Teamed with OHM, POD was tasked with leading the community based design effort for Northam Park. We assist the City with a multi-faceted community involvement process to facilitate buy-in following a preliminary design process that fueled a great deal of interest from residents.

Understanding that Northam is phase one of an overall Master Plan for the parks in the Upper Arlington community, we focused on setting the stage not only for this project, but all that are to follow. Tasked with quelling concerns about the redesign, we led open houses, conducted forums and delivered a statistically valid survey as part of the design process. With invaluable input from the residents of Upper Arlington the team began the design of the public space that would, upon completion, include a new community pool and a park space for conventional play, nature play and a reading garden.

The final plan balanced the community’s desire for new recreational opportunities with the preservation of other established features. We determined a best fit location for both the pool and the new playground to take advantage of the site’s character. A high value wooded area was selected as the prime location for the new community nature playspace adjacent to the site for the pool.

Utilizing a linear play approach, the park bridges a commonly used space between the City’s library and the newly expanded pool. This new playspace provides an interactive, active and passive play zone under an existing canopy of mature trees. Designed to flow through this newly incorporated space, it provides features of both natural and man-made materials.

The pool provides safe depths for all age groups along with swimming lanes and play features. The zero entry was designed to provide clear views across the pool. A rock climbing wall, rope bridge, diving boards, sprinkler section and floater challenge were all provided within the aquatics complex.