Lester Park Revival Contest

I’m excited to share this winning concept art from a community contest a few years ago! It’s a beautiful collaborative effort from designers of Io LandArch, Union Creative Agency, and Industrial Art and Design. These graphics and your recent input are the starting points for the discussions we are having with the Parks & Recreation department this week! As you’ll see from the quote below, their challenge was to create a space that would be inviting to people of all walks of life since this neighborhood is very diverse. I love the hill that can be used for sledding in the winter, vibrant art, increased seating, and walking paths, as well as the bike pump track. There are lots of trees still too!

Again, this is a concept to work from, but it’s a bit of a work in progress too. One member of the Parks & Rec department mentioned earlier this month to me that he always wants to include swings when new parks are installed since he knows how much those matter to citizens, so there will most likely be some adjustments and compromises. I think it’s a fantastic foundational design though and I hope to see as much of it come to fruition as possible! I’ll be highlighting the artist from each of these local companies in their own post so you can get to know the caring, talented folks that are paving the way for progress.

For now you can see why their concept won from their art, as well as get some details on the contest from this excerpt from the Union Creative Agency website:

“THE CHALLENGE

To design a revival of Ogden’s Lester Park to be more active, useful, engaging, and inclusive. The re-design must integrate with existing stakeholders such as the Golden Hours Senior Center and newly renovated Weber County Library.

THE STORY

In 2016, Ogden City held a design competition to redesign Lester Park. Union Creative partnered with IO Design Collaborative and Industrial Art and Design to create the winning entry in the design competition. Our design weaves a dynamic narrative of history, culture, and ecology. Inspired by a historic diagram of the Ogden rail yard, the design creates a sinuous circulation network connecting varied programmatic elements while maintaining large swaths of green-space. Introduced topography creates a sense of spatial progression, and adds more functionality (play, sledding, and viewing).

The bold use of color celebrates Ogden’s cultural diversity, outdoor recreation industry, and arts community. Details like the use of railroad ties as seating, and roundhouse inspired pergola recall the city’s railroad past. Fluid bands of native plant communities complement the existing urban forest adding ecological functionality, a distinct sense of place, and important culture-nature connections.

The competition was hosted by the American Institute of Architects, Utah Chapter in conjunction with the Young Architect’s Forum. Community partners included Ogden City, the Weber County Library, and the Ogden Rotary Club.”

We hope the best parts of these concepts will be a reality soon! Hopefully we can get the momentum and funding for this amazing project!