StraightFromTheHip

Click here to download a sample Emergency Action Plan that you can use during the development of your own plan for your skatepark.

• Finish: Hard trowel – 12 passes, no broom finish unless otherwise specified
• Concrete Strength: 3500-4000 psi concrete
  • 4000 psi recommended if maintenance vehicle access required
• Standard slab detail: 4” thick (minimum) with welded wire mesh, can also use reinforcing fibers mixed with concrete instead of welded wire mesh
• Shotcrete detail: 5” thick (minimum) with rebar reinforcement, less than 5” too thin for rebar
• Joints:
  • Expansion - Felt expansion material where horizontal and vertical planes meet
  • Key - Keyed joints are between two pours to prevent vertical shifting, approximately 30’ spacing
  • Cold – Used at top and bottom of banks and transitions and the top of stairs, similar to keyed joints without keyed insert
  • Saw-Cut – 1/8” thick (maximum), used throughout the park to control cracking

A - There is adequate spacing to ride this banked ledge from all directions. Having all banked side walls will allow riders to use this obstacle in a variety of different ways.

B - All obstacles are proportionately correct and work as a unified piece to create a proper plaza.

C - This park fits perfectly into it’s environment, plaza park in a downtown setting (not always the easiest thing to achieve).

D - Real world handrail and stairs, street skaters need handrails.

E - Using brick as a material application really brings unique life to a very typical skatepark obstacle. Here they have used the proper bank angles and brick laying techniques to make this a great bank.

Click here to download a Table of Recommended Illumination Levels for Outdoor Facilities

Even though skateparks are not covered in this Table and there are no industry lighting standards for skateparks at this time, you can compare to other sports facillities on the Table and come up with a good starting point. Our recommendation would be somewhere in the range of 10-30 footcandles (fc), but this all depends on the specific conditions of your site, size, type of design/equipment, layout, personal preferences, etc. That is why we also suggest you work closely with an electrical engineer and/or sports lighting manufacturer in order to tailor your skatepark lighting system to meet all of your needs and requirements. One of the leading sports lighting manufacturers is Musco Lighting and you can check out their website at www.musco.com.

Source: Time-Saver Standards for Landscape Architects, Charles W. Harris and Nicholas T. Dines authors, McGraw-Hill, Inc publisher

A professionally-designed, community-specific skatepark environment reflects the training and experience of the architect. On the flip side, improperly-built facilities that soon require rebuilding, may have poor drainage that leaves water pooling, dangerous traffic patterns or “flow lines” that can cause serious accidents or not provide enough challenge, and other short range planning that increases maintenance costs in the future are just some of the problems that stem from inexperienced design work and construction.

The art and sport of riding skateparks and its myriad subtleties developed through the years is the core understanding that must be incorporated into every design decision. Therefore, your facility cannot, and should not, be approached simply as a common exercise in landscape architecture. Nor can it be looked upon simply as a major construction project. Your skatepark architect, much like a composer, must blend a variety of disciplines into a worthwhile and unique project. This is the point at which skatepark architecture moves from just placing riding elements haphazardly to both a profession and art.

Facilitate Project Work Across a Variety of Areas

Only through a thorough knowledge of riding can the architect develop a true understanding of strategy, developing a vision, riding value, limitations of riders and equipment and realistic design possibilities. Today’s skatepark design teams must also have the training and experience to coordinate work in other areas.

• SKATEBOARDING/ACTION SPORTS CULTURE - To truly know the potential flow lines in a skatepark facility that enable safe intersections and opportunity for riders of all skill levels and riding disciplines to be adequately challenged and grow takes years of wheels-on experience.

• COMMUNITY INVOLVMENT - All skateparks require the designer to act as translator, striking the balance between the various and often very different local wants and needs, knowing how to make compromises and being decisive are key factors.

• LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE - Only the most competent skatepark sculptors can design courses that are compatible with, and that feature and preserve the natural landscape.

• CIVIL ENGINEERING - Knowledge of surveying, how to operate a transit and level, aerial photography and topographic maps is basic to planning the routing of the skatepark.

• HYDRAULIC ENGINEERING - Design of irrigation systems demands understanding of hydraulics, pumps, piping systems, etc.

• CONSTRUCTION SPECIFICATIONS - Highly detailed plans and specifications covering all phases of construction including clearing, excavation of ponds or lakes, grading, irrigation installation, planting of grass and trees, and early maintenance must be prepared.

• COST ESTIMATING - The preparation of plans and specifications makes it possible to present realistic budgets so that adequate funding can be procured.

• GENERAL AND SPECIALTY CONSTRUCTION - The considerable earth moving necessary to build a skatepark requires an understanding of heavy equipment and its capabilities and a depth of experience in specialty shotcrete placement and finishing required for riding performance.

Since skatepark design is such a specialized field, with each new project requiring solutions for specific problems of community wants and needs, earth moving, drainage, use of durable and unique materials and ecological considerations, fees for professional service are at relatively higher levels than those which might be applicable for standard architectural or engineering work.

Here is a useful skatepark planning guide put out by the Government of Western Australia. They too are experiencing major growth in the area of skateparks. It’s a 2001 document but has a lot of relevant information. Starts off with “What makes a good skating playground?”, funny language but there’s a lot of good reference information for those at the early planning stages of a project. We particularly like the strategy section and how they illustrate the importance of having an effective “team”.

Click on the thumbnails below to view the 4 pages of the skatepark planning guide.

Source: Sport and Recreation WA