A Model for Urban Park Renaissance

As one of the country’s great urban public parks, Forest Park is home to St. Louis’ cultural institutions, special events and recreation activities.

HOK played a significant role in planning, designing and overseeing construction of several of the park’s major landscape improvement projects, including the Emerson Grand Basin, Post-Dispatch Lake and Government Hill.

The improvements featured restoring the Grand Basin as the preeminent formal space, removing existing golf holes from the Art Hill and Grand Basin area, establishing pedestrian promenades at the bottom of the Art Hill, and linking the Grand Basin area to Post-Dispatch Lake for public boating and walkways. 

The Government Hill site and landscape improvements were also an important part of Forest Park’s renewal. Government Hill’s new design accommodates ADA accessibility, accentuates the grand, formal hillside and creates a strong relationship between the World’s Fair Pavilion and Post-Dispatch Lake.