Grand Park

The curved concrete lines represent the meridians of the earth.

Architects John Fishback, Tony Paradowski and Jessa Chisari of Rios Clemente Hale Studios.

A huge component of the park that some may not have noticed is that park is home to plants from all over the world and planted within with curved lines all throughout the park. These lines represent the meridians of the earth. Various floristic gardens feature plants that are living in Los Angeles but are also native to different regions all over the world. During the year these native plants come alive and go dormant. No matter what the season there is always something in bloom.

The designers at Rios Clemente Hale also had many obstacles and restrictions when choosing what plants went where. Because two blocks of the park sit above a parking lot constructed in the 60s, engineers had to come in and determine just how many plants and soil the parking lot could support. Because of this Tony told me a little secret on just how they made it work. Many planter beds in many parts of the park sit in about four feet of soil, atop various depths of good old-fashioned polystyrene foam (Styrofoam) to decrease the weight put on the existing parking lot. This fascinated me. We are walking through this urban oasis that, come to find out, literally has so much depth to it.

Though the designers spent years selecting what plants would work with these restrictions, nowhere in the park will you find a lack of foliage. Over the past year I have enjoyed exploring the different plants that make up the park. One of my favorite plants is the Evergreen Fountain Grass. Growing up in northern California, there was never a shortage of huge fields filled with this grass. One could gaze out and see acres and acres of grass. There is a different backdrop with this grass here in Los Angeles as shown below, but it meshes a little bit of my old home and my new home quite nicely!