skate

Helmbrechts skatepark – Bavaria, Germany

Martin Ehrenberger of Blackriver, designed the park based on the notion of creating a park accessible to all skateboarders – regardless of their skill level.

A Day in the Life of Francisco “França” Lopez – Portuguese skatepark designer

One of the leading names in Portugal is Francisco “França” Lopez.

With over a quarter century with a skateboard under his feet, father of a kid who already has amazing skateboarding in his veins, team manager of the Portuguese DC Shoes, and the architect skater with more skate parks designed in Portugal than any other is now facing one of the biggest challenges of his career: create a company to build skate parks, starting at Parque das Gerações. I spent one day with him to try to understand how he can manage all this and still rip like a kid.

MY DIY overview.

MY D.I.Y. – Atwater, California

“I’ve been doing concrete work for about fifteen years. It was just a job and had never occurred to me to use my knowledge of concrete for skateboarding until I met the Vagabond crew.” – Gene Boles

SC Pool Sculpture going down… Zagreb, Croatia

Since the conclusion of the Students center pool sculpture being built, we’ve been introduced to a whole new way of riding a skateboard, and to a new skateboarding style which, until then, we were only able to see on tape. In the same year, being skateboarders, we were facing great depression not being properly understood and listened to. We didn’t have anything. After ten years of riding street, now and then even a skatepark that was being demolished faster than it was built, we didn’t have as nearly as much room for creativity and progression as we needed to. A lot of us gave up on skateboarding.

Steve Wells.

FDR Skatepark – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

FDR Skatepark began its life in 1996 with a few small obstacles built by the City of Philadelphia in an attempt to meet the needs of a growing community. In true D-I-Y fashion, local skaters soon gathered their resources and began the ongoing construction of a space of their own design. Today, FDR is recognized throughout the world as a landmark in the skateboarding community. It has been host to heroes, villains, triumph, and tragedy…

Nei Hoirie. Tailblock. Photo: Nirei

PFK Skate Support Center – Japan

The PFK SKATE SUPPORT CENTER is in a town called Itoshima, Fukuoka Kyushu which is on the western island of Japan. The skatepark was built by a group of skateboarders and punks that are friends. We are taking the form of a recycling based non-profit organization. PFK SKATE SUPPORT CENTER keeps an independency that does not belong to any other Japanese scene and which returns profits to skateboarders directly by building a skatepark.