The Gathering Place is an expansive 66.5-acre park and outdoor development along Tulsa’s east bank of the Arkansas River. Alongside playgrounds, water features, and grassy knolls; are the Williams Lodge, basketball courts, skate park, educational centers, and the OneOk Boathouse. The Gathering Place was selected as the Best New Attraction in USA Today in 2018. MPW is honored to have been involved in the overall design process that required almost five years.
One part of the design process was to team-up with the construction, civil, architectural and structural engineering teams to value-engineer a savings of around $50 million.
The three conditioned buildings that MPW designed on the property utilize ground-source (geothermal) heat pumps for air conditioning and heating. The geothermal wells range from 300 to 500 feet deep.
One of the many obstacles for the Fire Protection design was the movable storage configuration of the kayaks in the Boathouse. There are no specific existing sections of NFPA 13 that could be referenced, therefore a unique alternative design was developed based on applicable code sections as they best related to the storage configurations and commodities. MPW worked closely with the City of Tulsa Fire Marshal’s Office for review and approval.
Gathering Place won the Platinum Award from Building Design+Construction magazine in 2019 and was the first project that was predominantly a site design project in the 22-year history of the award.
Another sustainability feature is the installation of electric vehicle charging stations outside of Williams Lodge. One specialized security element is retractable bollards at all entry and exit locations into the park Safe, unique and sustainable design practices were the main goals of this beautifully built and appreciated area within our city.