Brownsville SKATEPARK
City: Brownsville, Texas
Size: 16,000 sq. ft
Role: Skatepark Designer and Builder
Year Built: 2008
An urban oasis at the Southern tip of Texas, the skatepark at the Brownsville Sports Park is a true skate paradise. During the City’s planning of their new state-of-the-art sports complex, we were approached about executing on a grand vision for a 16,000 square foot skateboarding and BMX facility. We developed a vibrant skateable landscape with a balance between plaza and transition that would engage all skill levels and styles of riding.
Brownsville’s distinct skatepark features colored concrete, brick-textured elements and an array of granite hubbas and ledges, transforming the space into the modern plaza environment today’s skaters are looking for. At the heart of the street-style terrain is also a large complex bowl with a tear-drop spine, backyard pool coping and a diverse array of extensions and hips. The variety of terrain has been a vital element in the City’s use of the park for competitions and community events.
The park was built on a site with extremely expansive soil and water-table inches below the surface. This meant that the entire park had to be built above grade. During construction, the site was also directly hit by Hurricane Dolly. Without Spohn Ranch’s state-of-the-art concrete casting methods, an in-progress construction site would have been completely wiped out. Fortunately, it was only a minor set-back to the project and resulted in no change orders and no added cost to the City of Brownsville.
