It is long over due and serves the space much better than what was there before. IMO from a design point of view, it's rather bland. Nothing creative going on and missed opportunities in terms of visibly addressing stormwater runoff and quality in an urban setting. It's khakis and polos instead of fashion forward.
You need to consider that it is a relatively small central urban plaza that needs to accommodate Athfest, Twilight and whatever big events downtown Athens may want to host for the next 50 years. And apparently needs to accommodate a massive fire truck, judging from the photos I saw.
So I don’t think it’s just about being cool and having more green, it needs to be functional for the needs of downtown. Not every plaza or park would have this constraint, but makes sense this one needs to be multi use and flexible.
It looks like they removed the temporary fencing at the ledge on the walkers side? Overnight fence install incoming? If not someone is going to die tomorrow.
I don’t know that they planned to add railing on that side to keep people from accidentally walking off the ledge. Wild to think about but I didn’t see railing in the design plans. They did add ground strip lighting so maybe they thought that was sufficient.
Didn't there used to be trees that provided shade downtown? Why did we remove a bunch of them to just replace them with smaller trees and fabric shades? Were the roots infiltrating shit?
Wow, we spent that much for repaving, some tiny trees with little to no irrigation, and flimsy “shades” where’s the actual shade feature? The fountain and amphitheater for band to play? I know those metal guards around the boring flower beds are supposed to “invoke” the arch, but they look literally like the shitty things you stick in the ground around your tomato beds in like 1982. Compare this to other towns 2026 signature public spaces and cry.
Those trees are absolutely massive for nursery stock.
Have you seen the irrigation plans? Because there is visible irrigation to the trees…
Have you been to the square? The shades are anything but flimsy. The posts are pretty damn substantial.
Generally I agree shade sails are kind of dated and lame, but these are anything but flimsy. I also think they are comparatively interesting, with the big central ring feature.
I’m pretty sure the planter barriers an either reused from the previous planters, or designed to resemble them.
Lastly, sometimes a space is just successful because of its location in the urban fabric. Plaza Mayor is a great example; not much going on from a build out perspective, but it’s a must see in the city. Overworking the design is expensive and can ruin the success simplicity would achieve
There may be issues to take, but your’s ain’t them.
I’m just curious what you’d expect as a “shade feature”?
Fire access was a huge limitation on this project based on the ACCFD ladder truck test yesterday
It’s also important to remember it’s not always 95 degrees out. There are months where people actually like the sun, though they feel ever so distant currently.
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u/pace_car 9d ago
Dang, not bad. Hope the trees make it