Mestizo-Curtis Park is a longtime Denver park that we were challenged to redesign. In addition to geological, hydrological, social, traffic, and zoning studies, I enjoyed analyzing the energy expenditure of the site. The park is located in an area of the city with extensive musical history that I chose to honor in my design.

The framework of pathways on site is derived from the forms of the musical treble and bass clef symbols. A bandstand sculpture to be commissioned by a local artist was included and picnic tables on site include engraved QR codes that navigate users to educational pages about Denver jazz legends that used to live and work in the neighborhood. Sport courts were colored to reflect the color palette on the existing painted basketball court, a dog park was included to address community complaints about dog use in the park, and seating was added on the south end for adjacent food retail. The core components of a traditional civic park space were preserved: a great lawn with multi-purpose use, turfgrass space with plenty of shade trees, and a plaza with a shade structure and seating for gathering.