ARTICLES :: There's no place like (Invesco) home :: Costs reined at Broncos' new stable :: Invesco Field documentary relies heavily on Mile High :: More elbow, leg room? Invesco has it :: Cheerleaders corral Grade A locker room :: Goal posts will frame name of famous Bronco :: Pittsburgh stadium's reviews underwhelming :: NFL stadiums planned or under construction :: Mile High Stadium won't go out with a bang :: Sports Hall of Fame honors state's greatest :: Stadium project links companies :: Traffic, parking changes in store for Invesco Field :: Stadium milestones :: Field's TVs: All that's missing is the recliner :: Turnstiles turn back counterfeiters :: A park instead of a parking lot :: Broncos fans to be wired into the latest NFL data :: Broncos football will be tastefully done :: New south stands are plush :: From kegs to toilets, stadium flush with funky accouterments :: Invesco field one tough turf :: 'It's beautiful' seems to be consensus of Broncos fans :: Longmont family grew with Broncos :: A palace of parts :: Broncos big fans of Raiders stadium :: Stealing 'Rocky Mountain Thunder' :: Horse whisperers :: Krieger: Do you Denver, take this stadium? :: Crowd pleaser :: More food, higher prices at Invesco STADIUM UPDATES, BY DATE Follow the construction progress of the stadium with our semi-monthly updates. Select an update here ---- 2001 ---- Jan. 6 Jan. 20 Feb. 3 Feb 17 March 3 March 17 April 1 April 14 April 30 May 16 May 29 June 9 June 25 July 9 July 16 July 23 July 30 Aug. 6 ---- 2000 ---- Feb. 12 Feb. 26 March 18 April 1 April 15 April 29 June 3 June 17 July 1 Aug. 5 Aug. 19 Sept. 2 Sept. 16 Sept. 30 Oct. 14 Oct. 28 Nov. 12 Nov. 25 Dec. 10 Dec. 23 :: Click here for recent stadium stories

A park instead of a parking lot

Each time designers at HNTB Sports Architecture and Civitas see people sitting in the riverfront park just outside Denver's new football stadium, they smile.

Their landscape plan -- to create a park where most stadiums have parking lots -- is working.

"There is no reason these facilities have to be so harsh," said Tim Cahill, design director at HNTB, the architectural firm that, along with Civitas, designed the new stadium and the surrounding 88-acre site.

The $1.34 million landscape plan calls for dozens of trees, including burr oaks and cottonwoods, a massive grass berm and native grasses. It also includes four distinct entrances and a circular walkway designed to draw in pedestrians and encourage them to linger before and after football games.

"Part of our initial idea was to tie the stadium back to other things going on in Denver, notably the greening of the Platte Valley, and to create a park around the stadium itself," Cahill said.

Shaded areas also were created at the new stadium for people who want to hold tailgate parties.

Cahill said designers worked to keep the hard-edged realities of running a professional football stadium from interfering with the aesthetics of the place.

"We took the ugly stuff -- like the cable TV trucks -- and put them under the building," Cahill said.

Bill Mosher, a principal with Mile High Properties and former president of the Downtown Denver Partnership, served on the city's design review committee for the project.

He credits neighborhood groups with helping make the landscape design distinctive and pedestrian-friendly.

Each side of the stadium is different. The western entrance pays tribute to metro area counties that helped finance the stadium; the south side is a sports legend mall; the east side is a park oriented to the Platte River; and the north side is oriented to the neighborhoods directly on its border.

Todd Mead, project director at design firm Civitas, said he's pleased with the early response to the landscape design.

"We saw lots of people congregating in the riverfront park before the Eagles concert (Aug. 11)," Mead said. "It's a great place for gathering and meeting. That's what we intended it to be."

Contact Jerd Smith at (303) 892-5474 or smithj@RockyMountainNews.com.