Scissortail Park

[bradh]

REALLY! YOU GUYS LIVE IN A BOX!!!! LOOK AT TULSA FOR A BETTER DESIGN. Its not that hard to think outside the box. I am not being dramatic. I am being honest. They are the same.

Many Tulsa Residents Wowed By Plans For New Park On Riverside Dr - NewsOn6.com - Tulsa, OK - News, Weather, Video and Sports - KOTV.com |

What am I missing?

[bradh]

I'm warming up to it.

Like I said in the Union Station thread, I really wish the Harvey Spine would be been incorporated. It's an important planning feature of the Core to Shore master plan that the Devon HQ, Myriad Gardens, Convention Center, and Skydance Bridge all pay respect to. The park is cool, but ignoring the surrounding urban context invites placelessness.

You know who's gonna notice the lack of that? Planners and people looking at aerial maps. While the spine is cool in thought, and looking at a map I get it, I don't think 99.99% of the people walking through this park are gonna think "man this is one placeless piece of land."

But, maybe I'm not supposed to get it, who knows.

edit - after looking at a few of the drawings in that link it makes a little more sense, still not sure I'd call it "placelessness" though, but to each their own.

[jccouger]

What is wrong with it being similar to the Myriad Gardens? Last time I checked that is the best park by far in OKC.

Also, all I hear on here is about "place making" & how everything needs to be designed similarly in the same district. Now this is a problem? Ridiculous.

[bradh]

REALLY! YOU GUYS LIVE IN A BOX!!!! LOOK AT TULSA FOR A BETTER DESIGN. Its not that hard to think outside the box. I am not being dramatic. I am being honest. They are the same.

Many Tulsa Residents Wowed By Plans For New Park On Riverside Dr - NewsOn6.com - Tulsa, OK - News, Weather, Video and Sports - KOTV.com |

Whats the issue, that Myriad is next to it and similar in design, or that the design itself is bad? If it's the former, that's weak.

[PhiAlpha]

REALLY! YOU GUYS LIVE IN A BOX!!!! LOOK AT TULSA FOR A BETTER DESIGN. Its not that hard to think outside the box. I am not being dramatic. I am being honest. They are the same.

Many Tulsa Residents Wowed By Plans For New Park On Riverside Dr - NewsOn6.com - Tulsa, OK - News, Weather, Video and Sports - KOTV.com |

Well I guess the box I live in contains the 5 or 6 urban parks that I've visited in Boston, New York, Denver, Dallas, Houston, and Chicago this year... It's a big box.

I have looked at the Tulsa park and it has many of the same design elements that both of ours do. Again, I fail to see how ours is so much worse than their design. They have a few attractions that look like upgraded versions of what we are getting, but that's what happens when you dump $70 million more (at minimum) for phase 1 alone into a park that's 20 acres smaller than ours. Tulsa's park is being funded by one of the largest donations in History for the purpose of building a park, while ours is publicly funded. They also have the benefit of having a river nearby running the length of the park, a natural stream running through it, and mature trees to work with onsite, which help increase the aesthetics while saving money. We are starting with a flat, empty, blank slate that we will have to build up from. One benefit for us is that our park is actually in the urban core, not 2 miles away from it.

If you have such an issue with this, how would you redesign it under the same financial constraints?

[hoya]

We are starting with a flat, empty, blank slate that we will have to build up from. One benefit for us is that our park is actually in the urban core, not 2 miles away from it.

If you have such an issue with this, how would you redesign it under the same financial constraints?

We aren't starting with a flat empty piece of land. Ours had a bunch of $### in it that we had to tear out. It was worse than a flat empty piece of land. Yes, I am saddened by the loss of the film exchange building, but most of the stuff that was in our park area needed bulldozed.

Overall I'm in agreement with you. If some billionaire came out of nowhere and gave us a free $200 million, we could do a lot more with our park. MAPS paints with broad brush strokes. We aren't spending the money (on any of the projects) to get "best in the world". This is about changing "place where you will get stabbed by a hobo" into "pretty nice park".

[bradh]

This is about changing "place where you will get stabbed by a hobo" into "pretty nice park".

No like button on this forum, but thanks for making me spit my water out

[Plutonic Panda]

REALLY! YOU GUYS LIVE IN A BOX!!!! LOOK AT TULSA FOR A BETTER DESIGN. Its not that hard to think outside the box. I am not being dramatic. I am being honest. They are the same.

Many Tulsa Residents Wowed By Plans For New Park On Riverside Dr - NewsOn6.com - Tulsa, OK - News, Weather, Video and Sports - KOTV.com |

Tulsa's Park is a completely different than ours. They are also making it a destination Park away from other buildings while ours will be a central park in the middle of an urban metropolis. To me, ours is more in leu of NYC's Central Park.

