Santa Fe Railyard Park, Plaza & Alemeda

Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA, 2002

The purpose of this master plan is to create an infinitely flexible park space in the community’s historic center. The concept is intended to honor the railroad tradition, respect ecological and water shortage concerns, and provide an appropriate public imagery for the City of Santa Fe. To accomplish these goals, the plan is designed as a microcosm of the regional landscape, a model of the local waffle garden system for collecting rainwater, and a graphic representation of the impact of the railroad as a legacy of the city. A forty-foot square grid of various permeable paving materials and vegetation, defines an area surrounding a regional art museum. As this pattern expands in a southwesterly direction, the walkways gradually lose their geometric configuration and become a series of fragmented ribbons - similar to railroad tracks leaving a city. The dematerializing grid provides areas for botanical displays, ecological demonstrations, historical exhibits, children's playgrounds and commercial enterprises. In honor of the railroad history, all of its associated artifacts - track sections, wooden ties, box cars, passenger cars, seating units, engines, undercarriages, wheels, couplings, cargo handling equipment, and remnants of trestles - are converted to exhibition facilities, performance stages, restaurants and cafés.