Located in Scottsdale, Arizona, the 76,000-square-foot (7,061-m2) Chaparral Water Treatment Facility was built to meet the current and future water demand of this desert city and Phoenix suburb. Through the use of cutting-edge technology, the facility fulfills its public mandate on a minimal footprint and lessens its impact on the neighboring community with art and sculpture that pay homage to desert life. Completed in June 2006, the result transforms a necessary community resource—typically relegated to industrial areas—into a backdrop for the bustling Chaparral Park.
Prospect Plaza is a mixed-use affordable housing redevelopment project spread over five buildings and three blocks in Brooklyn’s Ocean Hill–Brownsville neighborhood. The $200 million project is replacing a former New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) complex with a mix of nearly 400 public housing and affordable rental apartments, retail space, and community and recreational facilities designed to support resident health in a rapidly developing area with significant public health challenges.
Citygarden, which opened in July 2009 on two of the gateway mall’s key blocks, was aimed at creating an active and enticing space that would attract a diverse public, alter perceptions of downtown, and catalyze downtown development. The 2.9-acre (1.2-ha) rectilinear open space comprises a sculpture garden with interactive art, imaginative and whimsical water features, and dining and picnicking venues. The inviting park has spurred redesign of the Gateway Mall, elevated the status of public art in St. Louis, and has been a boon to local businesses.
For more than 50 years, a bluff-top site offering some of California’s most spectacular ocean views was a gated trailer park for 268 mobile homes. The 30-acre (12 ha) site was not only an eyesore filled with increasingly dilapidated structures; it also prevented much-desired public access to the beach. Although as many as 37 developers tried to develop the land over the years, the community consistently opposed these plans, even after the mobile home park closed in 1996. Locals knew the oceanfront site as “Treasure Island,” after the movie that was filmed there in 1934.
