PlaceWorks Landscape Projects

Landscape Architecture Select Projects

Landscape Architecture

SERVICES PROVIDED Landscape Architecture Educational Programming Interpretive and Exhibit Design Playground Design

From conceptual planning to site specific design and details, PlaceWorks creates landscapes that are sustainable, contextsensitive and inspiring. Our work in parks, trails, creek restoration, streetscapes, and urban plazas balances community needs with protection and enhancement of the natural environment. Our projects reflect locally appropriate design patterns and include innovative uses of plant materials and constructed elements.

Universal Design Water Conservation and Stormwater Management Urban Design Trail and Open Space Planning Community Outreach and Facilitation Bicycle and Pedestrian Planning Green Infrastructure Complete Streets Planning Plaza and Streetscape Design Green Streets Waterfront Design Park Renovation Urban Greening and Agriculture Creek and Habitat Restoration Cost Estimating Construction Administration

PlaceWorks’ Approach to Building Community PlaceWorks brings 40 years of experience in the planning and design of communities at all scales. Our landscape architecture practice focuses on parks, trails, playgrounds, streetscapes, and open space planning and design.

We work closely with each client to develop unique and memorable destinations that best serve the community’s needs and reflect local context. With each of our projects, we emphasize the following approach:

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AUTHENTIC PLACEMAKING At PlaceWorks, we recognize that each site, community, and project is unique. While all landscapes share some features, the process of discovery, design, implementation, and opening to welcome users must ultimately express the authenticity of the place. PlaceWorks collaborates closely with our clients to envision and create outdoor environments that are flexible, engaging, unique, and inspiring. We seek opportunities to include interpretive and educational themes and components in our park and plaza designs. The end result is a distinct sense of place, and timeless and memorable destinations to live, work and play.

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SUSTAINABLE LANDSCAPES PlaceWorks is a recognized leader in the field of sustainable planning and design, and has worked closely with many agencies and organizations, including Build It Green, Stopwaste.Org, and the California Urban Water Conservation Council to develop guidelines and design templates that address water conservation, stormwater management, and high-efficiency irrigation. A sustainable landscape minimizes waste, protects water quality, provides wildlife habitat, protects air quality, and enhances healthy soil structure.

PlaceWorks approaches all of our projects with these principles in mind, with small- and large-scale strategies for on-site stormwater management, reducing the heat island effect with cool paving and plantings, and incorporating sustainable materials throughout.

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ACCESS TO NATURE Regular access to nature whether regional parks and trails, inner city parks, or greenways, has an intrinsic value that is well researched and scientifically documented. The restorative powers of nature can boost mental acuity and creativity; promote health and wellness; build smarter and more sustainable businesses, communities, and economies; and ultimately strengthen human bonds. We identify opportunities to connect communities with green, living places, from creating trails and nature experiences to developing outdoor classrooms and educational programs.

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REALITY-BASED DESIGN The resulting landscapes must also be buildable and maintainable to ensure that the investments our clients make result in a long term legacy functional, attractive places for people. PlaceWorks prides itself on years of continuing professional excellence, resulting in repeat contracts with multiple public and private sector clients. Our Landscape Architecture staff includes a team of licensed professionals with experience in planning, design, and construction of parks, plazas, housing, recreational facilities, trails, and streetscapes. We also understand and apply the requisite codes, ordinances, and best management practices for safety, function, and durability. Through our project work, our volunteer activities with regional boards, and ongoing education, we are constantly deepening our ability to deliver code-compliant design work that exceeds expectations for safety, function, and durability.

“The future will belong to the nature-smart—those individuals, families, businesses, and political leaders who develop a deeper understanding of the transformative power of the natural world and who balance the virtual with the real. The more high-tech we become, the more nature we need.”

Richard Louv, Journalist and Author of The Nature Principle

SNOW PARK AND HARRISON/20TH STREET INTERSECTION PROJECT CITY OF OAKLAND PlaceWorks worked with the City of Oakland to develop a comprehensive urban greening retrofit along Oakland’s iconic Lake Merritt as outlined in the building on the 2002 Lake Merritt Master Plan.

The project included several components. The intersection of Lakeside Drive and Harrison Street was completely reconfigured, and this task served as an opportunity for narrowing and removing paved areas and applying Complete Streets principles, building roadway rain gardens, and improving the urban character, walkability, and user experience at the lake. The project creates a new pedestrian- and bicycle-friendly multimodal corridor connection along Lakeside Drive and Harrison Street adjacent to Lake Merritt. Adjacent Snow Park was also redesigned, and new features were added to meet the needs of the local community. These include a new state-of-the-art terraced play area and a pedestrian promenade, with a highly visible rain garden featuring a custom art piece by local artists WowHaus. The sculpture represents a mythical water-dwelling creature that connects both the site’s location near the lake and the rainwater elements in the park. PlaceWorks designed the space to highlight the sculpture and bring people into the heart of the park. The project was designed to meet Bay-Friendly Landscape standards, including permeable and high-albedo paving, native and climate-adapted plantings, and high recycled content in all purchased materials.

