Geofoam Helps Mold the Construction of Chicago’s New Downtown Maggie Daley Park
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Maggie Daley Job Site Cam, Dec 7th
With construction well underway the former Daley Bicentennial Plaza (next to Millennium Park) is on its way to being one of the “greenest” parks in America. The park is atop the large East Monroe Street Parking Garage, which has been restructured extensively including a new membrade above the garage which will also serve as the foundation that the park will sit on top of.
The new park, offers sweeping views of Lake Michigan, and combined with Millenium park “Peanut Park” will offer 45-50 acres of green roof over a downtown city parking garage.
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So what does Insulfoam’s EPS Geofoam have to do with it? With about 60% of earthworks completes, crews have removed 82,000 cubic yards of existing fill (that existed beneath the soil for decades). Some of this is in fact lightweight fill material like Geofoam, and is still in excellent condition and is able to be recycled for reuse to create “hills” in the park. Geofoam will also support the base below new paths for bikers and walkers to get through to the lake paths.
Maggie Daley Park Rendering
The site itself now has the required EPS Geofoam blocks stock piled and ready for installation. In the days to come the installation of the acres of Geofoam will be seen on the bottom right hand side of THIS JOBSITE CAMERA.
Bob O’Neill, president of Grant Park Conservancy, in an article from the Chicago Sun Times called the park “more natural and much more informal” than Daley Bicentennial Park. And very kid-friendly, featuring a three-acre play garden, ice rink, climbing walls, a skating rink in the shape of a ribbon .“You’ll be able to walk up hills and see the lake,” O’Neill said. “When this is done . . . it’s going to be a much more green, sort of organic flow. Whereas Millennium Park is more structural and formal, this is more nature-oriented.”
