Guadalupe River Park - Phase 3, San Jose, California |
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"Officially a US Army Corps of Engineers flood control project, the three-mile park was digitally modeled to test hydraulic performance and an 80′ long scale model was built at the Corps of Engineers Water Engineering Station in Vicksburg, MI to test various design alternatives for impact to potential flood flows, sedimentation, and scour patterns.
The City of San Jose’s desires for the Guadalupe River improvements were multiple: control floods, create habitats for people and wildlife, transform the river into an amenity and a contribution to the renaissance of downtown San Jose, and help create a positive focal image for the city as a whole. Hargreaves Jones managed a team of environmental and ecological consultants, hydraulic, civil, structural, and geotechnical engineers with review by 14 agencies over a 10 year period to realize the multiple goals for the river park. Flooding on this narrow river occurs rapidly, with great destructive force, thus demanding unique architectural and engineering solutions that would be resilient but allow vegetation and habitat to flourish. The park’s design charted new territory for flood control, allowing the varied and sometimes conflicting desires for the project to be met. The park’s design and programming transitions from one end where urban hardscape plazas and terraced riverbanks respond to the adjacent downtown environment, to the downriver area where a braided landscape of earthworks and riparian plantings creates passive areas for strolling, resting, and play adjacent to residential areas of the city." - Hargreaves.com Although I had introduced the use of computers to the Office of Dan Kiley, it was not until I arrived at Hargreaves Associates did I fully appreciate the use of CAD (computer aided-drafting) in modern landscape architecture. I saw first-hand and for the first time, the power of computer drafting in design, work otherwise would simply not be possible by traditional hand drawings. From complex grading to multi-disciplined coordination between consultants, CAD enabled the successful execution of much of the early days of Hargreaves work and all landscape architecture of today. From the use of CAD in the early 90s, we saw the power of computers only continue into simulation and modelling, and today's virtually indiscernible realistic renderings of a designed future. Photos taken in May 2016 - 15 years after completion of Guadalupe River Park - Phase 3. The trees and plants have all overgrown. With its under maintained state, the grungy character of the place fits nicely adjacent to one of the more inauspicious plaza spaces conceived, beneath the confluence of multiple highway ramps to and from Highway 87 and Interstate 280, arguably one of the first 'underpass' designed spaces around. Owner: City of San Jose Year: 2000 Role: Landscape Designer while at Hargreaves Associates External Link(s): Guadalupe River Park - Hargreaves Jones Guadalupe River Park Conervancy - River Park and Gardens Project Location |
