Mosaic Park plays a big role in improving people’s quality of life. Many Cities find it challenging to provide enough healthy green spaces and parks for local citizens to enjoy.

With residential buildings, busy streets and business infrastructure crowding the urban landscape, prioritising these green spaces for recreational activities and healthy living has unfortunately not been the easiest of tasks. However, this trend is starting to reverse.

For instance, The Arlington County Board recognised the crucial role their own Mosaic Park plays in improving people’s quality of life and bringing their diverse community together.

“Whether laying out to soak up some rays or challenging a neighbour to a friendly game of frisbee, Mosaic Park is uniquely positioned to support impromptu, casual usage.”

said Susan Kalish, spokeswoman for the county parks department.

Understanding the importance of the space, officials worked on a $6.08 million contract with Nastos Construction to renovate the park which included installing a playground, a multi-purpose playing field, open lawn space, an interactive water feature and a hard-scraped plaza.

The revitalisation project also aimed to expand the park’s shady green canopy by using Citygreen’s Stratavault to manage the healthy growth of trees.

Project goals

According to the Arlington officials, the renovation was first discussed as early as 2008 but was delayed due to some cost challenges. When they received the green light and budget to pursue the project again, they decided to place a greater emphasis on achieving environmental sustainability. So, perhaps the delay was a blessing in disguise.

Part of the plan involved installing native plants in the surrounding planting beds, increasing lawn areas and collecting stormwater for passive irrigation purposes. The other was to treat additional stormwater run-off in two Bioretention areas at the south end of the park.

With a push from local residents to have more trees, the renovation project also focused on growing tree numbers in the space.

“While there are large areas of plantings for most of the trees, the trees at the north end of the plaza are planted within pavement. In order to provide sufficient soil volume for the trees, structural cells were installed under the paving.” Lauren Brandes, Project’s Landscape Architect Consultant at Oculus

Project solution and methodology

Providing adequate soil volume for trees is an essential factor to help them thrive and survive in an urban environment. When they are planted in cramped pits with poor subsoil, trees are deprived of the nutrients and space they need – impairing their growth and causing structural damage due to poor root systems.

To address this concern, the project utilised Citygreen’s Stratavault product. Stratavault offers trees the necessary soil structure and arrangement to ensure they have the right foundation and stability to grow well. It also enables a tree to accept, store and transmit the water, nutrients and energy it needs for its roots to propagate well. Lauren stated,

“Originally a different structural cell other than Stratavault was specified for the project. However, the contractor pushed the use of Stratavault due to its ease of installation. After reviewing the installation requirements with the contractor, the design team agreed with the said proposal.”

Stratavault has been crafted specifically to reduce installation costs. Each unit is capable of snapping together quickly and easily to lessen the expense and effort needed for the shipping and assembly processes. Because its material is made entirely of recycled plastic, Stratavault also met the sustainability requirement of the renovation project, while being significantly stronger than other soil cell brands. Different pit sizes were also able to be created easily due to Citygreen’s Stratavault, including: 11.1 x 3.6 x 0.8m and 12.6 x 4.35 x 0.8m and 5.85 x 2.85 x 0.8m and 9.6 x 6.6 x 0.8m.

Project outcome

The Mosaic Park, located at 538 N. Pollard Street, is now divided into two main areas: the first one is a hard-scaped plaza with an interactive water feature to provide an urbanised edge to the park and flexible space for community events, while the other is a playground and a multipurpose field to offer safe areas for active play. Since its opening in late September 2020, residents and visitors have been consistently in awe of the improved green spaces and increased number of growing trees in the park – mostly, Honey Locust trees. At Citygreen, we provide cutting-edge urban landscape products like Stratavault to transform grey spaces into greener ones that are more sustainable, visually appealing and beneficial for every citizen in the community.

“It is our hope that the trees will provide shade to the plaza as they mature, and that the Stratavault system will help the trees grow faster than without the additional soil volume.” Lauren Brandes, Project’s Landscape Architect Consultant at Oculus