a skater kids' idea of the "ultimate" park or place to hang out...just a complete flub. While I find the idea to be refreshing in the sense of breaking from the tradition of an urban park, this just looks like lazy planning. In a few years when there's cracked asphalt, repaving this will be a pain...it'll look worse as well with a bunch of patches here and there.

[anactualalien]

I would settle for concrete, asphalt feels like a sick joke considering what it formerly was. Looks like a go-kart track.