Parisite Skate Park, a Small Center collaboration, wins national design award
November 01, 2019 9:15 AM
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(From left to right) Simeon Bruner of The Bruner Foundation, Albert and Tina Small Center for Collaborative Design Director Ann Yoachim, and Skylar Fein, co-director of Transitional Spaces hold the Rudy Bruner Award for Urban Excellence silver award for the collaborative work done on Parisite Skate Park. A young man skates into the concrete bowl of the park beneath the overpass in the background. (Photo by Sally Asher)
On Tuesday, Oct. 29, an award ceremony was held at Parisite Skate Park, New Orleans’ first and only official public skatepark and a silver medal winner for the Rudy Bruner Award for Urban Excellence.
Founded by architect Simeon Bruner, the national design contest recognizes transformative urban places distinguished by their economic and social contributions to America’s cities. Medalists reflect the diversity of urban excellence and yield fresh ideas and perspectives that challenge assumptions and increase understanding of how to make great urban places.
Tulane School of Architecture’s Albert and Tina Small Center for Collaborative Design collaborated with Transitional Spaces, a non-profit organization representing the local skater community, to work with the City of New Orleans and see the skaters' vision for the park come to fruition.
Parisite was driven and created by the park’s users as opposed to a traditional top-down approach, observed Rudy Bruner Award Director Anne-Marie Lubenau.
The ceremony was followed by a reception and panel discussion at the Small Center. The panel featured members of the design team, representatives from New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell's office, Transitional Spaces and the Bruner Foundation. It focused on the park’s creation, lessons learned, and its potential for informing the process of communal park design.
“Parisite is an example of how the Small Center’s process of collaborative community-driven design allows groups with divergent priorities to work productively to resolve their differences and come together to see projects through to completion,” Ann Yoachim, director of the Albert and Tina Small Center for Collaborative Design, said.