St. Vrain State Park near Longmont is heavily used its multiple stocked ponds and river-front property attract abundant bird life as well as fishermen. However, improvements, upgrades and expansions were needed to address several issues. Water runoff from roadways and parking lots threatened water quality and wildlife in the area. Access for handicapped users was limited. Park staff trucked water to a single cistern with a hand pump to provide drinking water for park users, and sanitary facilities were limited to vault toilets.

High water tables and unsuitable soils presented engineering challenges, and all facilities had to be designed clear of two overlapping flood plains that affect the park. Furthermore, the site was to be kept partially open during construction. The Engineering Co. of Fort Collins was selected to orchestrate the multi-phase renovation and expansion.

Using a detailed topographical survey and hydrology models, the project team regraded all roads and parking areas with access and water quality issues in mind. Unobtrusive water-quality capture elements were designed as part of the road system. Playas and berms were used in conjunction with check structures from an irrigation ditch to the wetlands near the ponds. The design produced three acres of new wetlands.

Construction of utilities required dewatering because groundwater was only two ft down in some places. A new sewer system was designed with a gravity feed that connects to a lift station. Water, sewer and electric utilities were laid out for phased installation and hookups to all camp sites, which were increased in number and modernized in keeping with other upgrades made throughout the park.

A new camper services building houses flush toilets, showers and vending machines. Two new handicapped-accessible piers are available for anglers, and paved roadways and crusher fines pathways improve year-round access.

St Vrain State Park
Longmont

Silver Hard Hat Award

Utah Park is an existing 47-acre community park in Aurora. Design Concepts developed a master plan to renovate the majority of the site and embrace the natural creeks that flow into the park year round, transforming them into a major park amenity.

The park was built in the 1960s and functions as a flood-control facility for Urban Drainage. The city of Aurora teamed with Urban Drainage not only to increase the flood capacity to better protect the homes downstream but also to upgrade park amenities and infrastructure.

Jewell Tributary and Westerly Creek run approximately a million gal. of water through the site per day. This water, which was in pipes for nearly 50 years, has been brought to the surface to create naturalized waterways, wetlands and ponds on the site. The one softball field and one baseball field were relocated to function better with the flooding sequence of the park. An outdoor classroom/boardwalk/wetland was created to help filter water and serve as a natural laboratory for the nearby high school and middle school.

More than 100,000 cu yd of dirt were moved on the site to create an entirely new experience for park visitors through the use of dramatic topography. A new shelter was constructed along the new edge of the pond to provide park users with a direct connection to the unique water experience that is an integral part of the site.

Design Concepts also designed an aquatic-theme shelter selected as the winner of the 2006 Poligon ™ Park Architecture design competition. The 17-by-19-ft “Waves” shade structure, constructed by Poligon of tubular steel with fabricated wave panels overhead, was unveiled in October 2006 at the annual American Society of Landscape Architects conference in Minneapolis. The shelter has been donated to the city of Aurora for Utah Park.

Utah Park
Aurora

Bronze Hard Hat Award

With the growth in Brighton and the surrounding areas of Weld and Adams counties, Platte Valley Medical Center had outgrown its campus in the center of town, so it purchased 52.5 acres east of town to create a state-of-the-art regional medical center. 

The first phase of construction, completed in June 2007, developed 23 acres of the site with several components: a grand entry to the main hospital, a 78-bed patient tower with an adjoining terrace garden, a 58,000-sq-ft medical office building and a prominent one-acre healing garden flanking both the main hospital and the medical office building.

The design objectives of the healing garden were to facilitate the patients’ healing process. The garden provides a place for organic discovery, with a number of smaller gardens positioned within the larger space that flow effortlessly together.

Natural materials such as water and stone transport visitors and patients to other imagined places while sun and shade engage the natural surroundings, providing physiological comfort.

Site lighting creates an ambience in the gardens while also providing safety in this 24-hour facility. Donor bricks and benches, along with donated sculptures, were incorporated into the garden to reflect the community support for the new medical campus.

The campus is master planned with future build-out potential for an additional 300-bed patient facility and medical office buildings on the remaining 29.5 acres, so the design included development infrastructure beyond the first phase.

The landscaping was designed with a native seed mix that requires irrigation only during establishment, eventually returning it to a prairie landscape. The site plan developed only those areas near pedestrian uses while minimizing the expenditure of resources on the remainder of the undeveloped site.

Platte Valley Medical Center
Phase I Site Development
Brighton

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