Io LandArch’s work at Ogden Business Exchange Commons reclaims a former stockyard and long-vacant brownfield as a civic landscape that honors Ogden’s industrial heritage while creating space for everyday gathering and recreation in Ogden.

Through the HALS documentation and master planning process, our team recorded the site’s livestock pens, loading chutes, art-deco watering troughs, and patterned concrete. These studies informed a plan that preserves and highlights defining features—especially the sculptural concrete loading ramps—so the history of the site remains legible in the new landscape.

The Commons capitalizes on the adjacent Weber River Parkway by turning the development inside out, creating an open space loop and pedestrian/bike promenade overlooking the river that all of the new industrial buildings will be facing. Native plantings, trail connections, streambank restoration, and bioswales shape a resilient open-space network, while historic ramps and troughs are reimagined as interpretive signage and planter-benches.