A South Loop park has earned an award for being one of the best in the state.

Printers Row Park, in the heart of the South Loop between Dearborn and Federal streets, and Polk and Harrison streets, earned a 2010 Merit Award from the Illinois Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects.

The park, designed by landscape architecture firm Site Design Group, Ltd., features benches shaped to look like backwards letters from a printing press, a plaza and other urban design elements.

“A strong diagonal responds to the movements of a growing South Loop population and organizes an updated plaza for the fountain to the south and a raised berm to the north in the sun-challenged site,” the award description reads.

The award also credits the plaza’s stormwater retention, noting that the “intuitive urban plaza” uses permeable pavers to hold its own water during extraordinary rains, as well as from neighboring surfaces.

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By heidi from printers row
Posted: 08/08/2011 5:39 PM

the park has made a huge difference in how this neighborhood feels. people use it and it created a more unified community. I think it is a clever and fun little spot. A huge improvement to what was there before!

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By Mimi from South Loop
Posted: 08/03/2011 7:00 AM

That South Loop Park is so ugly, u-g-l-y its got no alibi!! This ugly park needs a sign that says closed at 11pm so the homeless that sleep there have to leave. The sign won't help the ugliness of this park, but at least it will get the druggies that hang out there the heck out of the park. Furthermore, the fencing they put around the plants IS DANGEROUS. It has very sharp tops that if a someone falls on top of that low fencing THEY WILL BE IMPALED!

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By Brett from South Loop
Posted: 08/03/2011 5:34 AM

Oh, so I guess it is now okay for food delivery vehicles to go the wrong way on one way Federal street as long as you get your pizza on time. I agree w/DJ. That park is UGLY! Plus it has become a great gathering place for homeless and people doing drugs!

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By M from SLoop
Posted: 08/02/2011 12:48 PM

Ah, I thought those benches were a very confusing game of scrabble! (And I worked in the printing industry!) This is more of a plaza than a park. I'd give the park award to the 1-sq. block green space just south of this one (Plymouth & 9th) -- It feels like a tiny forest in the middle of the concrete jungle.

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By Andy from Avondale
Posted: 07/28/2011 4:39 PM

Oh good lord. It's an ugly park because it doesn't let the almighty automobile zip around the city at the cost of good urban design and pedestrians? Boo hoo. Pardon me if I don't shed any tears over your definition of ugly DJ. The park is an architectural gem and more people ought to realize that beautiful cities don't just cater to automobile traffic.

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By DJ from Printers Row
Posted: 07/28/2011 6:53 AM

This is one of the UGLIEST Parks I have ever seen. The UGLY benches that are printing blocks. Plus they took out the two tiny streets that made it easy to get from Federal to Dearborn or Dearborn to Federal. Now the delivery drivers who don't want to go all the way to Harrison to get to Federal just go down the wrong way on one way Federal St. What an UGLY PARK!!