Pacific Rim Park
Promoting World Peace Through The Transformative Power Of Art
“Art and beauty can bridge prejudices, build lasting friendships, change people’s visions of who they are and what is possible in life, and in fact, change our myths.”
—James Hubbell, Founder
Pacific Rim Park is a project of the Ilan-Lael Foundation, which invites partners from cities around the Pacific to co-venture on the design and building of parks. Hubbell views this as a form of cultural diplomacy, bridging cultures and establishing new connections. His vision is to create understanding among the diverse cultures of the Pacific Rim.
The parks are designed and built by architecture students from the participating cities under the tutelage of artists, architects, builders and planners. Participants are charged with building a park within a time frame of just 30 days, and they transcend language and cultural differences through a shared vision to design and build. To date, there are seven parks in countries surrounding the Pacific, with more planned for the future.
Thirty Days – Inception to Creation
How can we possibly design and build a park in such a short time frame?
Hubbell’s team leader/instructor on every park has been architect Kyle Bergman. When asked, “How can a park be built in just 30 days? Impossible!” Here’s his response:
“We now have eight parks to answer such skepticism. It’s daunting because each park always has unexpected challenges such as uncooperative weather and delays in materials and equipment deliveries. Team leaders must be nimble and keep the group working, focused, and constantly in problem-solving mode. The days are rigorous but the journey is exciting, with new lessons learned every day.” —Kyle Bergman, AIA, Architect Pacific Rim Park
Field Notes: 31 Days – The Building of a Pacific Rim Park, is a collection of impressions from students and instructors who participated in the building of Tides Park in Yantai from June 28 to July 28, 2018. Designed by Laurie Dietter and Marianne Gerdes, Field Notes is based on writings from Tides Blog by Lauren Victor, photographs by Alex Mortensen, and includes drawings and writings by James Hubbell and PRP students.
Read “Field Notes” 31 Days, The Building of a Pacific Rim Park
James Hubbell’s Pacific Rim Park project is not about simply building a park.
It’s about building connections and community.
To date, we have created eight gateway parks around the Pacific Rim, each built by students from different cultures as educational and recreational spaces that help bring this emerging world culture into a physical form and make a statement about the way to a shared future. Each park aims to enhance the metaphor of the Pacific as a catalyst and symbol for an emerging world culture that values peace above all — peace achieved through diversity, beauty and respect for all people and all cultures, as well as the natural world.
Through the involvement of students from many cultures, we unlock their knowledge to gain a clearer and more intimate picture of the world as it unfolds. Sensitivity guides us: each park and community space must be sensitive to — and a bridge between — environmental concerns, national interests, cultural traditions, and emotional and spiritual boundaries. Practicality also plays a huge role and is a great teacher. The teams must coordinate work with cities, universities and other organizations, and use the park-building process as a lesson in business and civic cooperation and goodwill.
Finally, Pacific Rim Park empowers students to connect with other cultures, explore where change and friendship are needed, and, by working side by side, build much more than a physical park in 30 days (one lunar cycle). We build meaningful relationships and see a new Pacific culture of cooperation become a physical reality in an astonishingly short period of time.
—James Hubbell
Top Photo: Attendees enjoy music from the Chunky Hustle Brass Band at the annual Pacific Rim Friendship Walk at “Pearl of the Pacific”, San Diego’s Pacific Rim Park on Shelter Island. Photo by Laurel Costa.
Pacific Rim Park Process
Checklist for Choosing a Site
1. Be on a Pacific Ocean shore, or a bay or sea directly connected to the ocean.
2. Be at the water’s edge like the site in Yantai, or have a strong connection to the sea such as an ocean view, like the site in Tijuana. Be on land open to the public for free.
3. Have a public agency that both owns the site and commits to maintain it.
4. Have a pearl element as part of the design.
5. Start with a design that can be both created from scratch and built in a one-month timeframe using the time-tested PRP design/build approach.
