The Tahoe Park Project was a studio project that redesigned an outdated Tucson park that had not had any major updates since the 1960s. The goal was to create an inviting public park that was open to neighbors of the Catalina Vista Neighborhood as well as to people of the greater Tucson population through the use of interpretive naturalism and play.
Oblique image of the existing Tahoe Park, part of the historic Catalina Vista Neighborhood.
After completing a site analysis to determine the target uses of the park, demographics, and a precedent study, three concepts were drafted (viewed below in the final board example). Strong aspects from all three of the aspects were tied into the final design that aimed at featuring the historic features of the park and neighborhood surrounding it.
The project was first drafted in AutoDesk AutoCAD so that measurements were very precise for things such as park area, curb distances, and house placement.
Once the AutoCAD file was completed it was brought into SketchUp for 3D modeling. After a many hours of modeling was completed, the SketchUp file was processed in SUPodium, which is a program that adds photo-realism to the otherwise sketch features in SketchUp. The difference between a finished SketchUp model and a model after it has gone through post processing in SUPodium can be viewed below.
Examples of finished renders for the final design board that is featured below.
