Aspinwall Riverfront Park honored for design

originally built as a working building in a public area, and how it continues to be a working building,” the AIA jurors wrote. “It works in sympathy with its environment and doesn’t try to outshine the setting.”

The American Planning Association of Pennsylvania named the park one of three “Great Spaces” in the state. The award recognizes “places with exemplary character, quality, identity and cultural interest and community involvement,” a press release said. The association specifically praised the park’s brownfield redevelopment and green infrastructure, and its sensitivity to reuse of onsite demolished building materials.

The Pittsburgh Chapter of the Urban Land Institute included the park as one of five 2017 “Healthy Place” awardees, a recognition of projects and places that are shaped in ways that improve the health of people and communities.

A group of concerned citizens saved the marina property from being turned into a parking lot by banding together in 2011, with foundation support, to raise $2.3 million to purchase the site. While it carries the municipality’s name, the park is an independent nonprofit and open to the public.

A signature element is “Playground,” a sculpture that is also a children’s play area, by Brooklyn artist Tom Otterness. The artwork, which cost more than $1 million, is on permanent loan from The Grable Foundation.

The park has a quarter-mile walking trail, kayaking through a partnership with Venture Outdoors, exercise and music classes, theater performances and camps. There is sled riding in the winter and an outdoor ice skating rink