Taste of Colorado will be overflowing Civic Center plaza this weekend, but visitors who look beyond the roast chilis, fresh tostados and Thai appetizers will see a shopwarn park in need of a generational rejuvenation.
The effort is just now getting underway.
Architect Daniel Libeskind – the fellow who helped redesign the site of New York City’s World Trade Center and, on the local front, the new addition to the Denver Art Museum – was asked recently by the nonprofit Civic Center Conservancy to prepare a concept for the 16-acre park. He outlined his vision Wednesday – a spirited makeover of the gathering place first envisioned in 1905 by the Municipal Art Commission and realized in its splendid detail in 1912 by Frederick Law Olmsted Jr.
Libeskind’s proposal certainly merits Mayor John Hickenlooper’s accolade of “audacious – in the best sense of the word.” The architect retained all of Civic Center’s classic features, including the Greek Theater, the former Carnegie Library, the high-columned Voorhies Memorial, seal pond, balustrades, promenade and various sculptures. And he proposed striking new elements including a large water plaza, a soaring footbridge to the 16th Street Mall and a 72-foot “icon” of an as-yet-undetermined design intended to blend light and water into a visual focal point for the park.
There is no question that something needs to be done to revive Civic Center. The old park has a cherished place in the heart of Denverites, but it no longer plays much of a role in their lives. A few megaevents such as the People’s Fair, and A Taste of Colorado lure many thousands to the park, but it otherwise mostly hosts a few homeless people, some intrepid lunch-hour diners and the occasional drug dealer. The farmers’ market added this summer helped lure more visitors, but it remains a terribly underutilized asset in the heart of the city.
Hickenlooper on Wednesday voiced the hope that a redesign will draw the kind of vibrant activity that will prompt the homeless to quietly relocate.
Libeskind’s concept certainly won’t go down easy with everyone, but it will provide a starting point for sketches and brainstorms and it will stimulate vigorous public discussion about Civic Center’s future. The process began in earnest Wednesday night with a public meeting that drew 700 citizens and will continue in the months ahead. Civic Center loyalists, and we count ourselves among them, should look at the evolving concepts with an open mind – and add their own ideas.
The question will quickly arise of how much to spend on the park’s renovation, and how to foot the bill. We hope the excitement of updating this city landmark will prompt Denver philanthropists and ordinary citizens alike to give this moribund classic a new and vibrant presence in Denver’s daily life.
