The centerpiece of the park is a multipurpose shelter made from a series of interconnected equilateral triangles of perforated and galvanized steel plate. The folded angular form takes its inspiration from the triangulated peaks of the surrounding mountains, Native American plank houses and river fishing platforms.
The neighborhood, a mix of post-war ranch housing and a rapidly changing demographic, is home to scores of spoken languages resulting from a recent influx of young immigrant families to the area.
This mixture of young and old and its resultant ethnic diversity sets the theme for a new generation of parks. Through an extensive public outreach effort and a dynamic set of site challenges, Luuwit View Park has emerged from the existing farm fields as a dynamic new neighborhood gathering place in the Argay Neighborhood.
Project description by Skylab Architecture
Skylab Architecture worked alongside 2.ink Studio and in close collaboration with Portland Parks and Recreation to create this 16-acre, hourglass-shaped park in a northeast Portland neighborhood.
The design team developed the park, formerly Beech Park, around an integrated strategy that creates both passive native meadow areas that require limited maintenance as well as areas for intensively active program elements. The neighborhood is a mix of longterm residents and an increasingly di-verse population of new residents.
The park’s program elements were developed in coordination with area residents through a series of public open houses and meetings with the project’s Design Advisory Group.
The park’s development introduces a mix of new activities onto the site including a community am-phitheater, picnic shelter and restroom, off-leash dog area, a large community playground, interac-tive water feature, parking areas, walking paths, and community garden. Active uses include a skate spot, climbing wall, basketball, ping pong and soccer. The park’s design takes advantage of views to the Columbia River and distant Mount St. Helens while introducing a strong sense of the area’s na-tive habitat to tie all of the elements of the park together.
The signature element, a 1,760-square-foot multipurpose shelter, is made from a series of intercon-nected equilateral triangles of perforated and galvanized steel plate.
The folded angular form takes its inspiration from the triangulated peaks of the surrounding mountains, Native American plank houses and river fishing platforms. A simple steel pipe frame supports the shelter to create a flexi-ble space for picnic gatherings or summer concerts. By celebrating the structure’s tectonics and re-vealing the means of construction, the structure serves to honor the economy and beauty of native structures built by the original inhabitants of the area. Axial connections through the park enhance user awareness of the world beyond the park. Park program elements and trees are arranged to ma-nipulate view corridors to Mt. Hood and Mount St.
Helens and help to organize other site elements including a small steel-clad restroom building. At the highest point on the site a conical mound re-calls the volcanic cinder cones on the horizon. Visual connections between key park elements artic-ulate the experience along and across the axis.
