Moore Iacofano Goltsman's Flood Park

Flood Park is an excellent example of a children and family play facility that has been purposefully designed to accommodate both disabled and non-disabled people.  It is designed for people with different abilities to be in the same activities and spaces at the same time.  Flood Park does this without stigmatizing labels, unnecessary rhetoric, or attention gathering fanfare. 

It mixes people and abilities in what appears to be a natural and organic way that is both sensitive and subtle. The park has many features for the enjoyment of visiting families and children.  It appears that access and use for people of all ages and abilities has been thoughtfully included in every feature starting at the entry drop‑off and leading to every venue within.  

The entry to the park, in addition to meeting accessibility standards for parking and drop off zones has two notable features that contribute to its universal usability.  The tower with a wind chime provides both a visual and audible focus and orientation cues.   The signage walls contain a tiled raised tactile and visual map of the park mounted within reach of most users, as well as the park sign in large high contrast lettering.  Both the tower chime and signage walls reflect the universal design principle of Equitable Use and Perceptible Information.  Water sources throughout the park also provide Equitable Use and appropriate Size and Space for Approach and use by almost all visitors. 

Recognizing the universal attraction to water play, the designers of Flood Park have installed a water play complex consisting of a hand pump and spout that most visitors can reach and operate, a water outfall and channel pouring into an upper pond separated from a lower pond by a combination bridge, dam, sluce gate, and fiord.  When the sluce gate is open water flows under the "bridge."  When closed, it acts as a dam causing water to collect in the upper pond and eventually to flow over the "dam" forming a fiord that pours into the lower pond.  The ponds are wading areas and the fiord/dam/bridge provide an opportunity to get one's feet or wheels wet.  The whole installation is dependent upon the cooperative act of operating the pump and sluce gate.  This water area reflects the Principles of Universal Design: Equitable Use, Size and Space for Approach, Low Physical Effort, and Simple and Intuitive Use.  Other features include tactile paving strips, transfer walls, and knee spaces.  The tactile paving strips are located at intersections of pathways and are intended to serve as orientation cues for blind users (Perceptible Information). 

The transfer walls are low walls at seat height intended as seats, but placed so they also act as retaining walls with sand or grass surfaces flush with the top, or seat, surface.  These are located throughout the park and are intended to allow wheelchair users to transfer from their chairs and join their peers on the grass or sand surfaces.  They serve also others who cannot stoop or get down on the ground and get back up. There are recesses in concrete walls where wheelchair users can sit and have sand surfaces within easy reach at table level.

The tactile paving reflects the universal design principles of equitable use and perceptible information.  The walls and knee spaces are examples of Equitable Use, Flexibility in Use, Simple and Intuitive Use, Low Physical Effort, and Size and Space for Approach and Use.  Overall, the exploratory purpose of the park, and the multiple options for play build in Tolerance for Error.

Flood County Park
215 Bay Road
Menlo Park, CA 94025

Flood County Park Website