Designing the landscape around the new Soldier Field meant dealing with 120,000 cu. yds. of dirt excavated during construction of the parking garages.

The site's history gave designers clues about what might be done with the mountains of soil that would be too large and costly to cart away, said Steven Prassas, associate with Chicago' s Peter Lindsay Schaudt Landscape Architecture Inc., which specializes in urban design. His firm has handled National Football League stadium work in Charlotte and Nashville, as well as Soldier Field.

Landscaping a Lakefill

Back in the 1920s, the land around Soldier Field was reclaimed from the lake. At that time, fill excavated during the building of the Chicago freight tunnel system was used to extend the shoreline. Soil taken during the construction of the tunnels was shipped to the area through a tunnel system spur line that ran to the Field Museum, Prassas said.

"There's nothing natural about this park," Prassas said. "It's all artificial, and we wanted to exaggerate that and celebrate the history of the site by using the 120,000 yds. to create sculpted land forms and berms that look artificial. We've used that in a number of ways on the site, hiding parking lots and parking garages, creating places to prospect, where people can get up high and take a look around, and in creating a sledding hill about 33 ft. high."

The sledding hill is southeast of the stadium, faces north and is aligned with 18th Street.

Sledders will be able to slalom about 220 ft. down the north slope of the hill. Plantings on the hill's east, west and south slopes will discourage people from sledding down those slopes.

"The most exciting part of the sledding hill is there will be snow-making equipment there, like a ski slope," Prassas said. "The reason we really pushed that through is because most Chicago winters don't have a lot of snow, and this will provide snow all winter long."

Though not responsible for the stadium's playing surface, Peter Lindsay Schaudt Landscape Architecture is handling all landscape areas near the stadium. The area around the stadium comprises 98 acres. About 66 of those 98 acres are paved and include land covered by parking lots, roads, other paved areas and the stadium itself.

The remaining 32 acres are considered landscape areas, and include 17 acres recovered from what were formerly parking lots.

The firm also had to deal with the Gold Star Police Memorial east of the stadium, which runs alongside a bike path.

Added about three years ago, the memorial was laid out in two segments, which weren't well connected, Prassas said. "We wanted to improve it and make it better," he said. "By adding more park land, we were able to connect the two ends of the Gold Star Memorial with the stone path that ran between the two sections of land."

Greening a Park

Northeast of the stadium, across McFetridge Drive from the Field Museum, the park district wanted a children's garden that would relate to and be used by the museum campus, Prassas said. In creating the garden, Schaudt used as its theme the one element common to the Field, Adler Planetarium and John G. Shedd Aquarium - the earth.

"We're creating a series of spheres we're calling 'All Earth,'" Prassas said. "There's a cast bronze sculpture describing the geography of Chicago and relating Chicago to the world. There's a floating granite ball that's essentially a fountain and will celebrate the Earth's water.

"It's a 3-ft. granite ball that can be turned by children because of the physics of the way it's designed. Water shoots up from the bottom, and elevates the ball so it appears to be floating."

Because about 1,300 new trees are being planted in the parkland, and trees don't do well unless they're growing in good soil, Schaudt is also carting in almost 58,000 cu. yds. of new topsoil. In part because of the presence of these new trees, most of the park will be irrigated to ensure it will remain green all summer. That's unusual for a park district facility, Prassas said.

A unique and eye-catching element to the parkland will be the hawthorn orchard adjacent to the Memorial Waterwall that will stand above the north parking structure and at its entrance, Prassas said.

The orchard will sit on top of the east side of the structure. "It's like a grid of trees, and the idea is to make the hawthorns look like a regiment of marching soldiers," Prassas said.

Everyone associated with the landscaping around the new Soldier Field recognizes the enormity of the assignment and the impact of the work, he added.

"It's an incredible project," Prassas said. "To be working on it, we all feel honored. And to see it taking shape - we can see it from our window - is extremely exciting. The whole idea is a stadium in a park, rather than a stadium in a parking lot."