Calgary gravel pit turned park clinches national landscape award

A Calgarypark, formerly a gravel pit, has won the highest award of honour from the Canadian Society of Landscape Architects forits use of environmental landscape design.

The Jury's Award of Excellence was announced last week. Criteria includes use of innovation in concept, and a level of environmental and social awareness.

Dale HodgesPark, on the Bow River south of Varsity Estates, is the transformedsite of the former Klippert gravel pit.

The 40-hectare park isthe result of adesign collaboration between Calgary-basedSans Faonfor Watershed+, O2 Planning + Design, Source 2 Source and AECOM.

The multimillion-dollartransformationwas a result of a collaboration between city parks, water resources and public art departments.

"The real learning lesson here, is just working with what you have and what you have at hand to create something completely different and completely unexpected,"said David Harrison, a landscape architect with the City of Calgary, on the Calgary Eyeopener Tuesday.

The park treats storm water, caused by rain and melted snow, before it flows in the Bow River while maintaining a visually appealing public area.

"The water comes in ...through the underground piping and then it just goes through these wetlands and the structures," he said.

"The whole idea is to slow down the movement of the water so that the sediment just drops out. And so by the time it reaches the Bow River, it's reduced."

Dale Hodges Park

3 years ago

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Dale Hodges Park sits on land that was previously used as a gravel pit.

Harrison says more than 50 per cent of the sediment that is originally in the storm water gets filtered out, so the water is cleaneras it flows from the streets into the river.

The water infrastructure is also part of a landscape artfor visitors, part of what went intothe award win.

"It's reallyso integrated ... the engineering of the stormwater infrastructure," said Harrison.

"You more experienceit ... you hear the water, you see the water, yousee the various locations through the park where the water is treated in different ways. And that's really the art."

With pathways criss-crossing through the park, the main access is near Home Road and 52nd Street N.W.

The park's budget, including designing and buildingthe water treatment infrastructure, construction of the park, and public art elements,came to just under $27 million.

Intended to show the cohesion between "functional" and "natural" spaces, the park is part of the city's goals for environmental sustainability, according to their website.

"There's a lot of beautiful and entertaining and exciting spots within the park," said Harrison.

With files from the Calgary Eyeopener.