By Mark Haverstock

PROJECT TEAM Designer: Site Design Group Ltd., Chicago; The Office of James Burnett, Houston Stone supplier: Aspen Valley Landscape Supply, Park City, Ill.; Buechel Stone Corporation, Chilton, Wis.; Cold Spring Granite, Cold Spring, Minn.; Halquist Stone Company, Sussex, Wis.; Meno Stone Company, Lemont, Ill. Stone installer: John Synko, Mark 1 Restoration Company Inc., Chicago; W.R. Weis Company Inc., Chicago

Build a park and they will come.

That's what the Lakeshore East developers had in mind for the area that once served Chicago as a port and warehouse facility for the Illinois Central Railroad. The six-acre Park at Lakeshore East is the centerpiece for the development of this 28-acre site in the heart of downtown Chicago. The park was the first part of the project completed, created with the intention of drawing interest to the area.

Architects at Site Design Group set up six distinct zones within the park at Lakeshore East: the grand stairway, the great lawn, the children's playground, water gardens, ornamental gardens and the dog park, along with a variety of seating options. Designers even took into account the variety of activities that would take place in the park and their proximity to each other. For example, the playground is adjacent to the site planned for a future public school. Although the development is private, the park is a public area. Both pedestrians and residents living in the nearby high-rise buildings can experience the beauty of the park's modern design.

This fountain is one of five located at the end of the park paths.
Photograph © Ron Gordon / Ron Gordon Photography

Two main park paths, constructed of a specialty pavement, mark the east and west entries. At each of these entry points, visitors are greeted by a series of five pool basins that progressively narrow along the path to the center of the park. Each of the lannonstone basins is divided by a series of evenly spaced, solid red granite walls. Steel scuppers seem to "float" between the large masses of granite and pour water into the pools lined with rugged black boulders. Water flows over the front ledge of the pool into a grated reservoir designed to re-circulate the water. Also, water from scuppers at the end walls of each pool seems to mysteriously disappear into a bed of decomposed granite that separates the pools.

"Chicago has a very long history of parks using stone and we saw these water features as an opportunity to bring in more contemporary forms and to still use classical materials in a modern way," said Michelle Inouye, project manager, Site Design Group. "The way we've incorporated the natural stone materials and introduced new materials, like the metal scuppers in the pools, give it a more urban and contemporary feel."

Stairs form a grand entrance into the center of the park.
Photograph © Ron Gordon / Ron Gordon Photography

Additional water features appear at opposite ends of the park. The playground is composed of three exterior play pods, connected by pergolas constructed of both steel and cedar wood. In the center of the main circle is a spray pool. At the west end is a dog park, where they incorporated more of the lannonstone for a small fountain. Water pours from the fountain to a basin, flows into a cavity that goes to the low end of the slope, and then it falls into a drainage basin at the other end.

"It wasn't only the fountains that have the stone. We tried to carry that same material in different ways throughout the park, namely the stairs at the main entry," Inouye said. This entry capitalizes on the grade change toward the park — a 40-foot drop over a 340-foot length. Lannonstone clad walls follow the same coursing patterns as the fountains, set horizontally in specific 2-1/4 inch and five-inch increments with random vertical joints, offsetting angling stair lines and slope changes. The rough-cut wall faces the finish of the wide capstone pieces that provide ideal seating at the top, middle and lower landings. Wall breaks generate further interest and draw attention to the more formal coursing of the stone.

Steel scuppers releasing water into the pool appear to float in the massive granite blocks.
Photograph © Ron Gordon / Ron Gordon Photography

The Park at Lakeshore East has truly become a focal point for the development of this new urban neighborhood within Chicago. Currently, two high-rise buildings that tower above the park area are fully occupied, with two more buildings nearing completion. Plans for the near future include covering the entire perimeter of the park with three- to four-story residential town homes that would act as a transition between the scale of the park and the taller buildings.

Aerial photo of the park.
Photograph © Ron Gordon / Ron Gordon Photography

• Return to table of contents

www.buildingstonemagazine.com

Building Stone Magazine
©2006 by Building Stone Institute
www.buildingstoneinstitute.org
All rights reserved

Web Site by:
Lionheart Publishing, Inc.
506 Roswell Street, Suite 220, Marietta, GA 30060
Phone: 770-431-0867 | Fax: 770-432-6969
lpi@lionhrtpub.com
www.lionhrtpub.com