1998 CRSI Regional Design Awards - Page 7

Washington Hyde Park is designed as a community park in a densely populated urban area where open space is practically nonexistent. The park takes form as an urban area with a "child scaled" street and bold integral colored building facades, constructed predominantly of site-cast, conventionally reinforced concrete.

    The park is situated on a steep hill in San Francisco requiring special underpinning and shoring to achieve the desired grades, level changes and ramping. The use of rubber mat ground surfacing, ramps, and special play structures, make it an accessible park.

    Concrete allowed for the complex array of curved, straight, sloped and compound curved concrete surfaces. The curves, ramps, decorative elements and benches required skillful construction of formwork and complex placement of reinforcing. With the availability of color additives, anti-graffiti coatings, and the strength and fluid properties of concrete, the architect and engineer worked together to design this unique park. A special "aged patina" was achieved through the surface finishing of the concrete surfaces. Only the durability and low maintenance of concrete could handle the heavy usage of this park.