Landscape Architectural Photography Case Study: Love Bank Park in St. Louis
Centrally located in south St. Louis on Cherokee Street, Love Bank Park stands as a testament to the transformative power of community collaboration and visionary design. This vibrant public space, once a vacant lot, has been re-imagined into an oasis that celebrates diversity, fosters social interaction, and promotes environmental sustainability.
Project Overview: Love Bank Park
The story of Love Bank Park began in 2015 when community leaders, responding to kids who had begun to play there, set up a basketball court. With the support of community members like Will Porter and local organizations such as the Cherokee Street Community Improvement District, Love Bank Park emerged as a grassroots initiative driven by a shared desire to enhance the quality of life in the neighborhood for all residents. I became involved with the project in 2022 when I began by documenting the park during the early phases of construction.
Designed by Patterhn Ives and Arbolope Studio, Love Bank Park demonstrates an architectural vision that skillfully blends functionality, inclusivity, and environmental consciousness. The park's design incorporates hardscape elements whose geometric forms are assembled to create Venn diagrams. This design choice is a powerful visual metaphor representing the intersection of different community groups, their shared spaces, and the interconnectedness of urban life.
Love Bank Park in 2022, prior to redevelopment.
L. Irene Compadre, founder and principal of Arbolope Studio, speaks during groundbreaking ceremonies.
Workers installing one of many trees during the construction of Love Bank Park.
The community's input was integral to the design process, and the resulting space reflects their desire for a park that would serve as a hub for social interaction and a catalyst for positive change. The park's layered geometric design symbolizes the intersection of diverse elements in the Cherokee Street community. These curved lines contrast against the rectangular street grid, not only creating a pleasing landscape but also embodying the community's aspiration for a welcoming and inclusive environment.
Love Bank Park boasts an array of features and enhancements aimed at enriching the visitor experience and promoting community engagement. The basketball court is the focal point for recreational activities. With water-permeable pavement, the court is a sustainable playing surface that is already well-used by local residents. The inclusion of an open plaza area equipped with a central seating area with a shade pavilion, additional seating areas, chess tables, and shade trees provides a versatile venue for cultural events, performances, and social gatherings. The park is designed to host a variety of community events, from movie nights and farmers' markets to neighborhood festivals and cultural celebrations. The park's integration of sustainable design elements such as permeable pavers, as well as rain gardens, underscores a commitment to environmental stewardship, serving as a model for urban sustainability.
A Landscape Architectural Photography Perspective
My involvement with Love Bank Park began in 2022, at an early stage of its redevelopment. Over the course of two years, I documented key milestones, including the groundbreaking ceremony, tree-planting days, and various phases of construction. This long-term engagement provided a unique opportunity to capture the park's transformation from a vacant lot into a vibrant community space. Before the redevelopment began, I made sure to capture the site in its then-existing condition. My primary goal during this period was to visually communicate the transformation, providing the stakeholders - including the designers, community leaders, and residents - with images that would help them tell the story of the park's evolution. These images served as a record of the project's progress.
The grand opening in April 2024 presented a distinct set of photographic opportunities. My concentration shifted from documenting the physical transformation to capturing the park in its intended use as a lively space. Capturing the essence of Love Bank Park meant fulfilling the diverse photographic needs of three distinct clients: the architect, the landscape architect, and the community improvement district. Each had specific aspects of the park they wanted highlighted in the images. This collaborative dynamic required a strategic approach. I needed to capture wide shots that showcased the park's overall layout, its relationship to the surrounding Cherokee Street context, and its integration within the urban fabric. In addition, I focused on creating vignettes that illustrated various potential use cases, highlighting the park's versatility as a gathering space for the community.
The basketball court has been popular with local residents since opening day.
Shaded seating area located between the open plaza and basketball court.
