Portsmouth Park Art Project
Portsmouth, New Hampshire
In an effort to reclaim neglected and underutilized downtown open spaces, the City of Portsmouth, in association with several community groups, hosted a series of design competitions. The competitions were open to area artists and drew responses from landscape architects, sculptors, and architects.
The organizers called for solutions that would enhance community open space and inspire a greater appreciation of the visual arts.
The inaugural competition was for a small parcel of land located across the street from the Strawbery Banke Museum. The museum offers a unique glimpse into the everyday lives of everyday people who called this historic neighborhood home for nearly four centuries. Saucier + Flynn's winning submission drew heavily from the neighborhood's history and incorporated subtle details that alluded to the rich design details found throughout the area. Key features included a swing set modeled after Portsmouth's signature drawbridges, and inscribed on a white board fence, a passage from a book written by one of the neighborhood's most famous residents, Thomas Bailey Aldrich. The passage is from "The Story of a Bad Boy" and describes the neighborhood in the early part of the nineteenth century.
