Design Concepts
Pickleball Court Design: Maximizing Fun and ...

Pickleball is one of the hottest trends in recreation right now, and for good reason. It’s a welcoming sport that offers an abundance of fun. It’s known as a ‘game for everyone.’ Pickleball encourages physical activity to improve people’s fitness and wellness. As park designers, we see pickleball on the agenda for most of the park projects we work on.

Pickleball Court Design: Maximizing Fun and Functionality
Guest User
Erie Community Park: Third and Final Phase

This summer we celebrated the grand opening of the third and final phase of Erie Community Park. 12 acres of features were added to this park extending its value to the community. The park is consistently filled with people enjoying all it has to offer, and we could be more excited to see that enthusiasm.

Erie Community Park: Third and Final Phase
Design Concepts
Outdoor Classrooms: Now More Than Ever

This past year, schools all over the country were forced to allow fewer students inside and keep classes physically separate from each other, making their outside spaces a hot commodity. In many cases schools had to scramble to figure out ways to make this happen with little time to plan. We propose that to better equip schools for the future, more time, funding, and attention is needed to design these outdoor learning environments in ways students, teachers and the neighboring community can enjoy throughout the year.

Outdoor Classrooms: Now More Than Ever
Design Concepts
Two Hunters Park: A Tribute to Mark Martinez ...

Parks all around the world are known for igniting emotions of hope, peace, and optimism. Two Hunters Park, a commemorative park honoring the lives of Mark Martinez and Joey Irwin of Firestone, CO is no exception.

Two Hunters Park: A Tribute to Mark Martinez and Joey Irwin
Schools
Design Concepts
Helping Our Community Grow

We worked alongside these supporters for several years with continuing development on Lafayette Elementary’s garden as well as their three playgrounds. Recently, we began replacing raised flower beds in areas being reestablished.

Helping Our Community Grow

"GRASP"

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Public Health and The Landscape

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Thanks to a Facebook post by Bruce Ward from Choose Outdoors I found an interesting article called "Take a hike and call me in the morning..." in the Washington Post that talks about doctors prescribing outdoor activity as treatment for a variety of ailments. This is not just fluffy news-filler, folks. It is part of a very real trend that recognizes the benefits that parks, greenways, and open space provide in terms of community health and disease prevention. As landscape architects, we have a role to play in the public health movement. Frederick Law Olmsted and others recognized this more than a century ago and devoted themselves to creating places that support the physical, mental, and social well-being of people and communities.

I spent several days last week at Indiana University's School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation meeting with their research faculty and discussing how the GRASP® methodology developed by Design Concepts and GreenPlay LLC can be used to support research aimed at making communities healthier places to live. This is exciting stuff for us, and the interesting thing is that they found us and invited us to the table, meaning that the health and wellness field is aware of what landscape architects can offer and welcomes our contribution to their efforts. I'll let you know in future posts where all of this leads. Meanwhile, ask your doctor about that new park in your neighborhood....

Rob Layton

Design Concepts is an M/WBE, SBE Landscape Architecture design firm with the City and County of Denver and a DBE under the US Department of Transportation’s Colorado Unified Certification Program (UCP).