Special Supplement: A Complete Guide to Site Furnishings & Park Components
Planning the right park components
By Stacy St. Clair
As the city's 300th birthday approached, Detroit 300 wanted to embrace Woodward's vision and develop a town legacy. They tapped Indiana-based Rundell Ernstberger Associates to transform a series of asphalt lots into a new square.
Advocates envisioned the park's unique and central location on Detroit's main street—Woodward Avenue—as the critical foundation from which the real revitalization would take hold, connect and spread to other downtown activity centers. But it wouldn't be easy, especially in Detroit, where decay and disinterest had become the hallmarks of its downtown.
Working with the Project for Public Spaces, it would take landscape architects nearly six years to fully realize—and then exceed—Woodward's vision.
"There were times when you say to yourself, 'What am I doing here?'" architect Dean Rundell says. "But the end result made it worth it."
The firm created a park unlike anything Detroit had ever seen. It was designed to be used year-round, offering concerts during the warmer months and ice skating throughout the winter. During Super Bowl week, it hosted the highly praised Motown Winter Blast.
The square boasts several amenities such as an ice rink, Au Bon Pain café and wireless Internet access. All three elements embrace the principles promoted by the Project for Public Spaces by encouraging people to assemble, interact and socialize.
For the park's centerpiece, Rundell installed a year-round fountain with more than 100 jets. A raised central plinth contains jets that can shoot water in excess of 100 feet into the air while water shimmers and cascades down granite walls into the basin below. Water also cascades down perimeter steps while jets arc in from the corners.
During the holidays, the city's annual Christmas tree is placed in the center of the fountain while water cascades down from it. By making it an operational focal point in all seasons, Rundell eliminated the barren, blighted feel created by an unused fountain in the winter.
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