PlaceWorks also provided outreach and coordination with the community and multiple advisory committees to create conceptual plans for the park, streetscape, and lakeside improvements. The plans were developed into construction documents that included specific enhancements for roadways, electrical systems, street lighting, and stormwater infrastructure, including ample rain gardens.

PlaceWorks’ role on this project included environmental review under CEQA and NEPA. PlaceWorks also provided construction administration.

IRIS CHANG PARK MEMORIAL AND CONTEMPLATION PARK PlaceWorks provided master planning, landscape architectural design, and construction documents for a new 2.5-acre memorial sculpture park in North San Jose. PlaceWorks CEQA staff completed the Initial Study/Negative Declaration necessary for the project. The park is named after Iris Chang, a Chinese-American journalist and author, who wrote the bestselling book, The Rape of Nanking, which covered atrocities committed in China by the Japanese army, during the Second World War. PlaceWorks worked closely with the community as well as with Ms. Chang’s parents in shaping the vision for the park, which includes a series of monumental stone sculptures created by the artist Richard Deutsch.

The site is located adjacent to Coyote Creek Trail and the new path system includes an accessible trail connection from the park and its neighborhoods up to the trail, which runs along the top of a levee.

The grading required to bring users from ground level to the trail provided inspiration for exuberant curves in path layout and in earthform, allowing the landscape to have a sculptural form of its own.

The park design includes a dynamic planting plan made up of grasses of various textures and sizes arranged in concentric and undulating waves. These textures and forms, combined with the stone sculptures, create a contemplative environment for visitors to consider Iris Chang’s legacy.

JEAN SWEENEY OPEN SPACE PARK CREATING NATURE IN THE CITY PlaceWorks prepared design development and construction documents for this unique 27-acre community park in the heart of Alameda. PlaceWorks’ design process built off a masterplan developed by the City with input from residents. PlaceWorks conducted community outreach with residents and stakeholders to ensure that the final project fulfilled their vision for the site. The PlaceWorks team developed a phasing plan separating construction and bidding of the park into four phases. The first phase of construction includes the Cross-Alameda Trail, a shaded Class I bike trail which runs along the northern edge of Jean Sweeney Open Space Park.

The second phase of construction includes the eastern end of the Park with a large nature playground, great lawn, picnic pavilion, parking lot and stormwater treatment planting. The park incorporates elements from the site’s previous use by the Beltline Railway, including a historic train shelter, and interpretive signage about Jean Sweeney’s legacy as an open space advocate. The nature play area incorporates natural elements, such as boulders and logs repurposed from City tree maintenance, with playground equipment to create a unique and memorable playground experience for both young children and older youth. The third and fourth phases of the park will expand the park by adding a large community garden, demonstration orchards, a bicycle skills course, habitat planting areas, and hiking trails with ongoing opportunities for outdoor education and nature-watching.

66TH AVENUE GATEWAY PROJECT CITY OF OAKLAND PlaceWorks collaborated with artists Valerie Otani and Fernanda D’Agostino, through the Oakland Cultural Affairs Commission, to develop a unique concept for this gateway site, located at the western terminus of 66th Avenue along the Oakland Estuary. The gateway design provides a respite from the Interstate 880 highway corridor immediately to the east, focusing visitors instead on the site’s unique waterfront setting, taking inspiration from migratory bird patterns, tidal fluctuations and views of Arrowhead Marsh. PlaceWorks’ design incorporates fluid, rolling shapes, a boardwalk connecting to the existing Bay Trail segment and a public plaza. Giant stone carvings provide playful and tactile interpretations of the wildlife above and below the waterline. A custom stainless steel ‘Pacific Flyway Shelter’ provides shade for outdoor classroom functions while also expressing the wind, water and shoreline patterns. Construction of the Gateway Project was completed in the Spring of 2008.

MARKHAM ELEMENTARY LIVING SCHOOLYARD PROMOTING OUTDOOR LEARNING AND NATURE PLAY The Markham Elementary School project is a collaborative team effort between the Trust for Public Land (TPL), Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) and Markham Elementary community. Located in Oakland’s industrial district, the schoolyard and surrounding neighborhood suffer from poor air quality, noise pollution and a general lack of green space. A priority for this project was to create a living schoolyard that promotes outdoor play in a hardy, sustainable and safe landscape.

