Destination: Waterloo Park West
The park’s splash pad is a journey and an adventure
By Brad Smith
Photos: Seferian Design Group
The city of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada, installed its only splash pad facility in the early 1990s on the east side of Waterloo Park. Called Lions Lagoon, the pad was constructed over a former outdoor pool. Over the years, the facility underwent numerous repairs; however, it reached its useful lifecycle and was closed after the 2019 season.
The land surrounding Waterloo Park has dramatically changed over the park’s 125-year history, from agricultural lands on the edge of town in the late 1800s to a large park located in the heart of the city today. Recent growth has transformed a suburban sprawl model to a compact, intensification model. Provincial, regional, and municipal legislation and policy directs this growth within the city center, and along the central transit corridor. As a result, the city has experienced a swell of construction in the Uptown core recently, as former industrial areas have been changed to residential, commercial, employment, and institutional uses, with more residents and visitors frequenting the amenities of the park.
Upon closure of Lion’s Lagoon, the city began work later that year to locate and implement a new splash pad to serve as the city’s only premier, water-play adventure space—dubbed the Waterloo Park West water-play area.
Seferian Design Group (SDG) landscape architects (led by me as the senior landscape architect) designed the project from concept, through public consultation, and finally into implementation. Supported by Brett Tonin, landscape designer, and a team of architects, the goal was to create a space intrinsically connected with the needs, wants, and movements of daily community life.
The Waterloo Park West water-play area inspires curiosity and exploration in all visitors, with children as the focus. This water journey, a destination within the city, provides a variety of experiences for all.
Design Requirements
SDG’s design includes play features that stimulate development and induce thoughtful play. The low-to-ground play features help with coordination development. Activators control water direction, limit or block water flow to allow for action-reaction learning, and help to develop intention. The play features also activate the senses (especially touch, sound, and sight) to evoke imaginative play, encourage physical activity, and allow children the opportunity to learn how to socialize with other children, using different types of water-play components.
The city was attentive to several design priorities in support of the project’s success. The shape and size of the water-play area was driven by the budget, the maximum area for implementation of the project, and the ages of anticipated visitors.
Additional design priorities include:
Maximizing children’s water-play experiences
Designing water-play features that stimulate development and induce thoughtful play
Ensuring the safety of all visitors
Providing flexibility of the site during seasons when water play is not in use
Respecting the context and promoting a sense of place and community identity
Connecting and seamlessly integrating the skate park, existing baseball diamonds, children’s natural play areas, and harvest table-gathering spaces
Connecting to the neighboring Central Promenade, Region’s Light Rail Transit, Uptown Waterloo, local universities, Barrelyards Development, Waterloo Memorial Recreation Complex, Luther Village, and surrounding areas
Promoting a high standard of urban design
Promoting creativity and innovation
Encouraging sustainable design
Integrating the Waterloo Park Master Plan (2009) and the city’s Urban Design Manual (UDM).
The play space was designed for three age-specific play habits:
A Toddler Zone (to 4 years) includes water elements designed for the size and abilities of a toddler with an emphasis on motor-skills development, cause and effect, and sensory stimulation at ground or low levels.
The Child Zone (5 to 8 years) provides for family-oriented fun with an emphasis on sensory stimulation, action-reaction, and collaboration.
The Youth Zone (9+ years) offers big sprays, splashes, and surprises with an emphasis on sensory stimulation, action-reaction, and collaboration.
The project also involved several approvals, including municipal and regional bylaws, site plan and engineering review, Grand River Conservation Authority approval, city of Waterloo Engineering standards, Ontario Building Code, Health Protection and Promotion Act (R.R.O. 1990, Regulation 565 Public Pools), specifically Part C of the Health Code (being developed in the Ontario Health Code), Electrical Safety Authority requirements, and Technical Standards and Safety Authority.
With respect to colors and visual impact, the water features integrate nicely into the urban-design style of both the implemented and future plans for the activity area along the Father David Bauer Drive frontage to Waterloo Park. The design program also includes visitor-comfort measures, such as seating and rest areas, public-health signage, plantings, shade structures, weather protection, and accessible public restrooms. The site has visual and tactile, accessible wayfinding measures (strips) to assist the visually impaired to better locate restroom facilities and to navigate the site.
The space is fully accessible (in accordance with provincial Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) Legislation and DOPSS Regulation), with human-scale dimensions. The design includes applicable Crime Prevention through Environmental Design (CPTED) principles, such as natural surveillance in and out of the area (unobstructed sightlines), and to the water-play area from surrounding seating areas. Design elements to enhance safety and security are also included, such as emergency stop buttons, consolidated regulatory signage, and access to first-aid kits.
The splash pad officially opened on August 19, 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic; therefore, the city had to put precautions in place, such as a fence surrounding the splash pad and a tent at the entrance where city staff members could screen and monitor how many people could use the splash pad at a time.
Brad Smith, OALA, APALA, CSLA, ASLA, is a Senior Landscape Architect for Seferian Design Group in Burlington, Ontario. Reach him at (905) 634-3110, or brad@seferiandesign.com. For more information, visit seferiandesign.com.