Friday, September 4, 2009

West Loop Park

Via Inhabitat, a new project that exhibits some of the Yeangian bioclimatic features, transposed beyond a building to an entire linear greenway district: "The windy city is no stranger to sustainable building, and this urban park, located on the fringe of the city’s downtown, will certainly give Chicago even more green cred. Perkins + Will, the architects behind the design, developed the park to create more open space for the city, but the greenway also proves to be a pedestrian-friendly gateway that connects the existing downtown to any future development across the Kennedy Expressway"






:: image via Inhabitat
Posted by Jason King at 11:30 PM
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1 comments:

  1. Jason thanks for this one! I don't know how I miss think like this for my own city!

    The idea of adding a park in that area seems well intentioned but from the drawings I see a lack of function. The paths seem arbitrary with no obvious distinction between bike, jogger and pedestrian. From experience these activities need to be separated or alloted ample room for a jogger to pass a family while being passed by bikers.

    Also the "green" spaces are a bit too green and it makes you wonder if we really need a lawn that big in the West Loop? There is already Grant and Millennium Parks and the lake front not half a mile away.

    My hope is that the architects (who represent a great firm btw) are able to incorporate more city functions like shops and restaurants with outdoor dining, etc along the wonderful park they are proposing as well as allowing people who need to move through the site swiftly to do so without interfering with people who are using it for leisure.
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