This explorative project is for the 1500 acre Water Works Park in Des Moines, Iowa. It proposes a responsive, interactive and adaptive open-source park that would develop, over days, seasons, and years, from the scale of the watershed to the individual experience. The Park Works plan allows park managers, individuals, and communities to share information through digital and analogue communication infrastructures which position the designer as a participant, learning from, curating, and facilitating the reconfiguration of spaces, structures, and activities in the new Des Moines Water Works Park.
The park proposal includes paths that shift with the seasons, structures which migrate across the park and viewing platforms which communicate with residents and visitors across the city. The park is embedded with sensors that warn of impending floods but also monitor ecological dynamics and social movements with the purpose of informing the design. The proposal requires a rethinking of both hierarchical design processes as well as static masterplans. Park Works questions the role of the landscape architect and embraces how people can determine their own public spaces and environments – at a large scale.
Landscape architect: Project Studio
