The O-day’min Park project transforms a vast cluster of parking lots in the heart of downtown Edmonton into an urban oasis where large open areas invite the public to gather, meet, socialize and play. The design concept is based on the notion of a place where two landscapes – boreal forest and prairie – meet. This interaction is expressed in the contrast between the forest-like Western side, where a continuous mixed tree canopy is punctured by various programmed spaces, and the Eastern side of the park, defined by a large clearing. Each of these poles have a plaza: The Western Plaza is designed as a ‘winter warming zone’, with gigantic fireplaces, a multifunctional park pavilion, and a rustic buffalo-check paving pattern. The Eastern Plaza has a more summer-like feel with picnic tables, seating platforms, and a picnic blanket inspired paving pattern. Finally, the northern prairie experience is captured by a structure encircling the open clearing that simulates the phenomenon of the aurora borealis, providing important night-time animation in a winter city.
Uniting the two sides is a wide pedestrian promenade (formerly 107 street), that elevates an important civic axis between Grant McEwan University, the Corona LRT Station, and the Alberta Legislative complex, integrating it into the experience of the park.
The design of O-day’min Park considers its functioning in a context of climate change. Capturing and reusing rainwater on site is a key principle of the park’s design and grading, which uses ancient landscape principles to meet future challenges. The plant palette, partly inspired by local flora, also includes species from beyond the current regional landscape to create an urban forest sufficiently diverse and resilient to cope with the changing realities of temperature, precipitation and snowfall.
A multi-purpose green space for all, O-day’min Park’s scale and proportions are designed to allow visitors to feel safe and comfortable, with open views to see one another and share in the collective mood of the park. With its clear and simple structure, O-day’min Park uses intuitive pedestrian desire lines to establish a connection to the immediate urban fabric while reaffirming important links on a metropolitan scale.
