What is this, a park for ants? Photo by James Rambin.
The transformation of Waterloo Park, located between Trinity and Red River Streets directly east of the Capitol, is the Waller Creek Conservancy’s first step towards making its ambitious vision for the restoration of the downtown creek’s greenbelt a reality. Last week’s groundbreaking event marked the beginning of a joint project with the City of Austin that, according to the conservancy, will deliver a world-class urban park by the end of 2019.
A rendering of a night scene at the remodeled Waterloo Park, with the utility of the amphitheater and green space on full display. Photo courtesy of the Waller Creek Conservancy.
The conservancy starting its plan here makes good sense — Waterloo is the largest park space the organization plans to remodel, and once the project is complete its 11 acres will house an amphitheater, restaurant, about a mile of trails and more. As the signature piece of the overall Waller Creek plan, it’s going to be much easier to justify funding the rest of the project once the conservancy can point to a successfully completed Waterloo Park. Plus, just look at it!
Renderings of Waterloo Park’s Moody Amphitheater (top left), wooded trails (top right), and a map of the Waller Creek Conservancy’s full greenbelt renewal project with the Waterloo Park segment outlined in yellow (bottom). All photos courtesy of the Waller Creek Conservancy.
But renderings and maps don’t really give you the same sense of place as something physical, and that’s why the Waller Creek Conservancy built a scale model of Waterloo Park, which will go on display to the public at Creek Show 2017 in November. Thanks to the folks at GenWaller, we’ve got an early look.
A broad view of the park, looking west. The structure to the left is the intake for the Waller Creek Flood Control Tunnel.
Another view of the tunnel intake, looking south. The oddly-shaped structure dividing the channel is intended to absorb some of the force of rushing water, so the intake is spared the full force of flash flooding.
Pulling back further, we see a view of the bridge over Waller Creek that allows access to the park from Red River Street. The section of lawn cantilevered out over the creek reclaims nearly an acre of space, and gives the area in front of the amphitheater on the right a capacity of 5,000 people.
In case you’re wondering, here’s what the very north end of the park looks like. There’s not much going on here because it’s not going to be complete by 2019 like the rest of the park, it’s part of a phase two plan, so its design is still kinda up in the air.
Past the tunnel intake at the park’s south end, the creek flows a little lazier. The bridge at the top there is East 12th Street.
Here’s a better view of the Moody Amphitheater and surrounding area.
The steeper grade in the southeast portion of the park allows for some interesting trails and open spaces.
Can’t get enough of this southeast corner.
Looking south over the main lawn of the park.
No joke, it’s hard to fit this whole thing into one photo.
Get a load of all those bike racks!
Needless to say, I’m a big fan of this project — and not just because it would allow me to walk from my office to Easy Tiger without seeing a car, although that’s pretty neat.
More importantly, it’s a big, forward-thinking plan in a city that so often seems content to plan precisely for only its most current needs, with little regard for the challenges of future growth and density. Downtown green spaces and safe bike routes are only going to become more critical as the city spreads in all directions — and as we’ve pointed out before, the area around Waterloo Park is going places.
All photos by James Rambin. Big ups to GenWaller for the sneak peek.
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