The project team behind the new LOVE Park / JFK Plaza spent summer putting a fine point on details for the new vision of the old plaza. The designers presented these refined details – a fully-developed version of a concept first released this spring – at a public meeting Monday evening, and the final design for the park will go before the Art Commission on November 4th.

When JFK Plaza / LOVE Park reopens in 2017 after a complete overhaul, Robert Indiana’s LOVE sculpture will be restored and reinstalled in nearly the same spot. Joining LOVE will be a new piece of public art that uses the saucer-shaped Welcome Center building’s ceiling as its canvas. The saucer itself will support a food and beverage operation and reclaim its identity as a light, luminous pavilion. The powerful geyser at the plaza’s heart will be reinterpreted as a slimmer two-part water feature on axis with the Parkway.

What’s now a hardscape of grey and pink granite slabs will be replaced with a procession of spaces paved with an earthy palette of granite and concrete paving blocks, designed to support both rallies and events while creating cozier spaces for casual visitors. Gone are the walls and steps in favor of a gentle slope and permeable edges. And, as promised, the redesigned public space will be green – through lawns, groves and gardens – as well as an ellipse of green granite at the park’s core where the new fountains will be.

The designers, led by Hargreaves Associates, have spent the last few months taking their ideas for the new park from concept to something buildable. As a result decisions about every element – like plants, light fixtures, curb bumpouts, custom pavers, and the fountain’s mechanics – have been finalized and cost-estimated.

The construction budget for the new LOVE Park is $16.5 million – $3.2 million for the reuse of the Fairmount Park Welcome Center and $13.3 million for the park itself. The budget was increased from an initial $11.2 million in order to cover finer finishes and materials to create a higher-quality public space, said First Deputy Commissioner for Parks and Recreation Mark Focht.

The design has been shaped by a set of guiding principles developed out of a civic engagement process facilitated by PennPraxis (in collaboration with the Penn Project for Civic Engagement) last year, and the constraints that come with being built on top of a SEPTA tunnel and parking garage. The impetus for the redesign is the need to waterproof the leaky garage roof, which requires removing the plaza above.

In a preview for PlanPhilly late last week, Hargreaves’s Mary Margaret Jones said the final plan turns the austere plaza into a far more welcoming environment.

“LOVE Park has always been about something whimsical, warm and friendly, welcoming and love. So we really went there,” Jones said.