An impressive list of Detroit-area architecture and design firms have come together to help shape Palmer Park's future. Led by
Gibbs Planning Group and sponsored by the Michigan chapters of the
American Society of Landscape Architects and the
Congress for the New Urbanism, seven teams made up of 11 firms recently presented various plans for the historic park to the
People for Palmer Park, an advocacy group. A consensus master plan will be created from this work and presented to the city by Memorial Day.
Participating firms included LivingLAB Detroit, McIntosh-Poris Architects, ASTI Environmental, dPOP!, Archive DS, department 01, Conservation Design Forum, Ken Weikal Landscape Architecture, Mark Johnson Architects, Hamilton-Anderson Associates, Downtown Solutions, Inc., Campbell Architeture and Planning, and Gibbs Planning Group.
The plans address a wide range of issues facing the park, from stormwater management to transit and parking questions.
Other plans focus on the park's design elements. Dave Mangum, urban planning associate for Gibbs Planning, says the park has been disconnected from itself and the community it serves. He singled out a high fence running along Woodward Ave. that limits access to the park.
People for Palmer Park is engaging community members to identify what they like and dislike about each of the seven presentations. Gibbs Planning will then work with them and the other firms to form a consensus master plan. Though not binding, the parties involved hope that the city will use the master plan when considering changes to the park. It also provides the People for Palmer Park with an effective fundraising tool for their own advocacy efforts.
"There hasn't been a cohesive vision for Palmer Park in quite a while," says Mangum.
Palmer Park is a 300-acre park designed by the 'father of landscape architecture,' Frederick Law Olmsted, the man who designed such famous parks as Detroit's Belle Isle and New York's Central Park.
Source: Dave Mangum, urban planning associate for Gibbs Planning Group
Writer: MJ Galbraith
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