The concept of adding a new park to a high density area of the City of Pasadena has been an idea over a decade in the making. The area is comprised of multi-family housing and businesses and had no green spaces or places for families to recreate. The site of a 9,750 square-foot bank and a City-owned parking lot and were merged to create the Playhouse Village Park. The park includes a children’s play area with accessible playground, a dog run, a trellised structure over a sitting/stage area, lighted pathways, restroom and storage building, and a 48-space parking lot.
The community has changed over the years, but the constant need has been parks and recreation space. City leadership heard the call of areas residents and businesses and came up with a plan to ensure this new park would benefit everyone that surrounded it. Some of the guiding principles the City wished to achieve included designing a safe space with adequate lighting; creating inviting environment with design features and programming that engages with the surrounding neighborhood; developing a flexible, well-designed space with areas that respond to a variety of uses and programming; ensuring the park is resident-serving, addressing the unmet needs of the local neighborhood; and creating space that could be used year-round. After a robust public outreach campaign, the following elements were selected as part of the park design:
Central lawn surface for recreation and community gatherings;
Shade trellis structure and platform stage for socializing and community events;
Accessible children’s play area with natural play elements, rubberized play; surface, and shade structures; and
Off-leash dog run with delineating fence for big and small dogs;
Playhouse Village Park promotes physical, emotional, and mental health and wellness by providing an outdoor space that can be used by people of all ages and abilities. In addition, it fosters a sense of community by engaging local businesses and residents. Seniors are able to walk around the park while tiny tots can play on the park equipment. Dog owners can use the dog run and meet other animal lovers. Parks make life better, and this is just one example of how something small can have a meaningful impact on the community. |