As the City of Federal Way continued to grow with the rest of the Puget Sound region, community leaders envisioned a public space to anchor the corridor between the new transit center and busy retail area.
Settling on the name of Town Square Park, the City enlisted the help of Dave A. Clark Architects to collect feedback and design the park. This team engaged the local community to visualize a space that would reflect the unique character of the city and be a point of pride for residents.
In 2016 Town Square Park opened to much fanfare with hundreds of local community members in attendance to see everything the park had to offer. The park features a public plaza for hosting community events, like productions and music, three basketball courts, a picnic area, a lush lawn space, an oversized chess set, and restrooms. But the star of the show is a spray park, with columns that shoot water at random intervals and at varying heights.
An unheralded anchor to the park is the use of permeable interlocking concrete pavers for the plaza. One of the major goals for the planning committee was the ability to reclaim stormwater runoff so as to mitigate the amount of heavy metals and pollutants that ran into the local sewer system and use the reclaimed water for watering the lawn. Using Permeable Holland Herringbone from Mutual Materials, the 10,000 square foot plaza, functions as its should with the ability to direct several inches of rain per hour back into the ground where it can be collected.
The permeable paver plaza was created with a custom color, but some other Mutual Materials products can be found throughout the park. Mauna Loa tumbled clay pavers frame the plaza, Latte and Charcoal 18″ x 18″ Vancouver Bay architectural slabs were used for the chess board, and the raised planter bed surrounding the holiday tree was constructed with ManorStone retaining wall block.
Town Square Park is a terrific example of urban planning to maximize a variety of park entertainment areas in the city limits.
If you’re interested in learning more about how our permeable pavers can help with your stormwater management issues on pedestrian or vehicular surfaces, please contact us at 1-888-688-8250 to speak with a commercial hardscape sales representative.
Citations:
- Town Square Park
- City of Federal Way, WA
- Mutual Materials
- Mutual Materials – Permeable Holland Herringbone 8cm
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