| SkullandBonesSkateboards.com Forum Index » GENERAL DISCUSSION FORUM » New skatepark designs |
|
Page 1 of 1 |
|
| Author |
Message |
| Clay Hutz |
 Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2002 12:37 pm |
 |
|
|
Joined: 19 Nov 2001
Posts: 198
|
| Two of my friends and I will be meeting with the Park District today to discuss building a second outdoor cement park here in Chicago. After riding numerous new parks and realizing they're a total waste of cement, we have decided to reclaim park design from clueless landscape architects and lowest bidding contractors. Hopefully all will go in our favor. Please wish us luck. |
|
|
| Back to top |
  
|
|
|
| slob-air |
| Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2002 2:27 pm |
|
|
Site Admin
Joined: 27 Oct 2001
Posts: 63453
Location: S&B HQ
|
That's a great idea Clay. I'm sure you'll do well.
However, I have seen some rather stupid design ideas come out of the minds of new school skaters that have actually been implemented in parks. The best way to approach park design is with skater input on a pre-existing design that is already proven. There's no need to re-invent the wheel (or skatepark in this case), a smart engineer always uses a stable platform to improve.
One also has to be aware that when a city planning department is involved, the spectre of their collective stupidy is bound to arise. Most can't manage roads... how are they going to manage building a skatepark?
Take the park in North Vancouver for example -at the last minute they decided to scale the bowl at the end of the snakerun down eliminating the vert. A tragic mistake. They also switched, at the last minute, to very slippery pearl cement.
China Creek in Vancouver was supposed to be a large keyhole with lots of vert inititially, but wound up being almost too small to ride after the city became concerned kids would get hurt in the big bowl.
Calgary's Millennium park suffered as well when the city decided to spray an anti-graffiti coating over the entire park that made it treacherously slippery. Fortunatly they sandblasted it off later - but the cement lost that creamy smooth skin that fresh cement exibits years before it would have worn off naturally. Also, due to retarded designing in the full pipe and attatched bowl and the surrounding landscaping, everytime it rains there a stream of water and mud pouring into it on the oddly shaped capsule end.
|
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| knowskateboarding |
| Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2002 2:55 pm |
|
|
Joined: 14 Nov 2001
Posts: 2813
Location: Monster Island(NYC)
|
| Where's that huge park with the super long snakerun? I think it's in Brazil or something. That place looks amazing. I wish I could ride a snake run like that. The closest I've come to anything like that is snowboarding at Brighton in Utah. In the trees there's a long tight gully that's super fun, and you air into it. Damn, need to get out there again. All work and no beer make Homer go crazy. |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
| willieleon |
| Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2002 3:42 pm |
|
|
|
Joined: 04 Nov 2001
Posts: 1536
Location: Costa Mesa, CA
|
| since the topics already changed, ever hit powder mt in utah? By far my fav place to ride. Slow lifts, no crowds, big back country, and I've found great powder days after the last storm. |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| knowskateboarding |
| Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2002 4:01 pm |
|
|
|
Joined: 14 Nov 2001
Posts: 2813
Location: Monster Island(NYC)
|
| Hell yeah!!! The cat pass is where it's at. |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| Clay Hutz |
| Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2002 4:32 pm |
|
|
|
Joined: 19 Nov 2001
Posts: 198
|
| Thanks for the input, Slob. No need to worry about the place ending up being all ledges and rails, either. We're bringing along an architect to the meeting who also happens to be a very dedicated skateboarder. I myself have been skateboarding for about seventeen years. I've skated just about everything and can appreciate all sorts of terrain - rails, ledges, banks, abandoned concrete waterslides, and GOOD bowls especially. The latter comes from frequenting the Turf (RIP) up in Milwaukee. Our first park here was a great design, but the cement contractor really screwed parts of it up. The crown-jewel kidney bowl ended up being pretty coarse and lumpy. We will do our best to see through the whole process this time. Skate hard, boys. I'll keep you posted on the proceedings. |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
| slob-air |
| Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2002 5:12 pm |
|
|
|
Site Admin
Joined: 27 Oct 2001
Posts: 63453
Location: S&B HQ
|
We had the same problem with Millennium Clay, damn contractors fudged the floor of te full-pipe bad -friggin rebar showing through. Fortunatly the city made them cut out the bad section and rebuild it.
Obviously you realize that you need someone that has experience with bowls overseeing the cement work or those monkeys will fudge it every time. |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| xteamrider |
| Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2002 6:09 pm |
|
|
|
Joined: 07 Jan 2002
Posts: 104
Location: Seattle, Wa
|
All the kick ass parks that have been built recently in the Washington and Oregon area have been done by Grindline. You might wanna contact these guys. They make the SHIZNET.
http://www.grindline.com/
|
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| Conscience |
| Posted: Sat Jan 26, 2002 10:13 am |
|
|
Joined: 07 Sep 2001
Posts: 1239
Location: Brew City, Wiscompton
|
It is imperative to have skateboarder input on the parks for sure. I've skated more half-ass parks designed by an engineer who has a daughter that rollerblades. They may understand the obstacles, but they couldn't set up a line if their life depended on it. A couple of key things to address besides layout:
Transition; if concrete it's there for life, so make sure they make the trannys perfect.
Coping; for pete's sake have it placed properly. I've been to a park with coping of all different sizes. Some sunk in too deep, Some sticking up 2 inches above the deck. Aggh!
Finish; the best layout and construction is totally screwed once those idiots who typically do sidewalk work for a living brush the cement. NO BRUSHING. Falling is bad enough without the stuff acting as a cheesegrader to skin. Besides brusing is too rough for riding as well.
I'm sure you know all this, but make sure who ever ends up doing the construction is well awair of it.
I'm actually aiding in the design of two upcoming skateparks in the Milwaukee area. They are going to be sick. Do you remember the Turf skatepark in Streets on Fire? Well, that was Milwaukee's only park for years, and I'm going to try and convince the city that we need a recreation of the infamous Clover Bowl.
Ah yes, I'm starting a little board label to help fund the new skateparks. $5 of each board sale will go towards the parks. So be on the lookout for Conscience Skateboards and I'd fully appreciate any support. Then you can come up to brew city, crash at my place, and skate the new concrete! later----Jesse |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
| Clay Hutz |
| Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2002 11:13 am |
|
|
|
Joined: 19 Nov 2001
Posts: 198
|
| You are correct, sir! Park design should be left entirely to those who will actually USE the park. Thanks for the tips, boys. I've actually been in touch with the folks at Dreamland/Grindline, and I'm hoping they end up involved in our project. |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
