2-26-87 Agenda & Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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-h- 7E. Attention to Details. Raising planting surfaces (or depressing walks) can deter people from short-cutting through and stomping upon the plants. Similarly, depressing sand areas in playgrounds helps to keep the grit in its proper place. PRINCIPLE 8: Provide Supervision Ease Obviously, use of a park must have some supervision. And every public place has its share of legitimate "don'ts." But "don't" is a culprit word. It nags. It looms as a challenge. To gain the necessary control , yet retain for the user his sense of freedom, landscape architects attempt to replace "don'ts" with "do's" by organizing use areas and circulation routes in a manner that will make it appear reasonable to use the facility as the designer intends and the administrator desires. This is the easiest way to facilitate supervision . . . let design layout provide a message which will guide the visitor into a use pattern with which he will agree. PUT THE DO's IN BY DESIGN. For discussion purposes, vandalism has two sides, although in actual cases, the lines are most likely to be blurred, requiring control measures addressed to both categories. Relatively benign is the nuisance or "push over the outhouse for kicks" type of property destruction. Face it, folks. You did this too. It is reasonable to assume that much of this damage is caused by people whose basic respect for property is momentarily put aside by a devilish spasm. By way of analogy, consider your new automobile. You take pains to keep from placing the first scratch upon it. But once the first dent appears, the • second does not seem to matter as much. And after the third and fourth, the car becomes in your mind just another beat up old "bomb" not worth worrying about.. A park inviting this state of disdain becomes equally fair game. The park which does not have the first scratch upon it is likely to be cared for. The seemingly insolvable problems are in the hard-core habitually vandalized areas where the public's entrenched hang-ups outweigh a basic respect for property. Where these cases are rampant developments should first of all be designed for sweeping police inspection; potentially vandalized structures clustered rather than distantly spaced about the site; views cleared from the streets into the park; if fenced, a minimum number of entry points located within visual range of well-trained arteries. SOME FACTORS AFFECTING THE DESIGN OF A BASEBALL FIELD Buffer noises and flight of errant baseballs. Flat surface draining to periphery. Direct access from parking lots or pedestrian entrances to spectator area. Location of drinking fountains, comfort stations, concessions stands. Maintenance equipment stored near diamond or elsewhere? Postioning of bleachers or other viewing accomodations. 111 Static space. Cleared field. Dark outfield background.