Park Placement

skatin' haven: These plans for the Schuylkill River Skatepark merged two original design concepts. Now, it's time to raise funds.

The Schuylkill River Skatepark Project grinds forward.

by Brian Howard

Now, there is a design. If all goes according to plan, street skaters still miffed about the closing of Love Park may, as early as next year, have new ledges to ride and pavement to huck. Back in March, when the team of architects, landscapers, skaters and planners charged with dreaming up a Schuylkill River Skatepark unveiled two distinct designs for the space between Eakins Oval and the river, it was assumed that one would eventually be chosen over the other.

There was the Shard Scheme, with its angular, finger-like pathways and skateable sculptures.

And the Spiral Scheme, all arcing paths encircling an elevated skateable "stage."

But rather than choose, architect Anthony Bracali swirled the best features of both into one. Though final approval from the Fairmount Park Commission, which oversees the site, is pending until September, Bracali will unveil this amalgam design to the public tonight in the CBS Auditorium at University of the Arts' Hamilton Hall (6 p.m., Broad and Pine streets). Skaters and members of the surrounding Logan Square neighborhood have been part of each step of this unique process combining public land and private funding.

The final design "was really based on feedback from two groups of people," says Bracali on the phone Monday, busily finalizing the designs for public consumption. "The first was the city-assembled advisory committee," which includes the FPC, the Recreation Department and the Logan Square Neighborhood Association.

The second was, of course, skaters.

"What we heard generally was that in the Shard Scheme, from a skating standpoint, people liked the idea of skateable sculptures," says Bracali, a self-described rollerblader who's received something of a crash course in boarding lingo while working on the project. "To most people, that scheme felt a little bit more infinite; you can look at different areas and see different opportunities."

As for the spiral, "people liked the long, flowing lines" and "circular architecture in the landscape." With its center stage/skating area, it "appealed to people in the community because they saw the multi-use aspect of that," explains Bracali. "People saw that scheme as one that might be more integrated with the landscape. It was softer in approach in working with the existing topographies. The majority of community members seemed to really react positively to the connections we were creating around the edges of the park."

So, two are now one.

The plans shown above, provided exclusively to City Paper, show how the design, if approved, will fit into the existing landscape, which already features the Art and Rodin museums and will one day include the Calder and Barnes. Because of the high-profile location, Bracali and company hope to make the park a jewel in its own right.

"You're never going to please everybody, you're never going to have every skateboarder walk into a design session and say "I see every opportunity here,'" he figures. "We're not trying to put in something that mimics something like the Brooklyn Banks. We're not trying to make it a place that replicates any other place."

One of the complaints heard throughout the design process was that "people felt there wasn't enough variety of terrain," Bracali says. "There's a careful balance we're trying to achieve. For guys who like to skate FDR [Park], who like to skate transitions and bowls, well, that's not what we're trying to create. We already have FDR [for that.]"

Perhaps the subtext is that part of this park's raison d' être is to fill the void felt by street skaters who've been deprived of the much-contested Love Park.

Based on the FPC's timetable for reviewing the plans in September, if the plans are approved, Bracali hopes to then be able to finalize the rest of the paperwork toward the end of the year. If all falls into place, the park could be open by the end of 2006.

In the meantime, there's money to be raised. Josh Nims, head of Franklin's Paine, the skateboarding advocacy organization that's spearheading the fundraising, says having a completed design will help. "We've brought a vision to life," says Nims. "Well, it's on paper right now, but we're almost there."

Along with seeking a primary sponsor — to whom naming rights will be granted — to back most of the estimated $5 million construction costs (the city financed the design process), Franklin's Paine hopes to create a "sense of ownership" among those who'll use the space by selling engraved boards, bricks and bench plaques that will go toward the park's estimated $50,000 to $75,000 annual maintenance fee.

"We're seeking sources of revenue that don't require charging anyone," he says, explaining that, for instance, a few televised events, such as the Gravity Games scheduled in July at South Philadelphia's FDR Park could go a long way to keeping the new skate park "open and free."