6. Be a part — an element — of the greater collective Pacific Rim Park concept.
Identifying Key Advocates and Collaborative Partnerships
Each host city needs a person or organization that can be a major advocate for the concept. He/she/they should have both political clout and some form of authority to turn the potential site into reality. PRP has worked with lead partners such as universities (Vladivostok and Kaohsuing), port districts (San Diego), highway departments (Tijuana), foreign affairs offices (Yantai), local city governments (Puerto Princesa), non-governmental organizations (Jeju), and others. These entities use their leverage in the community to get the process moving, but on any journey PRP also enlists the help of many other organizations and individuals. We encourage and demand that there be many stakeholders, and this includes the support and participation of the community that we are encouraging.
Early-Stage Collaboration and Site Assessment
At some point a member of the PRP Executive Committee will travel to the host country for an initial visit. We meet with our potential partners in the adventure and explore the schools, possible sites, local materials, and methods of construction that might be involved. The team can make presentations to design school students, appropriate non-profit organizations, and local political leaders who will eventually need to support the design and construction process. Typically, team leaders travel to the host city four or more times to align all parties with the process and goals.
Embracing an Evolving Design
Our design process is unique because we do not present a predesign to a city before we start. Local leaders find this difficult to accept, but eventually they realize that PRP is an art project rather than a building. We do, however, share design constraints before we begin the class: a park’s scale, palette of materials, and construction methods. This key step helps alleviate many of the initial concerns of the local authorities.
We also prioritize access to necessary construction tools. We research what’s available well in advance, usually on some of the initial visits by the PRP committee, and narrow down our options. This has the benefit of giving the students a limited, well-defined palette to consider in their designs. We try to work with regional materials as much as possible. Also, since we are on or very near the ocean, materials and plants must hold up to a harsh maritime environment. We do not order any materials until after the design is completed.
Cultivating Observation and Imagination
We begin by having the students draw “what they see and think” — but not a design per se. They’re inputting info and not outputting designs yet, and it’s a difficult assignment. We then go back to making more drawings, still mostly exercises: for example, drawing a sea creature, from their imagination, of course. We then share these with each other.
Integrating Technical, Cultural, and Community Input
Throughout the design process we layer in technical information about the site, limitations of materials, and the city’s expectations. More cultural information always needs exploring. Team leaders think about the design constantly, absorbing and learning from student explorations and ideas.
At the end of the sixth day each group presents their models and sketches. We try to bring in outside people for this review. The atmosphere is charged with excitement and satisfaction, so we have a small celebration that same night. We’ve reached a milestone.
The Intensive 20-Day Park Construction Phase
We have about 20 days to build the park. A team typically works almost every day — and often overtime — for a month. The build process is intense, grueling, unpredictable, and exciting all at the same time. Typically, we have any heavy equipment do site prep for the first few days. We plot the site, think about where materials will be staged, how construction should proceed most efficiently, and how we are going to bring this park out of the ground and finish it artistically in such a short time. Days on the site run sunup to sundown, with some evening talks and discussions sprinkled in. Having a general contractor or builder as part of the team, as well as some local workers, provides necessary experience.
Community Collaboration, Park Dedication, and Participant Reflection
During the last week we get an extra push of energy and expertise by inviting PRP alumni and other architecture students from the host county to help. On the last day we make sure the park is clean and ready for an opening ceremony. We officially present the park to local citizens and to the greater Pacific community. It’s also important on the last day to set aside two hours during which the participants alone can come together and talk about the experience they all just went through, as the closing ceremony and wrap-up celebration leave little time for reflection and shared memories.
Enduring Vision of the Pacific Rim Park
We learn lessons from each park that help us with the next project. This process will continue to evolve as we move towards our goal of creating a park in every country. By the time we build the final piece of the overall “Pacific Rim Park,” there may not be one person still involved in one or more of these first eight projects, but the core ideas, beliefs, and methods that make up Pacific Rim Park’s DNA will live on.
“What if the Pacific were a new culture, different from the Atlantic culture, a new way of understanding our place in the world? What if the countries and people that live by this grand lake thought of themselves as a family? This may seem hopelessly naïve, but if we are able to imagine it, it is possible. We live in a place unmatched by its diversity of nature, by our overflowing rich cultures, and all our unique ways of celebrating life.”
—James Hubbell
