Penn Park is 24 acres of athletic fields, open recreational space, and pedestrian connections on the eastern edge of the University of Pennsylvania’s campus. The Park combines 14 acres of land Penn purchased in 2007 as well as 10 acres of University property near South Street. The Park has increased the University’s green space by 20 percent, and creates a new pedestrian gateway uniting West Philadelphia with Center City. The Park replaces a surface parking lot previously owned by the United States Postal Service.

“Transforming these 24 acres of abandoned lots and unused land into open, accessible, sustainable space connecting Penn with Center City will transform our beautiful campus and Philadelphia for generations to come,” said Penn President Amy Gutmann. “Penn Park marks the first time that the University has, by design, developed open space for the use of the Penn community and beyond.”

Penn Park was designed by landscape architecture firm Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates of Cambridge, Mass. and Brooklyn, NY. The Park’s athletic facilities include the James “Ace” Adams field and Dunning-Cohen Champions field, both multipurpose NCAA regulation athletic fields; a 470- seat multipurpose stadium that is also an NCAA regulation women’s softball field; and 12 tennis courts with 200-seat viewing stands.

Between these facilities are pathways, elevated bridge connections and open space for passive recreation, with 548 trees adorning the landscaped pathways for walking, biking and jogging. The asphalt pathways are edged with Permaloc’s patented asphalt restraint, AsphaltEdge.

Three playing fields utilize synthetic turf for varsity practices as well as club, intramural or recreational games. One will be covered with a seasonal air structure in winter to allow for athletics programming throughout the year. The multipurpose stadium can double for both softball or as an amphitheater for outdoor concerts and other events.

Located on Brooklyn’s waterfront under the Brooklyn Bridge and across from the southern tip of Manhattan, this small gem of a park, designed by Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, offers breathtaking views. Visitors stop and gaze at the postcard-perfect sights of New York City while sitting on the park’s steps or picnicking on its grass.

The goal of the Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates 2005 Master Plan for the entire 85 acres of Brooklyn Bridge Park, as defined by the community and the client, was to create an environmentally and economically sustainable park that encouraged new public uses of the urban waterfront. In addition to a programming framework that makes the best use of the structural capacity of existing piers, detailed maintenance and upkeep projections for the park were used to create associated development models that could satisfy a requirement for economic self-sufficiency.

Watch Michael Van Valkenburgh tour the park in these videos below:

You probably noticed the beautiful winding pathways in the videos. Each of these are edged with Permaloc’s AsphaltEdge product!