Plaza rendering below.
Plaza rendering below.
Cultural Garden and Community Plaza
Project Developer Lead: Anjelica Rivas, Adre
Project Status:
In Progress | Under Construction | Not Started
A Green Space for Community
From the very beginning of our project, the community desired that the Williams and Russell project include a community gathering space. In 2025 we began deeply engaging the community in the design for the Cultural Garden and Community Plaza. This green gathering space is being intentionally designed to honor culture, reflection and joy. It will serve as the connective tissue of the Hill Block, a place where residents gather, families celebrate and community members feel that this land belongs to them.
Conceptual design subject to change*
A community-centered design process.
The design process for the Cultural Garden and Community Plaza has centered on community voice.
What does gathering look like for people from whom this land was taken?
What does rest and joy look like in a neighborhood that has experienced decades of disinvestment and displacement and climate injustice?
These are not rhetorical questions; they are guiding the design work, and the community is answering them.
Memory. Play. Gather.
The Cultural Garden embodies the notions of Memory (the missing made visible), Play (joy as an act of resistance), and Gather (a sense of community/place of belonging).
It functions as a core community gathering place for both the immediate surrounding buildings and the neighborhood at large. It is a place of connecting, gathering, communing, and celebrating. The Cultural Garden is a core ecological infrastructure that functions as a community sponge; soaking up rainwater, storing carbon, offsetting heat absorption, and curating habitat and pollinator networks.
The Cultural Garden and Community Plaza will be made of 5,400 square feet of permeable pavement and high-quality permeable decking from sustainably sourced forests. We will include precast concrete seating walls and custom-fabricated integrated wood seating features, including seats and backs, at various locations that integrate beauty while encouraging enjoyment of the green space.
The space will host seven fixed seating areas. The center of the plaza will have a recirculating water feature with cut stone elements and an overhead canopy/lighting feature, likely an arbor with a solar array overhead, creating a fully covered shelter. This feature will be the focal point for gathering events of up to 100 people. The plaza will also feature a small children’s nature play area and a community canopy swing. Surrounding the plaza will be a 15 tree canopy and six planting stations, offering 3,500 square feet of community gardening space that can produce up to 7000-10,000 pounds of food annually for residents of the Historic Hill Block.