Skate Park Design Basics

When designing a skate park, a professional designer is challenged by many factors that can be divided into two categories:

• Comfort while driving: trajectory, load capacity, speed, difficulty, visibility, discipline
• Functionality (for the general public and cyclists, when they are not skating directly on the site): spaciousness, recreation area, access to the skate park, visibility in and around the site, durability, availability drainage, security, maintenance personnel, aesthetics. and landscape design, other possibilities and limitations of space and budget.

In this article, we will talk in more detail about the tasks that the designer solves during development in the first place.

High popularity of Skatepark

The main difference between the Skatepark and other sports grounds is the great popularity of this place of active recreation. 

The administration of any culture and recreation park will inform you that the Skatepark is always the most popular area in the entire territory. Other areas, for example a tennis court, are used only during the game, they will be empty.

Visitors use the training area for an hour on average. But do you remember that we are designing a park for extreme sports? So, unlike those mentioned above, extreme riders use the Skatepark every day, often for several hours at a time. 

The skating area is running at full capacity during peak times (summer days and after school hours), it may even be overloaded (accommodating more people than would be comfortable), and even the rest of the time is unlikely it is empty, almost always even a small number of people will be there. 

Skate parks in warmer climates are used from dawn to dusk. This challenge must be taken seriously if you want a successful skate park design that will last a long time and attract visitors.

Division of the Skatepark in zones

For many skaters, the skate park is their second home. And just like a house, a skate park has "rooms" or zones. They, like in a house, are formed depending on the purpose, and their capacity varies depending on how many people will use the room at the same time. The rooms are large, small and may have passages (corridors).

Division of the Skatepark in zones

Skate parks can also have different layouts. Sometimes a Skatepark can be one big “room” that is shared by all the skaters. Sometimes you can have several such "rooms": this is convenient in case one of them is full; the skater can always go to another. The more of these zones – «rooms» in the park, the greater its capacity.

Speed control zones in Skatepark

With very few zones, the park can become a place of madness, where skaters can start riding without losing each other, violating safety rules and sweeping everything in their path. 

Consider an example: a park with an area of ​​350 square meters. m. and a capacity of up to 30 people. If there are two zones in the skate park, then 2 people can skate at the same time, the remaining 28 will wait their turn or just relax nearby.

Here we can conclude that the more zones, the more skaters can practice at the same time and, consequently, the better the Skatepark is. This is partially true, but this approach has its drawback: the skate park will no longer feel like a single space, it will look like a simple set of obstacles. 

Since skaters often use zones that are somehow connected to each other and move from one obstacle to another, this criterion is very important.

Among skaters, this is called “flow” (from the English. Flow – flow). If the figures in the park are positioned in a way that you can move over them and do tricks with them, then that skate park has a good "flow." 

On the one hand, a Skatepark can have a large number of zones, large capacity, but low flow, it can also have a high flow, all the spots will be connected to each other in one zone, but this will become crazy, and lead to collisions. 

Yes, this nuance is perhaps more characteristic of wood and metal framed skate parks, and to a lesser extent concrete, but it is still one of the most important factors for all types, regardless of the material. 

Thus, a professional skate park designer is faced with a dilemma: how to develop a project with the optimal number of zones,

Discipline and style in the Skatepark

In extreme sports (skate, BMX, rollerblades, skateboards) there are many disciplines, but the most popular today are «street» and «park». The popularization led to its inclusion in the list of Olympic disciplines: skateboarding "street" skateboarding "park" BMX "Freestyle Park". 

Of course, everyone wants to see a Skatepark that is related to their discipline, and there have been disputes between riders in the past. The differences between figures in different styles are significant:

«Street» (street – from English. Street) imitate the architecture of the city, the figures are presented in geometric shapes, and most modern riders ride in this discipline, since it is more familiar to them, many began practicing in the streets.

The design of the playground in the «Park» discipline has curved shapes that resemble empty pools, bowls. This style has become less popular, but these are never empty: a park of this type attracts a wider range of skiing levels, from beginners to professionals.

Previously, racers were divided according to disciplines very strictly, and even took pride in it, but now it has become fashionable to be a "universal pilot", that is, to be able to navigate all kinds of obstacles with equal ease. 

In part, this was influenced by the type of skateparks that began to be built: if earlier they were just curved shapes (and there was a rise in Vert, Park style) and other skaters rode on the streets, then modern design. includes both types of geometric forms, without strict differences in style or division of territories by style.

When creating a Skatepark project, the most difficult tasks facing a designer, and at least these are:

• Note the great popularity of this object, its constant use
• Choose optimal performance combined with comfort for skaters (by dividing the park into zones)
• Choose Skatepark figures for different disciplines, combine them
• Consider using multiple zones in a row ("flow").
• Provide an area for beginners.
• Provide places for spectators and rest after training.