Glen Canyon Park Playground

Designed by Public Works’ Building Design & Construction, the revamped park includes a new accessible playground with an embankment slide, a dome-shaped climbing structure, natural boulders and sandbox; an improved Elk Street entry and safe drop-off area; accessible pathways; more than 160 new native and Mediterranean trees; and inviting landscaping.

The design team paid special attention to the unique setting of Glen Canyon itself - more than 60 acres of natural canyon with rock outcrops, a natural Islais Creek and riparian corridor, numerous hiking trails and wonderful views. Forms, materials, colors, and textures for the new improvements were chosen with the natural character of the canyon in mind. Natural stone and boulders were used to frame the new playground embankment slide and in the landscaped areas, as well as in pavers set into the park pathways and entry. The sinuous main entry path leads to the rec center atop curving planted terraces and walls that negotiate the slope down to the ball fields. These elements all respond to the canyon geology that wasformed by the headwaters of Islais Creek slowly eroding away rock over millennia down through the canyon.

The $5.8 million Glen Canyon Park Playground improvements were funded by the 2008 Clean and Safe Neighborhood Parks Bond, with additional support from The Trust for Public Land and the California Coastal Conservancy. More recently, more than 72 percent of San Francisco voters supported the 2012 Clean and Safe Neighborhood Parks Bond, which allocates an additional $12 million to renovate the Glen Canyon Park Recreation Center. The upcoming renovation, currently in design, will include new multi-purpose program rooms, a renovated gym, auditorium and entry lobby, new ground floor restrooms and climbing walls. Construction is estimated to begin in 2015.