October 28, 2015
Contributed /Hargreaves Associates
Rendering of redesigned Love Park/JFK Plaza from Parkway.
The future look of Philadelphia's most iconic park is another step closer to taking shape after the project team for the LOVE Park redesign submitted its final design for the plaza earlier this week.
The design group, led by Hargreaves Associates and Philadelphia-based Keiran Timberlake, had previously submitted four possible layouts for the renovation. In the final plan, all of the minute details have been fleshed out some lingering questions answered, PlanPhilly reports.
First and foremost, Robert Indiana's LOVE sculpture will be restored and live on as a local landmark when the park reopens in 2017. The Fairmount Park Welcome Center saucer, which became the subject of a preservation effort, will become part of a new piece of public art utilizing its ceiling as a canvas. Inside the illuminated saucer will be a food and drink establishment, the details of which have not yet been revealed.
The geyser now at the center of the plaza will be transformed into a two-part water installation, while the park's pink and gray granite slabs will be replaced with more sturdy, earthy concrete paving blocks. Steps and walls will become sloped surfaces and edges. Via PlanPhilly:
The plan for LOVE Park looks like the painter Piet Mondrian was allowed to take a crack at urban landscape design – strong, layered geometries are articulated through a bold palette of texture and color.
The construction budget for the LOVE Park redesign is $16.5 million – up from $11. 2 million, to ensure higher quality materials – and is broken into $3.2 million to restore the Welcome Center and $13.3 million for the rest of the park.
Approval for the final design will be determined during a November 4 review by the Philadelphia Art Commission.
Read more at PlanPhilly.
