Today I visited Antoine Predock’s Mesa Library in Los Alamos, New Mexico. Before I ever entered the building I decided it has one of my favorite young adult spaces I’ve seen yet. Why? Because there is a skatepark attached to the front of the building. Rather than defending the public space against recreational use by putting up signs or jagged rails, Predock embraced the space-creating tendencies of teens and gave them something previously unconsidered: a municipal building that encourages rail slides and coping grinds!
We can thank Oscar Newman for defensible space: the concept of influencing negative social behavior through architectural and urban design. I only recently became aware of his fascinating and widely influential work with the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development, and his book, Creating Defensible Space. I learned of Newman when I was reading an excerpt about skateboarding in a pamphlet called Sliding Friction: The Harmonious Jungle of Contemporary Cities by Nicolas and Fabien Girardin. Here’s the quote that got me thinking:
“An obvious target of defensible space are skateboarders. The addition of metal plates on benches or covering city structures such as handrails has been meant to prevent skateboards form rolling on them or grinding angles. Empty spaces are also “augmented” with pointed clips so that people could not sit or lay on them, eventually targeting vagabonds and bums. Defensible space is a common feature of our cities of the 21st century, projecting new norms about what is acceptable or not down the streets.”
Maybe I’ve got too much of a heady, utopian way of looking at things, but despite the great successes of defensible space I’m wondering if its not a short-sighted and reactive design approach when creating public spaces for the 21st century. Time and time again, when public libraries try to create good teen spaces they find that the spaces they create are rejected and that the teens would rather utilize discoverable space: they hang around in a random corner, by the drinking fountain, or wherever they feel like it. Can architects of public spaces (and I’m talking about libraries as much as parks) borrow from the lifecycle development model developed by Braungart and McDonough in Cradle to Cradle? Can Clay Shirky’s participatory culture argument be interpreted to include the participatory place-making as well? Will the open-source software movement’s ideals be reflected in buildings, courtyards, and streets? Can the future of public space be some kind of customizable, fluid, non-model? Was Archigram right on?
As I left the Mesa Library I watched two kids with rollerblades just sitting around on one of the ramps, and I imagined that if it weren’t so cold perhaps they’d use the ramp as a picnic table or play a card game on it. If teens stopped skating in the skatepark, I wonder what Predock would think?
btw- Thank you to the nice and helpful librarians at the Mesa Library! Cheers!
There are 8 Comments to "Skateboarding is not a crime at the Mesa Library"
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“…Predock embraced the space-creating tendencies of teens and gave them something previously unconsidered: a municipal building that encourages rail slides and coping grinds!…”
Antoine Predock had virtually nothing to do with the Skate Park as far as I am aware. I was a very active supporter of putting the Park in front of Mesa Library but the prime motivators where the Los Alamos Police Chief, Wayne Torpy and the Parks and Recreation Department as well as a huge grass roots effort to make it happen after nearly a decade of promises. My understanding is that the Mesa Public Library Board voted against the project in an advisory vote, but luckily our County Councilors had the wisdom to proceed with this outstanding project.
It was a very contentious struggle to put the park in. Surrounding residents put up great opposition to the location in front of the Library. It seems to have worked out better than anyone could have imagined.
As far as the Library design goes. It was built in the shape of a bird if you look at it from an airplane. The problem with this is that Los Alamos is in restricted airspace because of our Nuclear Lab.
To me this building took the “buildings as art” concept a bit to far with odd angles and curves. It has turn into somewhat of a maintenance headache for the county as the roof is constantly leaking. On the other hand there is a big curved sweeping view of the Jemez Mountains from inside the Library that is just spectacular.
The building design is still quite controversial among residents of the county, but one thing I believe we are all starting to agree on is that the Skate Park is a nice addition to the area.
Oh, thanks to Google Maps and Google Earth we can now enjoy the main design feature of the building … hay that building looks like a “Pajarito.”
Thanks for noticing!
Two folks that stand out in my mind in the Grass Roots effort to build the Park (which is really what got this Park built) are Elliott Marcille, leader of the Skaters who work hard to get them organized and to get them to attend Council meetings and his mom, Barbara Marcille, who was a big support and printed T-Shirts and Buttons and distributed them at a critical Council meeting that turned the tide.
Sorry to use time here for this but it’s important to recognize the people who did the heavy lifting.
@Greg thank you for the clarifications! Don’t apologize for ‘using time here’, that is what here is for…!
I went to a workshop at the Mesa Library a few months ago. I found it very interesting. They had alot of kids out there with roller blades, scooters, and adults out there watching the kids. Alot of action going on. I thought it was awesome. Do you have someone watching the kids play?
Or is it the parents responsibility to watch over their kids? I know that alot of them were on their own. We have been wanting to get one going here in Cuba also. Who made it for you? And around how much will it cost to make one as big as yours? Oh, one more question, if someone gets hurt, who is liable? We need to learn all this before we get started.
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I read the entirety of Oscar Newman’s Creating Defensible Space on the plane back from Denver, and I just wanted to add that a) I’m pretty sure that the skateboarding piece takes his concepts out of context, and b) I hate Defensible Space more than ever. Its a great band-aid for failed Corbusier-style modernist housing project mistakes, but its no way to deal with things now. Expect a follow up post.
I love the conversation going on here, sharing best practices and really looking at the successes, failures and difficulties associated with creating a skatepark at your library. Thanks Greg and Barbara.
Details on skate park design can be gotten from the Los Alamos County Parks and Recreation Department. Parks Division Manager Dick McIntyre, 662-8159 has all your answers. I can give you my off the cuff answers. The county has liability insurance to cover accidents. Parents are the responsible parties – I don’t believe there is a monitor. I think it cost about half a million (which is a lot).
I think it was California Skate Parks that designed/built the park but Dick would know for sure.