03. Pre 2000 Skate Park – Toombul Skatepark

Overview

The Toombul skatepark is a very disjointed park with an obscure ‘S’ shaped fun box in the centre of a bitumen space. The skatepark has two steel quarter pipes adjacent to each other, one a high section and the other with an angled bank in the centre. There are large wooden beams oddly positioned in the park that are practically impossible to make any real use of.

Society

The skatepark is adjacent a grassed parkland with playground equipment on the opposite side to the skatepark. There is never a great del of skateboarders using the skatepark at one time, on the multiple visits to the park there would have been a maximum of four users at the park at once.

Culture

There doesn’t seem to be an existent following behind the park and no real regular users. There seems to be no cultural significance of the skatepark, nor any skate shops near by.

Planning

The skatepark is located behind the Toombul train station and backs onto 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. The Toombul shopping centre is located across the main road and offers a multitude of food and beverage venues and retail options.

Environment

The skatepark is comprised of concrete, bitumen, steel and timber structures. There are many cases where the concrete sections of the skatepark are deteriorating or have broken away with no signs of repair. Many faces of the skatepark are covered in graffiti and rubbish is often strewn across the site. There are however many trees around the site which offer shaded break out areas at different times of the day.

02. Pre 2000 Skate Park – Nundah Skatepark

Overview

The Nundah skatepark was originally a simple 4ft half pipe that had a bowl section at one end and the two quarters on the opposite end tapered down to a flat concrete section. Where the quarters terminated at ground level a low rail was placed at the end of the half pipe. The skatepark has recently had a redesign and new skating elements have been added. Blocks on either side of the tapered quarters have been added, one rail has been removed and an ‘L’ shaped quarter and vert section has been added to the flat section to the rear of the half pipe.

Society

The Nundah skatepark is situated in a small residential community and the main following behind the park is a small group of young children who visit the park with their parents. For the skatepark to be located in such a built up residential area the local community would have to be fairly accepting of skateboarding and the associated risks involved when skateparks and occupied.

Culture

Young children mainly occupy the skatepark and is fairly family orientated. During the week the skatepark is almost derelict with most of the users at school, however on the weekends the park isn’t used as much as other skateparks around the area. The additions to the park were obviously constructed due to community input and users requests, even though on the occasions that the skatepark was visited there were next to no users on site.

Planning

The skatepark is about a block away from a main road and multiple public transport stops. Usually skateparks aren’t situated in built up residential areas but because the park itself is quite large, there is still quite a lot of space between the park and nearby homes. The Nundah skatepark has many facilities to be utilised by both skatepark users and park users. Barbeques, picnic areas, ‘jungle gym’ style play equipment and toilet facilities are located at the park.

Environment

The skatepark is simply placed roughly in the centre of the existing park. Numerous large trees shelter the skatepark, which provides shade over sections of the skatepark. The skatepark itself is fairly well maintained and graffiti only covers about 50% of the skatepark.

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.

Welcome!

This blog has been created to showcase skateparks and civic centres where there is prominent skate culture present, and then an open critique will be started through an online forum where skaters, designers and the general public can voice their theories, suggestions and ideals in relation to public skating.