Freeway Park

Larry Halprin design Freeway Park to be a system of defense against the freeway that passes below and around it. Halprin chooses to work with forms, structures, and materials that are simple in contrast to the chaotic city in which the park is located. Because of these choices, Freeway Park offers its viewers a place to escape the bustling city life and enter a relaxing and pleasant atmosphere that seems far removed from its urban location.

The gateways to the gardens are wide, open, and are a continuation of the concrete sidewalk. They are not meant to possess grandeur, but rather provide an easy transition from the city into the garden.

The use of cement continues through the gateway and into the corridor that guides you throughout the garden.

This simple, concrete corridor is created in the rectilinear form. Blocks of cement create interlocking pathways that mimic the buildings of city skyline in a playful design.

Part of the garden opens up to a massive cement structure of interlocking blocks. The cement blocks feature an engraved line pattern, which visually elongates the blocks and stimulates images of skyscrapers. This area reminds its viewers of the parks urban location while proving playful structures to explore.

In one area of the park, Halprin plays with water and creates a waterfall that juts out of the interlocking blocks of concrete. The image of water falling from up and down with blocks that stretch from left to right further enforces the rectilinear form.

The edges of the cement corridors are lined and defined by equally simple green plant material. At the gateway, there appears to be more cement than plant material, yet as you walk farther along the path and into the heart of the garden, you are engulfed by the plant material. Rich edges of trees form a canopy overhead, blocking all views of the freeway and providing a buffer from the sound. This high sense of enclosure offers protection from the city.

The corridors intermittently open up into gathering nodes. The multilevel cement blocks provide benches on which passersby’s can take a seat.

The edges of the gathering spaces are kept playful yet simple, featuring an interlocking floor pattern similar to the interlocking pattern of the corridors. The edges of these gathering spaces are, yet, again, defined using only plant material.

By starting off with an open gateway and then leading into tight corridor and gathering spaces surrounded by plant material, Halprin offers the experience of slowly walking into the thick of the woods without even needing to step foot out of the city. The simplicity in the form, structure, and choice of materials in Freeway park creates a public garden that is sophisticated without being overwhelming. These choices create a place where people can enjoy a relaxing break from the busy, noisy, and chaotic city that surrounds it.