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CT skate park wins international award -
CT skate park wins international award
UPDATE: For those who have asked if the skate park is real and going to be built, read the City of Cape Town’s official statement here.
A City of Cape Town team’s proposed skate park has won the top prize in the international Playscapes competition, which focuses on turning unused city spaces into interactive community hubs and, well, encouraging “playing”.
The winning design shows how an empty area underneath a highway bridge in Gardens can be transformed into a community-involved skate park – an idea that could become reality as early as March 2014, thanks to their win! Perfect timing for the World Design Capital 2014 celebrations too.
Conveniently located right next to the new Mill Street MyCiti bus stop, it is predicted that the park will become very popular as well as injecting renewed energy in the surrounding businesses. The fact that the area is covered will mean immunity to bad weather and the flanking roads will also dampen what can be a noisy sport.
Explained the proposal document: “Skateboarders sometimes have the unfortunate and misguided reputation of being rebellious ‘anarchists’ with no regard for law and order, and often this is due to their use of public space. The lack of dedicated spaces for them to practice their sport forces them to use shared open space, which often clashes with other users. There are few venues in the city that allow skateboarders and there were, until very recently, also no big public skate parks in or around Cape Town.”
Employees by the City of Cape Town itself, Gerrit Strydom, Lwandile Gcume, Aline Cremon, Errol van Amsterdam, Marvin Fester and Clive Crofton make up the local team. The way the team worked alongside the local community, as well as considering the opinions of skaters and the National Skate Collective, was what distinguished the project. One of the judges, Scott Renwick of Landscape Architects Network, also praised the adaptability of their design, saying it can be put into practice straight away and easily be tailored to suit other sites.
Driven by a non-profit initiative, Building Trust International, the Playscapes competition focussed on identifying the best urban regeneration possibilities, providing design assistance and financial aid where needed, and eventually helping to realise the best projects. The jury included representatives from Building Trust International, Project for Public Spaces, BMW Guggenheim Lab, Landscape Architects Network, 3Space, Neon Stash and Land8, as well as other academics, architects and landscape designers.
If you saw the funky skateboards by JesseJames we featured in the SPRINGLOADED VISI 68, you’ll know that skating is à la mode. We’ll certainly be on the look out for fresh cowabunga manoeuvres under the Gardens bridge!
