Client: Lower Merion Township

Overview

Linwood Park is a 1-acre community park created from a former parking lot. Inspired by the nearby riparian corridors, the design features a ribbon wall, two meandering, dry streams, and a landform that directs stormwater. The ribbon wall is a sculptural curving partition which undulates across the site, its surface contracting and expanding to shape space, create seating, a stage or a playful walkway. Through color and form, the ribbon wall generates flexible, unprogrammed rooms for recreation, habitat and relaxation, visually and ecologically transforming the space. Artist & Landscape Architects: SALT DESIGN STUDIO & Studio Gaea

Goals

The goal was to create an environmentally healthy space that demonstrated ecological design and nurtured social resiliency. Linwood Park’s design celebrates the cultural stories of this historic Main Line suburb, infuses the site with an imaginative and iconic visual language, and creates a platform for civic engagement. The multi-layered new woodland fosters native habitat and makes this park a critical contribution to the regional network of green space.

Process

Early in the process, the Design Team identified relevant public institutions and organizations – including Lower Merion Conservancy, Belmont Hills Elementary and Household of Faith Church – as partners for fundraising, community outreach and educational campaigns. We embraced a participatory approach to design, involving adults and children in hands-on numerous public charrettes, townhall style meetings and other public forums. Neighbors were involved in generating ideas, providing vital feedback on initial park schemes and walking the park site with designers in a series of spatial exercises to test out early concepts.

Additional Information

Winner of 2014 Blue Ribbon for Public Spaces from Pennsylvania Horticulture Society, winner of 2018 Award of Excellence in Green Stormwater Infrastructure from Sustainable Business Network