Overview
The Fairfield Skatepark is a park that was built to cater for skateboarders, inline skaters, BMX and scooter riders. The skatepark has a half pipe and spine in the centre of the two quarters. An oblong shaped bowl is located on the other side of the skatepark. The centre of the skatepark could be called a street course, however it’s design makes it predominantly a skatepark for BMX riders. Lines and blocks in the skatepark are underutilised by skaters and BMX and scooter riders dominate the skatepark.
Society
The skatepark is placed in-between to large multi-purpose playing areas. On one side is a sporting ground that caters for local sporting leagues in the community. The other as a large undefined park area, which has a ‘jungle gym’ style play equipment. Even the fact that the skatepark is situated in-between these types of fields, the skatepark has an expanse of uninhabited land between them to in a way push the skateboarders closer to the main road and away from youth orientated sporting facilities.
Culture
There is a fairly substantial following behind the Fairfield skatepark, mainly smaller groups of friends associating with other groups while using the park. There is almost a ‘turf control’ situation, where the BMX riders are constantly populating a large portion of the park, the bowl is practically unused apart from the occasional skater and the scooter riders inhabit the half pipe and spine. This separation gives a very non-unified congregation of users, not really interacting with anyone outside their circle of friends.
Planning
The skatepark is situated on the main road and it is highly visible from the street, 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 adjacent to a large residential area with no retail shops or hospitality venues close by. A public bus stop is located directly in front of the skatepark and there is even a parking bay in front of the bust stop allowing the users to take public transport of use their own means of transport to get to the park. The skatepark has no night-time lighting facilities incorporated into the area, when there is limited to no light on the skatepark the area becomes quite intimidating and the users cannot participate in their chosen sport at night.
Environment
The Fairfield skatepark is practically a concrete rectangle encompassing the half pipe and street section with the bowl section tacked onto one end. The skatepark has no man made shade structures on the site, however there are many trees around the skatepark that provide shaded break-out space for the users to escape the ‘hot box’ that the skatepark becomes on a summer day. The skatepark has a minimal amount of graffiti in terms of it’s overall size and amount of concrete surfaces.
2 comments:
I used to frequent this park a fair bit when I lived in Brisbane. Mainly because it has fairly smooth concrete which is my number one thing I look for in a skate park.
I also liked the graffiti that was more 'art like' with colourful designs. Compared to the monotone vandalism of swastikas or pieces of literary genius like "Johno is a gay cunt", that you find in the tweed skate park. I realise this probably has more to do with the socio-economic status of the suburb that the skate park is in, but things like that can really put people off; especially parents.
Some things I would change though;
-More bubblers/drinking fountains, preferably in the shade. Nothing worse than going for a drink and getting a mouthful of hot water.
-Some extra seating along the edge of the park next to the sport fields. Most of the areas to rest are away from the park or down the incline so you can't really see other people skating while you're resting. Making this shaded would also help shade the park in the afternoon as it's on the west side of the park.
-Lighting. Like you mentioned this place can get quite hot in summer. It would be nice to be able to skate at night when it has cooled down a bit. Maybe have the lights on some sort of timer like they have in the stairwells at motels. Press the button, and the lights stay on for half an hour.
I agree with the graffiti statement, it's an effective way to break up the large grey faces of your atypical skatepark. Funded art projects help to build a deeper sense of culture within the skating community.
Shade structures and break out spaces to use when not occupying the skatepark would be a huge benefit for users of the park.
The lighting solution mentioned above is not only practical, but it's a much more sustainable method, rather than leaving large flood lights on all night.
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