Basalt River Park

Client: Town of Basalt
Location: Basalt, Colorado
Project Status: Under Construction

Basalt River Park is a nearly decade-long transformation that began with the relocation of a historical man-camp turned mobile home park that sat dangerously low in the floodway. Years later, the river’s banks were reengineered with new boulder armament, preparing the property for the next step in its evolution. Connect One was engaged to masterplan the park for public purchase and subsequently develop design and construction documents that would ultimately gift the river’s edge back to the public.

Connect One engaged with the Town of Basalt’s Parks Open Space and Trails (POST) committee to envision the park as the Town’s active recreation core, and eventually developed the “Eddy Out” concept that imagined the directional force of the river breaking off and swirling into the park both as a metaphor for activity and a representation of form. The concept would also reflect on Basalt’s history with regards to geology, river ecosystem, mining, locomotives, and agriculture. A generous plaza, marked with the colors of the area’s native rock and swirling with the energy from the eddy, invites users to dapple in park life from its comfortable edge. Circling inside the eddy is a grand lawn and a coke-oven shaped bandshell that will serve the town’s growing performing arts scene. Dispersed play features activate all areas of the park and will include a climbing wall inside the bandshell, willow forts, slack lines, a hammock, rivers-edge shaded picnic areas at boat pull-offs, a berm slide, and a self-activating year-round misting feature that runs along the uplifts of a linear basaltic sculpture, all for the enjoyment of Basalt residents and visitors.