What do the new basketball courts coming to Forest Park and Tower Grove Park have in common with the St. Louis Zoo, Art Hill and Webster Groves Sculpture Garden?
They are all designed by landscape architect Ted Spaid and his team at SWT Design.
Though the new hoops are attracting eager anticipation from the public, Spaid’s experience in park design and greenspaces spans nearly 40 years and over 1,000 parks — and that’s just in the St. Louis area. He told St. Louis on the Air that his interest and career in architecture started with strong encouragement from his father, who worked as an urban planner.
“[My dad] knew I loved the outdoors. I love art, I love nature,” Spaid said. “I said, ‘Sure, Dad. I’ll be a landscape architect,’ and I never looked back.”
Spaid is a founding partner of SWT Design and has planned many of the region’s most popular parks and outdoor attractions. But basketball courts and other sporting fields offer a different challenge.
“When it comes to parks and recreation, we talk about active recreation and passive recreation. And many of the parks like Tower Grove Park and Forest Park have both,” he said. “[Park design] is how do you weave something that is a big, giant piece of pavement into a parklike environment that is inviting to all ages and all people and feel welcoming?”
There are also elements of landscape architecture that are not as visible to the everyday park patron. Yet those pieces are just as necessary and important, whether it’s stormwater management or landscape architecture providing shade. Each park has its own needs.
“Tower Grove Park is on the National Historic Register. So, that’s unique from the standpoint that we had to respect the historic context of the park,” Spaid noted. “Having things that might be really vibrant, flashy and modern would not necessarily go in a Victorian Park. Whereas in Forest Park, we don’t quite have those guardrails.”
For more about designing welcoming and functional green spaces, Ted Spaid’s take on the importance of parks in cities and what surprises he and his team ran into while designing Indian Camp Creek Park in St. Charles County, listen to St. Louis on the Air on Apple Podcast, Spotify, Google Podcast or Stitcher or by clicking the play button below.
“St. Louis on the Air” brings you the stories of St. Louis and the people who live, work and create in our region. The show is produced by Miya Norfleet, Emily Woodbury, Danny Wicentowski, Elaine Cha and Alex Heuer. Ulaa Kuziez is our production intern. The audio engineer is Aaron Doerr. Send questions and comments about this story to talk@stlpr.org.
