Tongass & Chugach National Forests, AK

Our team has enjoyed a long and productive working relationship with the Forest Service on a variety of complex and technically challenging projects within Alaska’s Chugach and Tongass National Forests, including selection by the Forest Service to provide design services for expansion and reconstruction of Mendenhall Campground within the Mendenhall Glacier Recreation Area.

Following completion of the work at Mendenhall Campground, Communita|Atelier was selected as prime consultant to lead a team to provide on-call services for nine projects spanning a period of 15 years. Projects have included expansion of visitor facilities, boat launches, fishing and wildlife viewing facilities; interpretive displays, kiosks, and signage systems; restroom and shower facilities, barrier free boardwalk and trail facilities.

Sunrise Community Park

Communita |Atelier has assisted Sunrise Master Planned Community in the design of the Sunrise Community Park. The park will serve as the central gathering place for the residents. The park sits up on a plateau above the road and has fantastic views of Mount Rainier. The community building and picnic shelter are placed and oriented to take advantage of the views. The park includes a variety of active elements such as 2 soccer fields, splash pad, basketball court, play areas for children aged 2-5 year and 5-12, dog run, picnic area and shelter and natural play area. To encourage pedestrian accessibility the park will have a system of trails and walks that provide connectivity through the park and to the surrounding neighborhoods. There will also be 60 parking stalls provided at the entrance to the park.

Redmond Ridge East Parks & Open Space

The parks and open space tracts at Redmond Ridge East UPD provide the full-range of neighborhood recreation amenities.  The 6-acre Bristol Park features climbing rocks and play areas for various age groups, amphitheater-style seating for watching little league practice, picnic areas, enclosed dog park, and tennis, basketball, and volleyball courts. A generously proportioned park picnic shelter becomes a multi-purpose community landmark, linked architecturally to the prominent entry kiosk and other neighborhood monuments with the use of a distinctive stone-clad pilaster element. Numerous pocket parks throughout the community provide tot lots and smaller play courts within easy walking distance of neighborhood centers.

Communita|Atelier provided design documents and construction administration services for over ten acres of open space tracts, buffers and stormwater facilities.  These open space tracts contain a mix of native shrubs, conifers and deciduous understory trees supplement the existing plantings within and around native growth retention zones.  Groves of conifers are incorporated into the parks, in order to blur the edges and reinforce the idea that these open spaces are tied to the surrounding native landscape. Grassy berms dotted with groves of River Birch and Douglas Fir are the signature plantings along street edges, shaping views and framing access points to and from the parks.