Design Concepts
Redesigning Possibilities: How Butterfield ...

Possibilities Playground at Butterfield Crossing Park is a bold rethinking of what inclusive play can be. Designed as a sensory-rich, fully accessible space shaped by community input, it invites children and caregivers of all abilities to connect, explore, and belong, together.

Redesigning Possibilities: How Butterfield Crossing Park Became a New Benchmark for Inclusive Play
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
Erik Spring
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

Carol Presents at USGBC's Green Schools Summit

Carol Henry | Principal | President

Carol Henry | Principal | President

An Evolution of the Learning Landscape: Incorporating New Technologies for Long-Term Success will be presented by Carol Henry, PLA, Principal of Design Concepts and Cheryl Bicknell of one4one design at the 2015 Green Schools Summit on November 6th.  Here’s an abstract of the presentation:

Savvy educators understand the benefits learning landscapes provide to teaching and learning.  Smart facilities managers appreciate low-maintenance designs while providing sustainable solutions.  Learning landscapes respect the importance of an educational property and reflect it back in playful interpretations on the schoolyard.

The first learning landscapes highlighted outdoor classrooms, interactive play, educational reference tools, areas of natural exploration, outdoor science, art, sensory activities and more.  Today’s innovations elevate learning to teach and reinforce healthy living, inclusivity, and incorporate technology.  They are social community gathering centers, organic and indigenous gardens, inclusive playgrounds, and they enable health through recreation and play.  

Top 10 Reasons to Enjoy GO Day 2015, Saturday June 13th

From the healthy options away from home-based technologies, enjoying the benefits of volunteering, to de-stressing and relishing the unity of being with friends and family—we embrace and support National Get Outdoors Day 2015 this Saturday, June 13th.  Plus, the weather looks “reasonable” and GO Day outdoor options are infinite.  Visit http://www.nationalgetoutdoorsday.org for ideas near you or visit one of our 118+ parks for a picnic, walk, play at the playground, or stare at the clouds from a perfect spot of grass.  Have a blast this Saturday!   

Directly from mouths of the organizers . . .

#10 –smaller portion of the nation is realizing the physical and mental benefits of being outdoors

#9 – kids are less connected to outdoors than any previous generation

#8 – America’s youth need triggers to motivate them to go outside

#7 – Americans are overwhelmed with information overload

#6 – people who volunteer are healthier and outdoor volunteerism is a need

#5 – balance indoor/outdoor use of time from malls and home-based technologies to the great outdoors

#4 – the future of America’s public lands will be determined by the extent we care about them

#3 – the problem of being unhealthy and associated BIG costs can be addressed with more physical activity

#2 –stress, an alarmingly increasing concern for youth can be helped with recreation: a powerful antidote to stress

#1 – its pretty, healthy and fun!

Provocateurs of National Get Outdoors Day (GO Day) - June 13, 2015

NATIONAL GET OUTDOORS DAY IS June 13, 2015

Support the Cause

National Get Outdoors Day is an annual event to encourage healthy, active outdoor fun.  Partners offer opportunities to experience traditional and non-traditional types of outdoor activities.  Prime goals of the day are reaching first-time visitors to public lands and reconnecting youth to the great outdoors.

SEND US YOUR PICS

Have a photo of you taking full advantage of GO Day, send it to us! We want to see what you're up to. 

Get Outside and Enjoy a Park...

perhaps one of ours!

JOIN THE FUN!

Using census data from ESRI and our own GIS capabilities, we looked at 118 park locations designed by Design Concepts and found: 

  • 303,174 people live within a 15-minute walk to a park
  • 1,264,323 potential users live within 1 mile

That means that right now, 303,174 people can walk out their door and within 15 minutes they can be enjoying fresh air, exercise, and interaction with their neighbors at a park that we had a hand in providing. That’s the value of what we do.

Hideaway Park

Winter Park, CO

Located in the town center of Winter Park, Hideaway Park was designed to reflect the character of Winter Park, as well as to further develop the community's main winter sledding hill and summer amphitheater event space. The following list is a sampling of events in the park this summer.

Arapahoe : From The Field Video 7

Our latest From The Field video is online for the Arapahoe County Fairgrounds. The project has suffered some setbacks due to the unusually rainy month of May. The weather has since turned dry and warm so the crews are at top speed getting back on track. There is a big push to get the Central Green area ready for the County Fair July 23-26.

Erik with Design Concepts, a Landscape Architecture firm in Lafayette Colorado, takes you behind the scenes of a construction park project at the Arapahoe County Fairgrounds. http://www.dcla.net. The project has transitioned from earthwork to above ground finished work. The project has been delayed by an unusually wet and cold month of May.

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).