[Plutonic Panda]

Well I guess the box I live in contains the 5 or 6 urban parks that I've visited in Boston, New York, Denver, Dallas, Houston, and Chicago this year... It's a big box.

I have looked at the Tulsa park and it has many of the same design elements that both of ours do. Again, I fail to see how ours is so much worse than their design. They have a few attractions that look like upgraded versions of what we are getting, but that's what happens when you dump $70 million more (at minimum) for phase 1 alone into a park that's 20 acres smaller than ours. Tulsa's park is being funded by one of the largest donations in History for the purpose of building a park, while ours is publicly funded. They also have the benefit of having a river nearby running the length of the park, a natural stream running through it, and mature trees to work with onsite, which help increase the aesthetics while saving money. We are starting with a flat, empty, blank slate that we will have to build up from. One benefit for us is that our park is actually in the urban core, not 2 miles away from it.

If you have such an issue with this, how would you redesign it under the same financial constraints?

+1

[PhiAlpha]

We aren't starting with a flat empty piece of land. Ours had a bunch of $### in it that we had to tear out. It was worse than a flat empty piece of land. Yes, I am saddened by the loss of the film exchange building, but most of the stuff that was in our park area needed bulldozed.

Overall I'm in agreement with you. If some billionaire came out of nowhere and gave us a free $200 million, we could do a lot more with our park. MAPS paints with broad brush strokes. We aren't spending the money (on any of the projects) to get "best in the world". This is about changing "place where you will get stabbed by a hobo" into "pretty nice park".

Good point. Meant to mention that we were spending a decent amount of money on demolition where in Tulsa they don't have to, but I forgot to add that. By flat, empty piece of land, I meant that we have a lot less to work with than they do - post demo.

I would rather they keep the film exchange as well, but at this point I can't say that I really care enough to waste more energy over it either way. It would be nice if they kept it, it will still be a nice park if they don't.

[bradh]

Moving some 30" waterlines around too for the park down there

[Pete]

I'll stack the Myriad Gardens up against almost any urban park in the world. It's fantastic and that's with 3 sides of it surrounded by utter nothingness. Just wait until all the new development.

This park will be a nice complement and is purposely more open and less heavily programmed. It also allows for larger events and recreation, which the MBG doesn't offer at all.

And perhaps most importantly, it will provide a great bridge from the CBD to the river and that entire emerging recreation area.

As I said before, I starting to get excited about this project and by the time it is completely finished in 2021, OKC will be a very different place and very much in need of urban open space.

[Spartan]

This park is pretty vanilla stuff.

[betts]

I like vanilla.

[AP]

I'll stack the Myriad Gardens up against almost any urban park in the world. It's fantastic and that's with 3 sides of it surrounded by utter nothingness. Just wait until all the new development.

This park will be a nice complement and is purposely more open and less heavily programmed. It also allows for larger events and recreation, which the MBG doesn't offer at all.

And perhaps most importantly, it will provide a great bridge from the CBD to the river and that entire emerging recreation area.

As I said before, I starting to get excited about this project and by the time it is completely finished in 2021, OKC will be a very different place and very much in need of urban open space.

+1

[Spartan]

I like vanilla.

Then something even more boring and bland would be the appropriate analogy.. (I actually like vanilla too)

[boitoirich]

Then something even more boring and bland would be the appropriate analogy.. (I actually like vanilla too)

I was going to suggest "pedestrian," but then I caught myself. Bazinga.

This park is growing on me; not the demolitions, however.

[Plutonic Panda]

One thing I wish that was incorporated on this park, is something JTF brought up awhile back, a stone or wrought iron fence around the park to define it and give it entrance points.

[ljbab728]

I like vanilla.

Me too. Vanilla is wonderful.

[Laramie]

It seems like this park will have more trees. A lot of trees were removed to add programming to the MBG.

Good move by Devon when they took over the renovation of the MBG. Many people were hesitate to visit the MBG because it was enclosed by hills and shrubs; now it's more visible from the street level.

[Snowman]

Good move by Devon when they took over the renovation of the MBG. Many people were hesitate to visit the MBG because it was enclosed by hills and shrubs; now it's more visible from the street level.

Also with the crystal bridge requiring an entry fee and how walled off it was, it felt like the entire thing required tickets to enter.

[Spartan]

The loss of history and potentially unique placemaking opportunities is what makes this vanilla.

[skanaly]

I was wondering, with the park being directly across the street, would they possibly put up a cool looking wall or some modern curtain? That sure would be an eyesore. ..

[jccouger]

I was wondering, with the park being directly across the street, would they possibly put up a cool looking wall or some modern curtain? That sure would be an eyesore. ..

[troll] I dunno, but that sure is an ugly building across the street from the substation. I hope it gets torn down. [/troll]

[kevinpate]

May the ogres enjoy roasted trolls for breakfast. :P