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The padlocked, chain-link fence at the Braddock Trail entrance to Frick Park makes Pittsburgh's largest park look like something to avoid rather than an inviting place to hike.

An international team of designers, architects, engineers and artists hopes to change that by using rainwater, native plants and natural features to create a gateway that encourages people to interact with nature in an urban setting. They will seek public input on the project Saturday.

"I want to build a bridge between the people in the city -- who usually only experience water from the tap and the toilet flush -- and natural water," said Herbert Dreiseitl, a German artist and designer of the water catchment system for the Potsdamer Platz in Berlin. "City people have very little awareness really of rainwater, of groundwater, of water in the landscape and how important water is to life."

Managed by the environmental consulting firm Cahill Associates and assisted by the design firm Atelier Dreiseitl and landscape architecture firm Rolf Sauer & Partners, the design phase of the project -- called the Regent Square Gateway -- is expected to take nine months to complete. Construction should begin by 2009.

"They're our dream team," said Marijke Hecht, executive director of the Nine Mile Run Watershed Association, which organized Saturday's public workshop to help Dreiseitl design the entrance. "We're so thrilled to have the caliber of designers that we have for this project."

Once completed, the entrance will be attractive and functional, cleaning storm-water runoff from nearby parking lots and rooftops so that it flows unpolluted into the watershed, Hecht said.

Hecht estimates the project will cost $3 million to $5 million, and the watershed association is raising money now to pay for it.

On Saturday, the public will hear a brief presentation about the project and then break into groups to use clay and other tools to help brainstorm ideas for the new entrance.

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