Project to enlarge, enhance Shelby Farm's Patriot Lake is legacy to world reknowned landscape architect

Late architect John Hopkins leaves a legacy in his Shelby Farms vision.

When it's finally enlarged and improved, Patriot Lake will spread out to form the sparkling centerpiece of Shelby Farms Park a scenic gathering point for visitors and a place where concessions, stage events and other attractions generate revenues to fund operations throughout the 4,500-acre park.

That's the plan, at least. But one of the key architects of the lake project and other park improvements won't be around to see his ideas become reality.

John Hopkins, an internationally renowned landscape architect, died unexpectedly at 59 late last month in Philadelphia. Although he was best known for the books he authored and his leading role in the development of innovative parkland at the site of last year's London Olympic Games, Hopkins also was a guiding force in the effort to transform Shelby Farms into a world-class park.

As park officials see it, the lake project in particular will be a large part of Hopkins' legacy.

"He was really a genius in the field," said Jen Andrews, director of development and communications for the Shelby Farms Park Conservancy, which operates the park. "He changed the way people look at landscape architecture, making the landscape play a pivotal role."

The British-born Hopkins, who was engaged to conservancy executive director Laura Adams, helped lead workshops in which details of the design of the lake were "stress-tested," as park officials put it, to see whether they were truly feasible.

Now encompassing 54 acres, the lake will be expanded and enhanced as part of a $75 million park master plan, which also envisions an ambitious tree-planting program and the development of diverse landscape "rooms." Several improvements, including the $3.5 million Woodland Discovery Playground, already have been completed.

So far, conservancy officials say, fundraising efforts have netted $52 million. Their goal is to reach the $75 million total by the end of June.

The excavation of the larger lake bed should start in 2014 and take a year to complete, Andrews said, with another year required for adding amenities.

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Project to enlarge, enhance Shelby Farm's Patriot Lake is legacy to world reknowned landscape architect