Last week, Mayor Kasim Reed, Arthur M. Blank, owner of the Atlanta Falcons, Atlanta United and co-founder of the Home Depot, and Craig Menear, Chairman, President and CEO of The Home Depot announced the addition of a 13-acre green space next to the Mercedes-Benz Stadium where the Georgia Dome currently stands.

The space, called The Home Depot Backyard, will provide areas for family activities, entertainment and community events and on stadium event days can serve as a fan tailgating zone. tvsdesign Principal Mark Carter said the overarching idea behind the park’s creation was to create a community park that could host a variety of events instead of a parking lot that could sometimes be used as a park.

“Arthur wanted to be intentional about the kinds of events that could take place in a space designed for human interaction as opposed to navigating parking lot traffic,” Carter said. “This new park space is a continuation of the green necklace that follows the BeltLine, through Centennial Park and extending into the Westside, connecting the community to the heart of the city.”

The park is divided into districts, with two side fields and a center field that can accommodate soccer fields, festivals, movie showings, concerts and tailgating. Special attention was given to creating active edges to surround the park with viewing platforms, picnic areas and sculpted pathways that connect the event lawn with the adjacent streets and plazas. From this amphitheater setting, visitors will have ‘Instagram-worthy’ views of the surrounding park and city

“The Home Depot Backyard is yet another example of the City of Atlanta and its vital partners’ commitment to West Atlanta,” Mayor Reed said during the press event.  “[The Home Depot Backyard] will serve as a gateway to Downtown, to our cultural district and to the world’s greatest sports venue, Mercedes-Benz Stadium.”

Carter echoed Reed’s sentiment of creating a cultural district by placing emphasis on pedestrian pathways that link the downtown entertainment district’s landmarks to the Westside.

“A critical component of the design challenge was to provide the missing pedestrian linkage from the Westside to downtown,” Carter said. “Along the southern edge of the park, we joined together a series of tree-lined plazas, park overlooks and civic art installations to create what is essentially a cultural pathway leading to Centennial Olympic Park.”

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