Covering the length of ten city blocks, City Walk brings Birmingham new urban spaces for markets, parks and venues. The idea for this development was born out of the need to make clean and safe use of the large plots of land remaining under the reconstructed interstate cutting through uptown. The columns that support the I 59/20 bridges are highly visible and very recognizable design elements throughout the environment. They are what make the spaces unique and to a larger degree – even possible. I imagined the mark for the brand being the arcade of columns where visitors would gaze up at its iconic piers.
Home to one of the best skate parks in Alabama, City Walk features a New Line design with a pump track, street course, large bowls, beginner areas, and quarter pipes.
The Barkery, a sought-after addition to City Walk, is an off-leash park welcoming big and small dogs alike, with water features and equipment designed for active play.
City Walk Social offers Birmingham an open-air gathering place to mingle and enjoy a bier garden and bistro, live music, bocce ball, and other shared experiences.
The insightful people at the BJCC have a spectacular vision of success for City Walk. I realized the identities of each of its venues—Art deco with a mix of 80’s cyberpunk inspired the visual language. Bold curves, strong lines, all-caps typography, and contrasting color mimic the geometric patterns and surface of the uptown cityscape. Helping to activate each City Walk venue—the Social, Barkery and Skate have vending structures constructed out of shipping containers and muraled in the vibrant colors and characters of each sub-brand.
When I start a design, I think about the thousand choices I’ll soon make. What parameters will I give myself? Limiting your brush, in a sense, can create design opportunities which benefit the aesthetic. In the case of the City Walk characters, I decided to restrict the visual language to blocks—no curves. This time lapse shows a thousand choices made for City Walk Roll.