PlaceWorks worked with TPL to transform underutilized asphalt play courts at the school into a living schoolyard with major features that include an outdoor classroom, numerous nature play areas, an expanded community garden, and an orchard that offers students opportunities for outdoor education and experience working in the garden. Based on design ideas developed in a comprehensive community-outreach process, PlaceWorks developed a site master plan and construction documents. Phase 1 of the project was completed in the summer of 2019 and included the expanded garden space, the fruit tree orchard, and the shaded seating area.

Phase 2 was significantly influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic with California issuing a statewide shelter-in-place order during the development of construction documents. Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) remained closed during the design phase and the value of outdoor learning spaces became more apparent. Construction was completed in June 2021, and the site will be ready to welcome students in Fall 2021 with new outdoor classrooms, comfortable spaces for social distancing, and established plant materials. This project will be a celebrated community asset and open space resource to the school and greater neighborhood community for generations to come.

NEW ELEMENTS 1

SHADED PATHWAY

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GREEN BUFFER OF TREES AND SHRUBS ALONG STREET

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OUTDOOR CLASSROOM WITH WHEELCHAIR SPACE

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PICNIC TABLES

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ARTIFICIAL TURF FIELD

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PLAY STRUCTURE ON RUBBER SAFETY SURFACE

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STUMP SPIRAL PLAY FEATURE

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TRELLIS WITH VINES

SHRUB PLANTING AREA

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LOG SEATING AREA

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EXPANDED GARDEN AND ORCHARD (COMPLETED)

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JUMPING STUMPS

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INTERPRETIVE SIGN

NATURE PLAY AREA WITH TREES ON WOOD FIBER

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SHADE TREE WITH SEATING

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SHADED SEATING AREA WITH MUSIC INSTRUMENTS (COMPLETED)

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MOSAIC ANIMAL CLIMBER ON RUBBER SAFETY SURFACE

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BENCH WITH BACK

STABILIZED DECOMPOSED GRANITE

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SENSORY PLANTING BED

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Existing School Garden

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16 15

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KRAUSE AVE.

20 feet

CONCORD HILLS REGIONAL PARK TRANSFORMING THE FORMER NAVAL WEAPONS STATION PlaceWorks is preparing the Park Land Use Plan and EIR for a future park that is poised to refine, repurpose, and restore approximately 2,500 acres of the former Concord Naval Weapons Station. The future park will strengthen spatial and contextual connections to surrounding open space, development, and history. The site’s geographical connection to adjacent and surrounding open space sets the stage for substantial open space and trail connectivity, and connections to existing and planned development and transit will enable the future park to become a transit-oriented open space. PlaceWorks will lead the development of innovative designs and effective phasing and implementation strategies; coordinate amongst stakeholders, including the US Navy and the National Park Service; prepare the EIR; and help the District to implement a multifaceted public engagement process. The planning process will explore creative reuse of existing structures, from former Navy buildings to weapons magazines, and develop interpretive themes that can be expressed through signage as well as landforms and installations—weaving the natural and cultural histories into a unified storyline with which visitors can engage. The Park Land Use Plan will ensure that the park becomes a unique asset that balances recreation with mitigation and conservation, optimizes open space and urban connections, and connects people to local history.

promoting diverse recreational opportunities

maximizing environmental education potential

interpret compelling stories of landscape’s past

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adaptive reuse of existing infrastructure and facilities

developing innovative strategies for utilizing unique landscape

restoring and conserving high value habitat

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grazing lands cold war relics

historic oaks world war II relics

native american pre 1830s

ranch era 1830-1930s

military era 1930s-current

REGIONAL PARK ERA

creating dynamic trails network and well connected access points

DEVIL’S SLIDE COASTAL TRAIL ACTIVATING A SCENIC COASTLINE PlaceWorks provided landscape architecture and environmental consulting services to San Mateo County for the new Devil’s Slide Coastal Trail. Located on the roadway of former State Highway 1, this trail was abandoned after the new Tom Lantos tunnels were completed through the adjacent mountain.

Each year, this multi-use trail will provide access to thousands of visitors, who will be able to walk, bike, or ride horses along the former highway and enjoy dramatic ocean views. PlaceWorks worked with the BKF Engineers to develop custom aesthetic solutions for barrier fencing, seating areas, and overlooks.

We developed several visual simulations for the community meetings to illustrate the transformation of the roadway. The project required careful planning, scheduling, and monitoring to avoid disrupting a nesting pair of peregrine falcons on adjacent cliffs, and these efforts required coordination with various wildlife agencies, the County, and the contractor. The trail opened to the public on March 22, 2014.

