Symphony Woods
Symphony Woods
Columbia, MD
This 33 acre woodland in Downtown Columbia has long held the promise of being the city’s central park—an art park and a work of art, an events place and a place for serenity, and critically, a multi-generational space that serves the diverse communities of Columbia daily.
Honoring planner James Rouse’s legacy to envision Columbia as “a garden for the growing of people,” the park design creates a home for the arts, highlights the natural beauty of the Little Patuxent Watershed, creates a series of multivalent spaces for all generations to come together, and serves the needs of the iconic Merriweather Post Pavilion, where half a century of music-lovers have gathered.
Together with the Inner Arbor Trust and Living Design Lab, Unknown Studio led a series of stakeholder engagement walks and sessions to build a community-driven concept design that truly reflects the needs of the community and diverse stakeholders.
The resulting concept design builds on the thinking of previous plans, while introducing a more restrained building program and a new material and experiential language into the park. Eschewing grand entrances, large building footprints and classical sequences, this design responds to the site’s demand for multiple entrances and a subtle revealing of landscape. First and foremost, the design utilizes topography and existing beech-oak-poplar groves as a way to create intuitive sequences of experiences. Destinations such as play areas, restrooms, seating, pavilions and performance spaces are deftly sited on hillsides throughout the undulating park, creating discovery and park amenities on all sides of the site.
A series of contemporary bridges cross through the treetops and over stream valleys, serving as key gateways, orienting landmarks, and thresholds into a “garden for growing.” Circulation at multiple elevations opens the park for exploration and accessible navigation by all, for the first time. A modern and natural material language in keeping with Frank Gehry’s original palette for Columbia ties together new brick entrance walls and bridges, wooden park pavilions, and wood structures including gates and bridges.
Careful study of multiple entrances, service and event scenarios allows this park to seamlessly fulfill its role as the major arts and culture destination in the region while adding in the long-desired ability for Symphony Woods to transform into a people’s park, 365-days a year.
Project timeline: 2020 -
Client: The Inner Arbor Trust
Scope: Vision Plan
Project type: Park | Culture | Urban
Size: 33 Acres
Partners: Living Design Lab (Prime Consultant)
