Oakland Memorial Park
client: City of Oakland
scope: Planning & Landscape Architecture
location: Oakland, CA
stage: Completed
bioregion: Mediterranean: Central California Coast

The Oakland Memorial Park “15 SECONDS” is a public space created to memorialize to those who died in the 1989 Cypress Freeway collapse during the Loma Prieta earthquake; a place to honor the survivors and the heroism of those who assisted in the rescue efforts; and the marking of the physical coming together of the West Oakland community. The playfulness of the landforms creates a unique experience for children and adults as well as providing a learning experience on tectonics and sustainability. The raingardens are used by the community to understand the local native flora and fauna. The design is a series of earth "waves" that roll through the site and preserve the existing 24 heritage redwoods that stood prior to the earthquake. Through a series of community workshops, stories were collected about the shared experience and incorporated into the design. As a collaboration between landscape artist + artist, the resulting design between April Philips with artists Steve Gilman & Katherine Keefer uses a narrative and symbolic context for all of the art and "artistic" elements and blurs the boundaries between landscape and art. The "Three Ladders" by Gilman & Keefer are symbolic of the ladders the community placed on the collapsed freeway in the rescue efforts while seemingly "soar" upwards into the sky and are the focal point of the community plaza.