|
Wednesday, 19 September 2007 |
|
Page 16 of 22
Skatepark Experts
Every day there are more and more resources available that deliver expertise in skatepark design. Many of these Web sites and publications are wonderful sources of information and some maybe less so. When one encounters conflicting information it is difficult to tell what is more reliable. Skatepark critiques and those Web sites that rely upon some rating system for particular facilities or even designers may or may not be unbiased and fair with their criteria. Skatepark review and critique is a popular activity in the online skateboarding community, so identifying the most thorough and precise assessment of particular styles, forms, arrangements, and designers may be difficult to research.
Judicious steering committees are advised to be highly selective in their sources of information. Corroborating those opinions with others can also help build a case for a particular component or aspect of the skatepark design. It is extremely valuable to have the steering committee do extensive research when considering aspects of design. Identifying popular skateparks and contacting their administrators is perhaps the most direct way to identify top designers and builders.
Skatepark Designers
The skatepark designers are the experts you’ve hired to do the job. If you have the right designer for your project, they should be able to explain any portion of the skatepark design in ways that address the needs of your community and its skateboarders.
Area skatepark experts will often have a short list of designers and builders that they respect and feel comfortable communicating their needs to.
The best designers collect ideas and requests for particular features from the local skaters—whom the park will serve—and create designs that incorporate those ideas in a sensible layout that takes into consideration the skatepark size, budget, site, flow, and all the other criteria top designers rely on. But even the best skatepark designers are not without their flaws. Most have reputations, earned or not, for exhibiting strengths for one particular style of park over another. (Construction companies also develop reputations along the same lines.)
Care must be taken by the steering committee that the park adheres to the design that was approved. In some cases the community-based designs are modified so drastically as to not meet the public need. This can happen to some degree when skatepark designers that also serve as builders are hired to build the skatepark in accordance to the community design … a design that they may or may not have been involved with. This unfortunate event is becoming less common as the skatepark design and construction industry grows and matures.
NOTE: There is currently no state or federal requirements to build skateparks. Anyone can call themselves a skatepark designer and there is no shortage of awful skateparks as a result of unscrupulous salesmen making such a claim. Before you meet with someone to talk about skatepark design, check their credentials by looking at their other parks and see what those users have to say about their work.
Public Agencies
Various agencies are each entrusted with some aspect of public health. Each of these entities may have particular needs or concerns for how the skatepark is designed.
E&O INSURANCE
Errors and Omissions insurance protects communities from shoddy or inexperienced construction.
Emergency responders may be concerned that particular structures are accessible by medical technicians. Deep bowls with no easy access can sometimes be identified as potential and unnecessary hazards to those tasked with delivering first aid to immobile victims.
Police will want clear visibility into the skatepark, especially covered sections, to prevent vagrancy or mischievous activity.
The Parks Department will certainly be pleased with a facility that requires little maintenance, water, or upkeep.
The City Attorney will want to influence design in a way that presents as little legal liability to the City as possible. Most City Attorneys would prefer that no skatepark be built at all. (Between 1996 and the time of this writing there have been less than 10 lawsuits against cities for skateboarding-related injuries incurred within skateparks in the U.S.)
|
|
Last Updated ( Tuesday, 05 August 2008 )
|
|
|
