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Riverfront Park- 2021 ULI Americas Awards for Excellence Winner
May 4, 2021
Photo By Built Work Photography
Shaped by the Spokane River, in the heart of the city, honoring the past, illuminating the future, Riverfront Park shines again!
Photo By Built Work Photography
In the middle of the Spokane River, Riverfront’s islands, the rocky outcropping of Snxʷ Meneɂ (Salmon People Island) in the foreground and the pastoral Havermale Island and its iconic Pavilion beyond, provide river and falls viewing and an escape from the surrounding downtown.
Location: Spokane, WA, United States
Developer: City of Spokane Parks and Recreation
Designers: Berger Partnership; NAC Architecture; Jacobs; Dark Light Design; Land Expressions; Garco Construction; Hill International; Walker Construction; DH; GuildWorks, LLC; Stantec Engineers; Bernardo Wills; SPVV
Site Size: 100 Acres
Photo By Built Work Photography
Shorelines hardened by a century of development were softened, replacing asphalt paving with native riparian ecologies and meandering boardwalks to immerse visitors in the experience of the river, proving that enhanced human experience and enhanced ecology can thrive together.
Riverfront Park occupies 100 acres in downtown Spokane, Washington, along the Spokane River, unifying three river channels and waterfalls with park space and cultural treasures. A cherished regional destination, it welcomes over three million visitors annually and hosts community events and festivals from tribal powwows to 4th of July fireworks.
Photo By Built Work Photography
The Howard Street Promenade’s new Orange Bridge (with “Big Steel” detailing and color recalling the site’s rail yard past) has unique “get downs” that provide both stepped seating and a catwalk off the bridge onto open grating, connecting visitors to the river and the park’s most iconic views.
The falls are a stunning natural wonder that were heavily utilized for industry until a forward-looking vision reclaimed the site as the home of the 1974 World’s Fair (Expo ’74), ensuring that the river, falls, and shoreline remain public parkland in perpetuity.
Photo By Built Work Photography
The Howard Street Promenade crosses three bridges and two islands, including the tribally renamed Snxʷ Meneɂ (sin-hoo-men-huh, Salmon People Island) to unify the park from the South Bank to the park’s new North Bank, drawn to the newly restored Expo ’74 butterfly and emerging new commercial activities and destinations.
40 years after Expo ’74, Riverfront Park needed reinvestment. Spokane citizens overwhelmingly approved a $64 million bond to reimagine their park. While it can be challenging to transform cherished architectural icons rooted in civic memory of past greatness, Riverfront Park is a model of breathing new life into aging civic icons and carefully honoring generations of memories while crafting forward-looking public spaces.
Photo By Miles Bergsma
First and foremost a passive landscape to provide a powerful, magnetic experience every day, with dramatic programmed lightshows every night, the Pavilion was also designed to easily transform into a venue to welcome civic events and performances for up to 5,000 attendees.
The reimagined Riverfront Park reconnects people to the river, restores ecology, reengages with the heritage of the Spokane Tribe, serves as a reinvigorated venue for community events, and is embraced as a cherished gathering place and beacon of civic pride. Even as COVID-19 upended the park’s planned programs and events in its first year of operation, the park thrived with management nimbly transitioning to pop-up events, art, and activities that continued to draw people to the park for appropriately distanced activities, separated yet connected, forging a strong sense of community when it was so desperately needed.