Walking by Contour

Byxbee Park in Palo Alto, California: a seminal project in Landscape Architecture, and one of the first major parks built over a landfill. I had the opportunity to visit this park in June 2022 and was awed by its beauty. But as I began to learn more about its history I realized that in the years since the completion of Phase I of the Hargreaves Master Plan in 1992, subsequent Phases had eroded the original design intent. Though the overall topographic moves remain, and the original land art, Hargreaves’ crushed oyster-shell paths and carefully arranged hillocks are now gone; the rest of the park was completed haphazardly without a cohesive vision for the narrative arrangement of elements.

My design proposal hightens the dramatic experience of this wind-swept landscape. It achieves better circulation through subtle edits to the path network. Together with selective, positive grading, the improved trails lead visitors towards a topographic high-point on the “Bluff,” which commands panoramic views of the Baylands.

Concurrent with recent findings about the safety of planting trees over capped landfill, my proposed grading allows for the planting of a “Grove,” through which the path passes, heightening the drama of the ascent.