New urban plan for Olympic park
A Los Angeles park that will host the 2028 Olympics—and already hosted two Olympics—has been approved for a makeover that will better connect the site to surrounding neighborhoods.
Exposition Park Master Plan by Torti Gallas and Partners has been approved by the park’s Board of Directors. The 152-acre park was the site of the 1932 and 1984 Olympics. “Of interest to New Urbanists is the emphasis on the plan was on improving access and making the park better able to serve the local community, which at present is extremely park poor,” Torti Gallas principal Neal Payton told Public Square.
Located near downtown LA, Exposition Park includes the historic Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum as well as a soccer stadium; aquatic center, three existing museums and the coming Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, among other assets. The park has substantial surface parking, especially on the southern side, adjacent to a residential neighborhood. The goal of the new master plan was to better connect the growing list of attractions, providing visitors with comfortable and easy navigation through the entire park.
An important feature of the plan is the relocation of surface parking to a below-ground parking structure which increases the amount of green space in the park from 37 to 48 percent of the total park area—a 30 percent increase. On the southern portion of the park there will be 14 acres of new green space for neighbors to stroll, picnic, enjoy music and cultural festivals, and for children to play.
“The greening of this area of the park nearest to neighbors addresses the inequity that exists, since the northern section of the park is green, unlike the southern side,” said Billie Greer, Board member and Chair of the Master Plan Committee.
Greer added, "With the implementation of the Master Plan, Exposition Park takes its rightful place alongside, or even exceeds, New York's Central Park and Chicago's Millennium Park as a great, world-renowned park that will thrill, energize, educate and spark the imagination of visitors from near and far for the many years to come."
