A destination for skaters

Lynch Family Skate Park

This skate park has been a long time coming. The Charles River Conservancy, the nonprofit organization building the park, spent nearly a decade raising money and generating the public support needed to move the project along. Our expertise, in both designing skate parks and working with city agencies on permits and other site development issues, was the final piece of the puzzle and the spark to get the project off the ground.

Once a contaminated site, the new skate park is situated under a ramp of the Zakim Bridge at the edge of the Charles River. With a new pedestrian park on one side and a commuter rail yard and gravel plant on the other, the skate park is the perfect middle ground between the contrasts of recreation and creativity and the industrial tinged edge of the skateboarding culture. Guided by the desire to create a community space, we held several public meetings to solicit input and garner support. Based on that input, our park design draws from the local artwork and city features that have come to define Boston’s skateboarding scene while incorporating local materials, nods to local sports teams, and other elements that mark it as uniquely Boston.