West Side Park, located along White River Boulevard, has been selected as our site. The Park is utilized primarily for its active functions; the playground which engages children, the ball field occupied by league softball and baseball, and the basketball courts home to neighborhood pickup games. These activities take place beyond visual access to White River, as the existing forms are organized based on proximity to White River Boulevard and the internal park parking lot. Compounding this problem are the picnic shelters, which are also removed from the river and are seemingly scattered throughout the landscape. In result the current park zones are inwardly designed resulting in a disconnect between the user and the surrounding natural environment.
Our goals are; to open up an underutilized portion of the park, connect the park users to the landscape in a tactile and visual manner, and provide a functional environment for activity (crawling, climbing, sliding) and reflection (sitting, chatting, viewing, and reclining).
