Ken Kelly Park Design Process

As construction comes to a close at Ken Kelly Park in Somerville, it's the perfect time to take a look back at all the hard work that brought us to this moment. This presentation, shared at a community meeting in the fall of 2023, illustrates a few of the first steps in the process of engaging the local community and designing the park.

Our team began by analyzing the priorities and concerns of the community, as well as conducting a thorough analysis of the site and context. Through a series of meetings and on-site conversations with the City and the community, we learned that the dense urban neighborhood, just blocks from the heart of Union Square, was hungry for a quiet respite that would feel like a communal backyard.

We developed and shared design options for an inviting, inclusive pocket park, incorporating community feedback. The chosen design was then refined and illustrated through a series of diagrams studying paving materials, grading, planting, site furnishings, and lighting. This presentation utilized a series of perspective sketches and site sections to illustrate the overall character and feel of the park as well as the spatial relationships between the different outdoor "rooms".