Minneapolis' Peavey Plaza, designed in the heady early 70s, is a sunken design with waterfalls. The site has not aged well, and the landscape architect tasked with fixing the situation is taking significant steps to improve it.
Landscape architect Tom Oslund is bringing much of the plaza closer to grade, and making the fountains more functional:
"Oslund's comparatively simple, shallow fountain could be drained easily to create a seating area for performance events. An outdoor stage-large enough to accommodate most of the orchestra-would flank the new fountain. The plaza will, in many ways, act as an extension of the Orchestra Hall..."
Preservationists who were also assigned to work on the project are not happy with the proposed redesign, and say the real decisions have been made behind closed doors.
FULL STORY: Parsing Peavey
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This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
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