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Urban park with a water-quality grove filled with wildflowers, an illuminated pavilion, colorful sculptures, and buildings in the background at dusk.

Illustrative plan rendering of Arkins Park and Promenade highlighting park features.

People enjoying RiNo ArtPark Plaza which sits under a large canopy of the repurposed building with colorful sculptures and greenery.

A dog chases a ball tossed by his owner on the lawn in front of the repurposed RiNo ArtPark buildings featuring a woman and a lion on a colorful exterior wall mural.

An artist creates underneath the canopy of the RiNo ArtPark Plaza next to the custom-designed chairs and colorful sculpture, while a neighborhood art festival complete with vendor tents takes place on the lawn space in the background.

Kids play on a lawn adjacent to the water-quality area filled with tall grasses at Arkins Park.

Park paths zigzag through a water-quality area filled with yellow wildflowers under a cloudy sky.

A group of friends sit on custom-designed lounge chairs at the edge of the Arkins Park flexible lawn and watch a father and son play croquet as the sun begins to set.

A crowd is enjoying an outdoor evening event with food and drinks on the flexible lawn space. A stage is set up on the back of the lawn featuring live entertainment and decorated with string lights, while the sun is setting in the distance.

People enjoying a festival in Arkins Park while sitting on a custom platform swing underneath the ArtPark Plaza canopy.

A repurposed building at Arkins Park at twilight with string lights lighting the plaza space and a colorful mural painted on its side. Park visitors enjoy the company of friends while relaxing on the lawn and custom-designed lounge chairs in front of the buildings. A construction crane looms behind, a symbol of what's to come in the fast-growing neighborhood.

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Arkins Park (RiNo ArtPark)

Denver, CO

Adaptive reuse approaches at the new urban park reflect the eclectic Denver neighborhood.

The City and County of Denver Parks and Recreation and the North Denver Cornerstone Collaborative (NDCC) determined that a new park was needed in the emerging River North (RiNo) neighborhood. The City envisioned the park to be a direct reflection of the up-and-coming trendy arts district – an intimate, creative, and iconic park that would highlight the sustainability, arts, and culture of the surrounding neighborhoods, as well as enhance the ecology of the river corridor in new and creative ways.

Wenk Associates led a multi-disciplinary team in preparing a master plan and construction documentation for the 3.5-acre park, located along the South Platte River, and in providing conceptual design for the adjacent riverfront promenade that will eventually connect to downtown Denver. The public outreach process included a unique, grassroots approach to engaging the public and stakeholders, as well as public meetings to present ideas and solicit community feedback. The park plan consists of an adaptive reuse approach to repurpose existing buildings as plazas and makerspaces. The park will also provide lounge areas with moveable seating, performance areas, flexible event space, creative play areas, public art, urban agriculture, stormwater gardens, and access to the South Platte River.

See 2023 ULI Colorado Impact Awards Inspire Category Winner video.

See 2024 Historic Denver Remix Award video.

Project Team:
Wenk Associates – Lead Consultants, Landscape Architects
Tres Birds – Architects – Architecture, Building Demolition, Custom Furniture
Laura Curry – Public Outreach/Cultural Audit
BCER Engineering, Inc. – Lighting Design/Electrical Engineering
Entitlement and Engineering Solutions (EES) – Civil Engineers
HydroSystems*KDI – Irrigation
Iron Woman Construction – Contractor
LT Engineering LLC – Structural Engineers
Pedro Barrios & Jaime Molina – Art Sculptures
Pinyon Environmental – Materials Management Plan
RockSol Consulting Group – Geotechnical Engineers

 

Client

City and County of Denver, Parks and Recreation

Completion year

2020

Size

3.5 acres

Awards

2023, ASLA Colorado/Wyoming, Merit Award for Design

2022, Denver Downtown Partnership, Downtown Denver Award

Services

Master Planning

Design through Construction

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