Kerr & Couch Parks

[Pete]

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Information & Latest News

6/3/14: $3.8 million building permit application
8/21/13: Work on parks to begin soon

Links

Full Design Package (warning: 20MB)


Gallery

[metro]

I really don't like it with the forest of trees and layout. kudos for thinking about outdoor movies. I really liked the idea from Rand Elliot they were going to do several years ago.

[Fantastic]

Not diggin' it... not at all. I agree with metro. I think the biggest problem is with the layout

[ljbab728]

It's not terrible but, other than the possibility of outdoor movies, I don't see anything that wows me.

[Mr. Cotter]

It's really dull. Why would I sit on those angled, backless benches? Certainly not for a view of the alley between BC Clark and the Komen building.

[CuatrodeMayo]

I'll reserve complete judgment until I see non "high-level" plans, but so far, I'm not impressed.

[Larry OKC]

Just curious, but is the City Manager, Jim Couch any relation to the Couch that Couch Drive & Couch Park are named after?

[Just the facts]

That sucks (no other way to say it). Creating a forest downtown is not the answer for OKC. They should just reopen Couch Dr to two-way traffic and develope the park land. If they can't figure out anything better to do than plant a forest then give the land to someone who can.

BTW - how many outdoor movie screens does downtown need? They already do this in MBG.

[Just the facts]

Downtown OKC does not have a shortage of park space. We are simply spreading the potential park users way too thin. I'll bet downtown OKC has more sq feet of park space per resident than any other city in America. MBG and Bicentennial park - both just redone - are 3 blocks away, plus central park and prominade park are on the way. There is also the park in front the federal complex. And those are just the large 'official' parks. We have enough existing/coming soon park space for 100,000 people.

Last I saw, Couch Dr was stilll a one-way street. This plan will take the street out.

[Just the facts]

It would be interested to see a study as well. I have seen some done at the City-wide level but not with sections of a city. If downtown OKC had the population of downtown Vancouver then this would make more sense.

Here is a start, but like I said it is at the city level.

http://persquaremile.com/2011/01/27/...united-states/


Really what I think this is about - Devon has MBG and Sandridge wants their version of it.

[OKCisOK4me]

I disagree. And I may be veering off the New Urbanism path a little but OKC really does need to be more livable. Since we are not likely to uproot entire structures that make walks fairly uninviting (obnoxious, concrete walls dominate many walks around DT) then I quite agree that we need to make pockets of extreme livability.

I am also in favor of pedestrian only streets. I know that goes against the grain of awesome urban places -- but perhaps not too. I think OKC could take a big step in the right direction by making more pedestrian streets, specifically the kind that act more as a throughfare for people and less as an obstacle course, like "Couch Dr", if that actually ever was a legitimate street through there, was before. With Leadership Square in the way, I don't see that ever being a street for autos again.

Pedestrian malls can provide amazing balance to an active dense, downtown area, especially those that are not particularly conducive to relaxing stroll. 5' sidewalks along side a hotel or parking garage act solely as a utility and are not going to attract more use of the space. This design, I believe will.

One other thing this design does is correct an elevation oddity that made the previous space more difficult to walk through. This design should allow more people to freely come and go through the space and enjoy their walk more.

I like the idea of that. Honestly could be done with the Cox superblock when the new convention center is completed. California could go east of Robinson and be a cul-de-sac at Broadway depending on what kind of private development goes in this block and the rest of the future streets if built could be pedestrian friendly.

[Pete]

Keep in mind that the old park was bordered on the west by a massive, completely blank concrete wall. It made the whole place feel especially lifeless and dead.

The Ammenities Building will bring a great restaurant with seating that spills into the park and there are also several balconies and of course windows that will now border the park on the west, and there is no longer a horrible parking monolith on the south side either.


SandRidge has promised to provide all types of programming for the park, and they've already poured a bunch of money into several of the OK River projects.

I really didn't care for Kerr/Couch Parks before so I am optimistic all of this is going to be a huge improvement.

[Pete]

There was a presentation at today's Downtown Design Review Committee on the park.

You can download the full package HERE (warning, it's 20MB).

Here are some highlights:

[CuatrodeMayo]

That's pretty disappointing.

[AP]

I honestly could never picture myself even wanting to use that space.

[CuatrodeMayo]

With the board changes at both Chesapeake and Sandridge, I suspect it was an austerity measure.

[BoulderSooner]

That's probably what they are going for. Corporate parks are oftentimes cold intentionally. Nice to look at but they don't want to make them places the community will embrace and use frequently.

except this is a public park ..on public land

[Spartan]

except this is a public park ..on public land

Please, we sold that away and stopped caring about the public realm when we sold our soul to SR for a very low offer.

[soonerguru]

That's probably what they are going for. Corporate parks are oftentimes cold intentionally. Nice to look at but they don't want to make them places the community will embrace and use frequently.

LOL. Awesome.

I get it, a park that is inhospitable to people. We don't really want them loitering around anyway. Haha.

Reminds me of a friend's young son referring to the Century Center as "that mall that has no stores."

[Pete]

They made a formal submission to design review today, so it looks like this might start moving forward pretty quickly.

I imagine they need to integrate with the Parkside Building construction.

[metro]

Is it just me? I see this becoming a nice hangout for the homeless that have migrated out of Film Row.

[BoulderSooner]

Is it just me? I see this becoming a nice hangout for the homeless that have migrated out of Film Row.

seems very very unlikely

[Spartan]

Why can't they revisit Randy Floyd's designs for Couch Drive? This is hubris on the part of Rogers Marvel to keep inflicting worse design on us over and over.

[ljbab728]

Steve's update. I like some of the comments about what is proposed.

http://www.oklahoman.com/article/3874358?embargo=1

“We started with the question, ‘How do we make more park out of this?'” Young said. “The overall idea, through simple material continuity, is that we can create the idea of there being one single park.”

That continuity begins with two statues that will be retained from the original park — the Pioneers of 1889 on the west end and the Air Force Monument on the east end.

The Pioneers of 1889 will be taken off its current 7-foot-high pedestal and reset on a slightly raised grassy mound and encased in light at night. The Air Force Monument, meanwhile, will be set inside a grove of trees with a lit up path leading up to it.

A new display also will be created for a separately designed bust of former Oklahoma Gov. and U.S. Sen. Robert S. Kerr, which was set just a couple of feet off the ground.

Greg Dewey, spokesman for SandRidge, said the design team worked with the company to look at other parks throughout the urban core to ensure it doesn't duplicate offerings already underway.

[Larry OKC]

The repositioning of the Pioneers statue on the grassy hill seems appropriate, but it strikes me as a bit odd to put an Air Force (wild blue yonder, into the sky) monument in a grove of trees