Salamat Park

Taa architecture group

   

Short description

“Salamat” Park located between a major seasonal river and an iconic Qasrodasht green space in Shiraz, provides a great location away from pollution and noises for sport activities in the heart of the city.

Before “Salamat” recreational park was integrated into the community, this site was an abandoned space with a high crime rate. The goal was to create a strong recreational character, to provide a new open public space for interactive activities for all ages. As the backbone of the park, we proposed two parallel trails that extend three-kilometer all along the park, one for pedestrians and the other one for bike use. All amenities and gathering spots are organised alongside these trails. The amenities include a place for parents to sit and relax whilst watching their children's playing, a skate rink where teenagers can show off their skates skills, a custom design work-out station for building up their muscles or several benches that are arranged along the path creating a comfortable space for people to catch up and watch the world go by.

The entrances to the park are designed to control the pedestrian and car flows, making them safe and easy to transit. This is where the metro station is also situated for providing better access through the public transportation. The main entrance plaza is divided in two parts; the right side for pedestrians and bikers along the river and the left side is dedicated to the parking lot.

On the right side, the circular structure floated above the paved path with angled pillars, providing a sightseeing bridge overlooking mountains, gardens, and highway. Underneath the structure, amenities like café and bike station serve the users’ needs. This simple circular shape which creates a tension between wild nature and human constructed elements is repeated on the other spots like main plaza.

Continuing the pedestrian path, Zen garden appears on the left side. This garden is designed free of any activities and noises for whom seeking a quiet spot for opening their heart and soul to the nature. This intimated garden is inspired by nature, using natural local stone for paving walkway and wooden bench wrapping around the walkway.

Passing the Zen garden, one of the most vibrant and active spots is developed for skaters, which includes an area to ‘watch and learn’. The bowl shape skating rink is constructed with reinforced concrete with a very fine aggregate that creates a smooth surface to ride on.

The pedestrian and bike path flows through existing trees, reaching the heart of the park, where the main plaza enables the various functions, from accommodating a large group of people for morning work-out or place to stop by and watch the rhythmic dry fountain with playful lights at nights. The iconic circular shape appears in a form of the canopy in this plaza creating a corner to escape from severe sunshine in summer.

At the end of this three kilometers pedestrian and bike path, the third plaza connects the park to urban space and street. The open plaza enables flexibility for various functions throughout the year. The patterned granite weave expands to its full width here, turning the plaza into the adjoining public space point, for everyday use and for special occasions. The plaza is intended as a space for gathering and relaxation in connection to the small cafe and its outdoor seating. The raised podium on the highest topography level of the park overlooks the river, mountains, and the city.

All the furniture including benches, light posts, work-out, and playground facilities are custom designed and built for this project. The main goal was designing a functional, yet beautiful structure and furniture that suits the users’ needs. In this process, we not only observed and analyzed the user behavior to design the furniture but also benefited from experts’ advices in fields like TRX, boxing, and bodybuilding.

This park has become one of the most popular places for Shiraz citizens whether for morning workouts or a nice chill out in the evening, since you can rarely find a place to entertain all the family members with a variety of activities, right in the middle of the city.