The Park at Rosemont
Village of Rosemont
The Village of Rosemont, Illinois, similar to many cities, lacked an identifiable, vibrant, central downtown core.
A failed casino and surface parking lot with only marginally successful retail including a movie theater, was seen as a potential setting to create such a destination. Today, the transformation of this underutilized site has exceeded economic development goals, is the new corporate headquarters for the Big Ten and provides an entertainment destination that supports summer concerts, ice skating, collegiate and amateur hockey and numerous seasonal festivals and public events. A mix of restaurants, music venues, recreation and a new park attract people of all ages at all seasons.
The Design Collective Landscape Architecture team drove the vision for the development’s open space, creating a cohesive streetscape design and a distinctive central event space, The Park at Rosemont. This large, central lawn hosts festivals, concerts and passive recreation in the warm months and transforms into an ice rink for public skating and hockey games in the winter. Opposing uses posed many technical considerations and the involvement of an unusual set of design consultants (refrigeration, hockey, dasher board, and synthetic turf ), all of which were managed by the landscape architect. The duality of large scale events and the need for pedestrian-scale spaces gave the designers the opportunity to incorporate dynamic architectural elements, lighting and custom seating. The new space maximizes flexibility and programmability through detailing of edges, hierarchy of scale and modularity of event infrastructure.
The Park at Rosemont now serves as the focal point of the entertainment district. The site’s close proximity to the Rosemont community, major transportation corridors, and Chicago O’Hare International Airport allow for high visibility and high use. Its flexibility of space, unique seasonal transformations and relationship to new buildings allow this space to facilitate year-round gathering for a diverse set of users.
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The Park at Rosemont
- ASLA Maryland, Merit Award, 2016