El Presidio Park Masterplan Vision, Tucson, Arizona

The birthplace of Tucson becomes an everyday, civic, cultural & historic park

PROJECT SUMMARY

Rebuilt in the early 70’s during the urban renewal of the downtown core, El Presidio Park today is not the vibrant civic space it once was. Its current design is cluttered and largely driven by the parking garage below. CHEE SALETTE’s masterplan restores the urban role of El Presidio Park and reconnects it to the city by creating at its center a true town square, with open view corridors which radiate clear circulation paths with activated edges of continuous shaded seating. This plaza is scaled to be intimate enough to be an urban “living room” and generous enough to host large public gatherings. It is surrounded and animated by the Amphitheater, where people assemble for various civic and cultural events, the Café, the Monument Garden, an outdoor museum where the monuments of El Presidio are assembled, the Hill, where people can relax and picnic on the grass, and the January 8th Memorial at the foot of the historic Old Courthouse. At the heart of the plaza is the restored Clement Fountain, expanded to create a water play area using recycled water collected on site.