RE-Defining a Downtown Through Catalytic Public Space
Read how a community came together and challenged themselves to deliver a “world class” downtown park for the residents of Royal Oak, MI.
Roughly 12 miles north of downtown Detroit, the City of Royal Oak developed and prospered in response to the industrialization and growth of the auto industry during the 20th century. Its native landscape of oak savannas, wetland features, and undulating topography offered the ideal refuge from the busy and growing urbanization of Detroit and provided cleaner air and living conditions for the working population. As the population of Royal Oak continued to grow, so did its footprint of buildings and surface parking lots throughout the latter part of the century, leaving minimal open space within the downtown area.
Downtown Royal Oak did have an urban park during this time, known locally as Royal Oak Park. It was designed with an Olmsted aesthetic with winding paths, a central water feature, and a scattering of large shade trees. As Main Street continued to thrive as a place of commerce and socialization, the inception of the Farmer’s Market began to materialize and gain momentum. Today, both the Main Street corridor and the Farmer’s Market are iconic to the residents of Royal Oak as well as those in neighboring communities. Both areas are thriving and function as the center of urban entertainment for the City and the surrounding communities. Pedestrians flock the streets of downtown Royal Oak to dine at local restaurants and shop at one-of-a-kind stores that populate Main Street. The Farmer’s Market draws thousands of people from miles away, while music and beer festivals activate the space on a weekly basis throughout the seasons.
As City leadership began looking into the future of downtown Royal Oak, they realized that while their businesses and development community were thriving, it became evident that the downtown area was void of any significant urban open space to compliment these amenities. A robust public outreach process included a district study that revealed the Police Station and City Hall needed to be relocated, resulting in the perfect opportunity to revive the former Royal Oak Park and provide an outdoor amenity and experience for residents to participate recreationally, socially, and civically. At that moment, a new downtown urban park was born…and the challenge was to deliver a “world class” park for the residents of Royal Oak and future generations.
A Food Truck Rally public engagement event was held to review initial understanding and project goals.
During the initial planning stages for the park, the City working with MKSK began to intimately understand and evaluate the site’s relationship to the broader context, including the bustling Main Street corridor, the regionally popular Royal Oak Farmer’s Market, and the Main Branch of the Royal Oak Public Library. The city initiated a conversation with the community with a “Look and Feel” series of meetings that provided residents and stakeholders the opportunity to provide input and feedback for the park and surrounding district. Based on these stakeholder and public meetings and feedback received from hundreds of participants both in-person and on-line, connecting the downtown destinations and amenities became one of the primary goals of the future Downtown Park. Public feedback also revealed that the new Downtown Park should also be an inclusive place for the entire community of Royal Oak, and designed to function as a flexible space that is welcoming as a daily lunch location and as a space for hundreds of residents and visitors to gather and celebrate their local arts community, or an extension of the Farmer’s Market with space for vendors to set up their kiosks, or even provide space for library staff to educate groups of children within the gardens and paths that will weave through native landscape spaces.
District mapping of existing conditions and influences. Diagram by MKSK.
Early concept sketch exploring overall design flow and program distribution.
Event scenario diagram series exploring park programming and flexibility.
The result of this collaborative and transparent process is a vision that provides not only an open space that exceeds the community’s goals and expectations, but provides a “world class” resilient landscape that will perform as the lungs of the city and the ‘sponge’ to mitigate the increased flooding that is impacting all of our cities. The plan also integrates and improves the existing Veteran’s Memorial, a process that involved initial concern from some, but was ultimately embraced by the participation and input of several groups and individuals in the design and upgrades of the sacred memorial space.
The new Downtown Park, named Centennial Commons, is designed as a welcoming urban park, embracing users and visitors of all ages. It will serve as the primary venue for downtown community events while complimenting the existing success of the downtown area. It successfully integrates and seamlessly weaves together the Main Street corridor, the Farmer’s Market, and the Library as a downtown destination.
“Scheduled to be completed in the fall of 2021, the new park will be open just in time to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Nov. 8, 1921 election in which 922 voters approved the adoption of a city charter” for Royal Oak, said Judy Davids, community engagement specialist for the city, in a memo to City commissioners.
MKSK served the prime consultant leading a multidisciplinary team of architects and engineers including de Leon & Primmer Architecture Workshop and Fleis & VandenBrink Engineering.