CROSS ALAMEDA TRAIL CONNECTING PEOPLE AND PARKS PlaceWorks provided urban design, landscape architecture, and community outreach for two segments of the Cross Alameda Trail for the City of Alameda. The first segment runs along Atlantic Avenue (Ralph Appezzato Memorial Parkway) from Main Street to Constitution Way. The second segment continues through Jean Sweeney Open Space Park to Sherman Street. This multimodal trail accommodates bicyclists, walkers, and joggers along a braided trail network that provides access for bike commuters, children walking to school, and for daily exercise. PlaceWorks prepared designs for two plazas along this route with input from local stakeholders and the community, one at the highly visible Webster Street entrance to the City, and the second at Main Street and Ralph Appezzato Memorial Parkway. These gathering spaces include entry gateway monuments, seatwalls, public art features, and interpretive signage. Wayfinding signage directs trail users to various places of interest throughout the City.

RICHMOND WELLNESS TRAIL Trust for Public Land

PlaceWorks is working with TPL and the City of Richmond to develop Phase 1 of the Richmond Wellness Trail, a 1.1-mile pedestrian and bicycle path located along 16th Street and Marina Way South.

This multi-modal corridor will connect the Richmond BART Station to the Richmond Ferry Terminal.

Funded through an urban greening grant, this project will include green infrastructure (stormwater filtration and large canopy cover shade trees), bike and pedestrian improvements, increased tree canopy, low water-use plantings, wayfinding, and interpretive signage.

Connecting the Iron Triangle and Coronado neighborhoods, the Wellness Trail will also bring active transportation opportunities to the community, while improving overall watershed health. PlaceWorks is assisting TPL with community outreach and engagement working with local community groups and stakeholders, including the installation of a “living preview” with temporary planting and striping.

PlaceWorks is leading the multi-disciplinary design team in this effort. The trail is currently under construction and anticipated to be completed in April 2022.

MILVIA BIKEWAY CITY OF BERKELEY PlaceWorks collaborated with Parisi and CSW to develop construction documents and visual simulations for a Green Streets infrastructure project for the heavily-traveled corridor of Milvia Street, which passes through the heart of downtown Berkeley, the Civic Center, and Berkeley High School. The streetscape design incorporates enhanced Class II Buffered Bike Lanes, narrows travel down to one lane for traffic calming, and includes planted islands in front of City Hall to improve the aesthetics of the corner. A flow-through planted island is included as green infrastructure, and will capture and filter stormwater run-off from the streets before entering the storm drain system, eventually joining Strawberry Creek.

PlaceWorks collaborated with City staff to refine the planting palette, which includes a mix of natiive and climate adapted plants.

EAST 14TH STREET ALAMEDA COUNTY East 14th Street Streetscape Project for Alameda County, as a subconsultant to Bellecci & Associates Civil Engineers. PlaceWorks developed construction documents for a complete street and green streets infrastructure project for a heavily traveled corridor in Ashland, a Census-designated place in an unincorporated portion of Alameda County. The streetscape design builds on the County’s project to beautify the area by undergrounding existing overhead utilities. The follow-up streetscape design incorporates enhanced Class II Buffered Bike Lanes, narrows travel lanes for traffic calming, and includes medians and landscape features to improve the aesthetics of the predominantly commercial street. Rain gardens in street bulb-outs are included as green infrastructure, and will capture, retain, and filter stormwater run-off from the streets. The project will enhance the street with decorative pavers in the tree strips. New street trees and landscape furnishings will also contribute to the overall quality of life on the corridor.

PlaceWorks is providing community outreach, facilitating workshops, and assisting in the development of complete street concepts with the project engineers from concept through construction documents.

OHLONE GREENWAY NATURAL AREA CITY OF EL CERRITO The City of El Cerrito received an Urban Greening Proposition 84 grant to improve a 2.75-acre project area along a 0.3-mile stretch of the Ohlone Greenway between Brighton Avenue at the south of the project limits, and the busy commercial hub and BART station at Fairmont Avenue at the northern end of the project. PlaceWorks developed concept drawings and construction documents to restore two outfall culverts of both forks of Cerrito Creek and highlight stormwater management in the Ohlone Greenway Natural Area by intercepting stormwater from Fairmont Avenue. The project provides beautiful rain gardens, an informal explorative natural play area, interpretive design elements and improved riparian habitat and water quality. These improvements will ultimately enhance the environmental quality of the greenway while enriching the sense of place and quality of life for the community and trail users.

“Creating Great Places.”

ORANGE COUNTY

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BAY AREA

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SACRAMENTO

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CENTRAL COAST

700 Flower Street, Suite 600 | Los Angeles, California 90017 | 213.623.1443

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LOS ANGELES

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INLAND EMPIRE

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SAN DIEGO

www.PlaceWorks.com