Lawrence Halprin - His Contributions to PK in America. This article was written for APK by Brandon Blessing. Brandon is an APK POTW winner and constantly contributes to the Parkour scene, thanks Brandon!
Lawrence Halprin is most likely a name you don't recognize, and why should you? We go out and run, we find an obstacle, and we conquer it along with the challenge and fear it represents. It's as simple as that. Sometimes we stumble on a place and right away we know we'll be coming back to it again and again. Whether it's a location that presents a single, challenging obstacle, a variety of obstacles, or a solid run, it is given a place in our parkour community. We give it a name. We call it a 'hotspot'. We tell our friends all about it.
A spot like this for me is Cat Fountain, more formally known as Skyline Park . Skyline Park is split into sections, and stretches for a number of city blocks along Arapahoe Street in downtown Denver , Colorado. Cat Fountain is one of two fountains found along Skyline Park . It was constructed in 1974 by Lawrence Halprin as part of an innovative design that created a refuge in the very heart of downtown. It was recently redesigned in May of 2003 by Thomas Balsley Associated of New York, however the original fountains of Lawrence Halprin's design remain. I learned all this from a few simple Google searches during another wasted night in front of my monitor.
After discovering that it was designed by Halprin, I did a few more searches to find out what he was all about. I wasn't shocked when I discovered that he had also designed other parks and fountains across the United States, a few of which I immediately realized could prove to be some damn good playgrounds for traceurs who live in those cities. I told Ryan Ford (aka Demon) about Halprin, and he checked the guy out himself. He was quick to point out that, "Hey, I recognize some of these other places from videos." I checked up a little, and realized this Halprin guy has really made a big contribution to the Parkour community across America.
With that said, here's a short background on Lawrence Halprin, followed by a list of some of his other Projects across America. Halprin was born on July 1, 1916 in New York City. He earned a degree in plant sciences from Cornell University, later attending Harvard Graduate School of Design. In 1943 Halprin was commissioned in the US Navy as a Lieutenant Junior Grade. He was assigned to the destroyer Morris in the Pacific which was attacked and destroyed. After surviving the destruction of the Morris, Halprin was sent to San Francisco on leave. It was here he would stay following his discharge. While living in San Francisco, he helped in the development of the contemporary California Style garden concept. In 1949, Halprin opened his own office. Halprin's work is marked by his attention to human scale, user experience, and the social impact of his designs. Recently many of Halprin's works have become the source of some controversy. Some have fallen victim to neglect, and are in states of disrepair. Budgetary constraints and the urge of some cities to "revitalize" their image threaten some of his projects. In response to this, foundations have been set up to improve care for some of the sites in an attempt to preserve them in their original state.
Forecourt Plaza fountain and the IRA Keller fountain are the same by the way
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01-12-2006 17:17
That's one fo the first Hotspots I plan to write up, check out my cat picture in this week's POTW gallery, that picturwe is taken in the FDR memorial, it is an awesome place to PK!!
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