Ensuring optimal lighting conditions was paramount. I worked to have visually distracting elements, like cars, cones, and bikes, moved out of the frame, allowing for the park's design to show through. While the quality of light can often be a major challenge in outdoor photography, the conditions during the grand opening were ideal. The light was perfect: sunny with some thin cloud cover for diffusion, creating a soft, even glow that was flattering to both the park's features and the people enjoying the space. There were no reshoots required or any need to solve problems related to lighting. Equally important was creating balanced compositions that harmoniously integrated both the park-goers and models, showcasing authentic interactions within the space. The large crowds, interacting with the newly revitalized space, provided the opportunity to showcase the park's role as a vital community hub, infusing the images with authenticity and a sense of place.
Technical Approach: Capturing Love Bank Park
This section details my photographic process at Love Bank Park, outlining the technical considerations and choices that shaped the final images. My aim was to capture not just the physical space but also the spirit and energy of the park's grand opening, while fulfilling the diverse needs of the clients.
For the two-day shoot of the completed park, I relied on a 24mm tilt-shift lens as my primary tool. This lens is invaluable for maintaining accurate perspective in architectural and landscape photography. The shift function of the lens was particularly useful as always, enabling me to capture wider views without tilting the camera, thus avoiding converging verticals and ensuring that the park's structural elements are depicted with accuracy.
To document the opening day festivities and capture candid moments of people interacting with the space, I handheld with a 28-70mm zoom lens. This provided the flexibility to quickly switch between different focal lengths, capturing both wider shots of the crowds and tighter shots of individual interactions. Finally, a drone was used to capture the aerial views of the park. The drone was especially useful, offering a comprehensive overview of the park's layout, its integration within the urban fabric, and its relationship to the surrounding neighborhood. It was most useful in highlighting the Venn diagram-influenced design elements from a 90-degree lookdown perspective.
The Venn diagram inspiration is evident in the ninety degree look-down view.
Love Bank Park's multifaceted design, particularly the hardscape, required a varied compositional approach. For wider shots concerning the park's layout, I tried to examine the relationship between the different elements, such as the central seating area, the surrounding landscape, and the adjacent basketball court, while emphasizing the overlapping geometric forms. I iterated with different perspectives, shooting at ground level to emphasize the park's integration with the surrounding urban environment and from slightly elevated vantage points to provide a broader overview of the space. I also tried shooting from different parts of the basketball court to capture less immediately obvious angles. My goal was to create images that conveyed a sense of place, invited the viewer to understand various features, and communicated the design intent. During the event, I focused on capturing candid moments that captured the energy and interactions of the people within the space, further emphasizing the idea of community convergence.
The entire shoot of the park took place across two days and three distinct time blocks. The first captured the opening day festivities, focusing on the park's atmosphere and its use by the public. The second session took place during magic hour, highlighting the park's lighting system which allows for the pavilion to cycle through a range of colors. The third session involved daytime photography with models, showcasing various potential use cases of the park. Fortunately, the lighting conditions during the grand opening were ideal, with sunny skies and some thin cloud cover providing a soft, diffused light that was flattering to both the park and its visitors.
Conclusion
Emily Thenhaus and Will Porter, two community leaders instrumental in the development of the park, addressing the crowd during opening day festivities.
Photographing a project in a way that shows its evolution over time, afforded the designers a broad range of visual materials in order to tell a complete story. This approach also allows a photographer to capture the technical details of the built environment while also conveying the vibrant energy of a community space. In my work at Love Bank Park, I sought to balance these two aspects by carefully composing shots that highlighted the park's design features while also incorporating the human element, showcasing how people interact with the space. This involved some planning and a willingness to embrace spontaneity, capturing candid moments that revealed the park's lively atmosphere.
Love Bank Park stands as an example of how thoughtful design and community-oriented planning can transform under-used spaces into hubs of activity. Through its innovative architectural vision, sustainable design elements, and commitment to inclusivity, the park embodies the spirit of reinvention that defines the Cherokee Street neighborhood. The park is a dynamic space that reflects the spirit of this historic neighborhood. It was a pleasure to witness the final stage of the park's transformation, and to have played a part in communicating its story to the broader public.