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Wednesday, 19 September 2007 |
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Page 12 of 22
3. Construction requirements
The third component to the successful skatepark is flawless construction. Athletic facilities exist everywhere that were built according to an exacting specification. Tennis and basketball courts must be a particular flatness. Baseball diamonds must have their bases a specific distance apart. Soccer fields are never “half court.” Other than ASTM Publication F 2480, released in 2007, very few functional specifications exist for the construction of skateparks.
In the absence of reliable information, skateparks exist all over the United States that are dangerous, cannot be ridden, unused, broken beyond repair, or simply absurd interpretations of what skateboarding is all about. There are documented cases of skateparks with brushed finishes on the concrete to “provide grip” when, actually, they provide less traction (and much more abrasion during falls). Amateur skateparks feature irregularities in the curved surfaces, commonly referred to as kinks, which are generally difficult to see but all too obvious when ridden into at high speeds. Lack of actionable construction guidelines has led to a plague of awful skateparks all over the nation. Each one presents a hazard for its users—desperate for a place to ride—or is empty while the area skaters recreate elsewhere or in the streets. A flawed skatepark is a disservice to the whole community.
Rather than trust their designs to a general contractor, many skatepark designers also build the facility. This approach treats the skatepark more as a work of art requiring a specialized skill instead of a public facility. Aside from a few rare cases, most of the world’s most captivating skateparks are the result of the facility being designed and built by the same company.
Skateparks feature many juxtaposed forms with precise qualities that directly impact the user experience. General contractors must be carefully supervised by knowledgable professionals if the facility is expected to be free of flaws.
For these reasons the world’s most respected skatepark designers are skaters with substantial public works backgrounds and construction skills. Skateboarding has been around long enough now that kids who started skating in the 1970s are professionally experienced enough today to deliver world-class facilities at an affordable price. Many skatepark advocates compare successfully designed skateparks to famous golf courses.
Every golf course includes fairways, greens, sand traps, and other universal features, yet each is different in some way, offering challenges that bring a golfer back again and again. Famous golf courses, the ones that experienced golfers love to play on, are designed by pro golfers—designers who understand the use of the facility.
Skatepark design works in much the same way.
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 05 August 2008 )
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