A former sand dredging facility, Ace Sand Park combines education, recreation, and ecology on the banks of the Chattahoochee River. This project is one of three riverfront parks designed by Starr Whitehouse for the City of Roswell, GA. The team led a socially-distanced engagement effort featuring digital and on-site workshops to develop a design... Continue Reading
A former sand dredging facility, Ace Sand Park combines education, recreation, and ecology on the banks of the Chattahoochee River. This project is one of three riverfront parks designed by Starr Whitehouse for the City of Roswell, GA. The team led a socially-distanced engagement effort featuring digital and on-site workshops to develop a design that invites families to reconnect to the waterfront. Informed by Ace Sand’s industrial past and location in the flood plain, a Children’s Stormwater Garden offers an immersive play experience with zones representing a stream, wetland, riverbed, and industrial bank. Water sprays, hand pumps, sand pits, and a timber conveyance structure invite children to manipulate their environment the way humans have shaped the Chattahoochee for centuries. A restored stream with vegetated banks and step pools enhances hydrology, while constructed wetlands filter runoff from the play area and nearby developments. The rest of the site supports preserved and restored riparian forest. A palimpsest of historic land uses and native ecosystems, Ace Sand celebrates the site’s industrial past side by side with extensive restoration of the Chattahoochee’s riverine ecology.
