By Daniele Amandolini

On a cold Sunday night, just a few days before the winter break, Vincent Amoroso presented his art project for Charles Ott’s ARTS 290 Independent Studies class. While the snow-covered campus suggested snowboarding as the activity of choice, Vincent made us dream of summer with his ambitious and impressive skate-park project.

Stepping into the art lab, the first thing you’d notice was the carbon-drawn renditions of skaters flying through the dunes and ramps that Vincent envisioned. There was more, though, and once you moved on to the detailed overhead maps and the 3-D model, you knew that that this was more than a sketched idea.

Over the 15 weeks that the project has been developed, the park’s name has evolved from SOUNDPARK to SONOPARK™. As the name suggests, this is not a simple skate park: Music is an integral part of it, and it feeds the creative community that this project is intended for.

The fully working and powered model perfectly illustrates the vision of the designer, as you can push a small scaled skateboard over the ramps and a hear sound cue play out as the wheels press on certain spots. This park lets skaters go beyond zipping through ramps and jumping over obstacles; it lets them “create, record and edit their own music,” as Vincent explained.

Inspired by Russian Constructivist paintings of the early 1900s, the park’s slopes and curves have roots that show the depth behind street design and skate culture. For an art project, this would be enough to grant a perfect grade, but SONOPARK™ is perfectly outlined in all of its features. The digitally illustrated logo perfectly encapsulates the urban and creative nature of this product.

Developed with the help of SMCC’s architecture department, the floor plans outline the size of the park and help one picture it in its full scale.

Leaving the lab and exposing my face to the crisp late-fall air, I couldn’t see myself skating any time soon. But while summer seems so far away, it’s easy to imagine Vincent’s project coming to life. The level of detail is impressive, and the passion necessary to undertake such a massive project makes me think that SONOPARK™ will sooner or later become a reality.

(1) Vincent Amoroso stands next to the 3D model of SONOPARK™
(2) A particular of the powered 3D model of SONOPARK™

Photos by Daniele Amandolini