Cook Park Receives ACEC National Grand Award, Featured in Engineering Georgia

Congratulations again to the City of Atlanta and all the project partners involved in Rodney Cook Sr. Park. The project collected a 2022 ACEC National Engineering Excellence Grand Award on May 24 as one of the top 16 projects in the United States. ACEC recognized the projects at its gala in Washington, D.C.

Cook Park has won numerous awards, including ACEC Georgia’s Grand Prize, Best in the Water Resources category and People’s Choice; an ENR Southeast Best Projects of 2021 Award of Merit; and an ASCE 2022 Award for Innovation in Sustainable Engineering.

Engineering Georgia magazine, the premier publication of ACEC Georgia and a coalition of partner associations, featured Cook Park as the cover story of their May/June issue.

Located in the Vine City neighborhood, Cook Park — a collaboration of the City of Atlanta, The Trust for Public Land, community residents and other partners — combines innovative engineering features with acres of recreational amenities. Centered on multiple green infrastructure elements, the park provides a vibrant green space and doubles as a watershed management tool. It alleviates persistent flooding in the neighborhood by capturing and storing up to 10 million gallons of stormwater and improving water quality downstream.

Freese and Nichols, hired by Atlanta’s Department of Watershed Management, led design of the stormwater features. Before designing the central detention pond and surrounding features, the team developed a stormwater master plan for the 150-acre watershed, including a phased approach for implementation.

HDR, hired by The Trust for Public Land, led design of the park and recreational elements, which include a playground, splashpad, basketball court and expansive lawn space.

Read “A Park & So Much More” in Engineering Georgia.