01. Pre 2000 Skate Park – Woolloongabba Skatepark

Overview

The Woolloongabba skatepark is practically a bowl, that can’t really be considered a bowl. It only has three quarter pipes just over two feet high. The bowl was designed and constructed by the Brisbane City Council recreational services sector and hasn’t been maintained since it’s inception.

Society

The public park has many facilities, which include multiple large playing fields, picnic and barbeque areas. The fields also cater for many community-sporting leagues. The skate park is noted to have associated risks involved when using the park and they have been outlined on a sign erected by the Brisbane City Council. The Council has also tried to enforce a 12hr user timeframe.

Culture

The skate park in this instance is seen to be an unimportant or somewhat irrelevant component of the entire park. The park has been segregated from the other sporting ground, which is considered more important, mainly because of the money that can be made from sporting clubs and functions. The skatepark itself doesn’t generate any revenue and it wouldn’t doesn’t have an existing following that use the park regularly.

Planning

The skatepark is located very close to a main road, the constant traffic in the area leads to pollution from the car exhaust resulting in poor air quality around the skatepark. The skate park is also adjacent to light industrial and commercial establishments. There are no public transport stops close to the skatepark, any on street parking is located in the residential areas around the larger extent of the park. Parking facilities for the skatepark are lacking, even bordering on non-existent. The skatepark has no night-time lighting facilities incorporated into the area, so as soon as the sun sets, it makes it almost impossible to skate at all.

Environment

The skatepark is made up solely of concrete and has no element of technical design that diverges from your atypical half pipe. The skatepark is slowly deteriorating and parts of the bowl are cracked and have broken away. The skatepark has an extensive amount of graffiti on it’s surface and this can change the general perception of the park to outside users or visitors. The skatepark is in full sun during all hours of the day, because of this there has been a shade structure constructed adjacent to the skatepark. There have also been no considerations given to vegetation or landscape forms around the skatepark or the outlying areas.