Skatepark Design

What follows is in reference to our skatepark, but it could be applied to any project.

The danger of feedback.

There are some pitfalls to watch out for when designing a park. Often laymen, like council workers, oversee a project and get feedback from kids and parents who also know little about the process of designing and building a skatepark. Hell - I'’ve seen evidence of companies who build skate parks who obviously know very little about building a skatepark! It’s generally a good idea to have someone who has skated a number of skateparks to help out. This is where we at the co-operative hope to help out.

As well as the obvious design points, like ensuring a line doesn’t come to a dead end and earmarking designated areas for inexperienced riders, an experienced rider will be able to pick out the more subtle aspects of design, like the optimal distance between obstacles and height/incline of obstacles. If you are lacking someone like this in your project this then it's time to get a tape measure and make some use of the geometry you learnt at school - you can quite simply copy what is already out there..

Make use of the gazillions of quid spent on other projects.

There are many instances of very successful skateparks already out there which are the result of a great deal of money and effort. Learn from the examples like Saffron Walden, who got a team in from the west coast of the US to help with the design. See what works and ride the wave of someones else’s (rather expensive) success. Today councils have very little excuse for wasting even small pots of public money on diabolical designs when a liiittle research would have gone a long way.

Unique.

We all want to ride something we haven’t ridden before. That’s generally how it is with riders who have been about for any time at all, that is why skaters travel all over the world. To have something unique the best medium is concrete. Concrete allows freeform shapes to be constructed. We want the Millenium skatepark to be concrete, and like nothing you have ever ridden before..