Field Operations completes Pittsburgh park overlooking the city's bridges
American landscape architecture studio Field Operations has completed the four-acre Arts Landing park in downtown Pittsburgh, which includes the conversion of a street into a path winding through the green spaces.
The Arts Landing project transformed an underutilised lot along the Alleghany River between the city's Andy Warhol and Rachel Carson bridges, and is part of Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro's $600 million plan to revitalise downtown Pittsburgh. It is Field Operation's first completed project in the city, adding much-needed green space.
The park is "one of three major public space improvement projects" in the ten-year plan. The others are improvements to the nearby plaza Market Square, also designed by Field Operations, and improvements to the city's Point State Park.
Arts Landing features a central, curvaceous lawn with a band shell, surrounded by playgrounds and meandering pathways.
Future pickleball courts are planned for a far corner, while a brick building, owned by the developer that facilitated the project, the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, is located in another and will eventually be folded into the park programming.
The project also called for "demapping" a previous driving street that is now the park's broadest walkway – the team converted the former Eighth Street into the Eighth Street Garden Walk, which travels across the length of the greenspace.
Other, sloping walkways meander through the site, and bring visitors past large beds freshly planted with a native palette of species, including Red Bud trees, which are well-liked among local and park donors, according to the team.
Field Operations partner Lisa Tziona Switkin said the studio focused on riverside views and connecting the park to the urban fabric.
The team created a "high point" in the backmost corner of the lawn, which slopes downwards to the river and to the band-shell.
"You come into the site, and there's this drama of reaching this high point," Switkin told Dezeen.
"When you get to that high point, you can actually just see a hint of the water and the river, and then it slopes down towards the band shell, which also helps to insulate and create sound in a way where it's a bit buffered."
"There was this goal to have a roughly one-acre lawn," said Switkin. "It's meant to feel a little bit more organic in its form and edges.
And by doing that, it creates these little pockets and alcoves that create a series of gardens on the edges."
The park is also dotted with large-scale artworks by local artists such as Lenka Clayton and Phillip Andrew Lewis; and Darian Johnson, all commissioned by the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust.
Other pieces were brought in, including several bronze sculptures by artist Thaddeus Mosely, who passed away aged 99 during the park's progression.
The artworks will continue to be rotated as part of the park programming. Pittsburgh Cultural Trust also plans to host the city's annual Three Rivers Arts Festival at Arts Landing.
As part of Shapiro's revitalisation project of downtown Pittsburgh, stakeholders also plan to integrate more residential housing throughout the area. Arts Landing was developed, in part, to serve the residents.
"Pittsburgh is going to get this new, amazing four-acre park that's going to give Pennsylvanians a place to gather, to play pickleball, to listen to music, and enjoy art installations from some of Pittsburgh's finest artists," said Shapiro at a soft-opening for Arts Landing in April.
"Pittsburgh is on the rise, and this is just the beginning."
Other US cities have been investing in their downtown redevelopment, including affordable housing projects in Chicago and adaptive reuse initiatives in Detroit.
The photography is by Chris Uhren, courtesy of Pittsburgh Cultural Trust. Drone photography is by Ross Ribblett.
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