Comments on: Lawrence Halprin’s Skyline Park Is Now History

By: Ann Komara

Ann Komara — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 22:54:41 +0000

excellent comment — The book DOES mention this important storm water function, which was a direct response to the urban master plan, and well known in urban water engineering circles. To feed more of your interest on this, may I suggest you look for my forthcoming article on this facet of the project: Komara, Ann. “Water Events: Flow and Collection in Skyline Park,” Landscape Journal, Special Issue on Lawrence Halprin. V 32, no. 1-2 (Fall 2012): 109-124.

By: caroline

caroline — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 13:56:53 +0000

very interesting! Do you know where I can find more about the stormwater function of the park? thanx!

By: bmilligan

bmilligan — Thu, 08 Nov 2012 18:58:59 +0000

Quite surprised that this article does not mention what was perhaps the most innovative design component of the park, particularly in consideration of when it was built. Skyline Park was also a three block long stormwater detention basin, designed for both 10 and 100 year storm events. It was sunken so it could periodically flood and detain stormwater runoff from surrounding surfaces and rooftops. It was one of the first highly-urbanized examples of a multifunctional plaza with a stormwater function, a precedent that is still innovative to this day in the US. Perhaps how little this aspect of the design is discussed, or known is its biggest success we can take forward.