ROOT-v2

ROOT w w w. r o o t - l a n d . o r g From the Editors:

staff

Faculty Advisors

Ann Komara and Michael Leccese

The idea for R O O T began as a conversation among classmates in the fall of 2007, driving back from a studio site visit to the marble ruins near the Crystal River in

Editors

Bryan Ganno and Amanda Jeter

western Colorado. Inspired by landscape writing in publications like Pages Paysages, R O O T made its debut in the summer of 2009 with the inaugural Unexpected

E d i t o r i a l Te a m

Anthony Marshall , Patsy Shaffer and Brian Stuhr

Landscapes issue. Resourceful Obstacles marks my last turn as editor while introducing Bryan Ganno as the continuing editor. This issue takes inspiration from a

Production Advisor

Doug Ekstrand

visit by former ASLA president Angela Dye who encouraged students and practitioners to advocate for change in Colorado’s restrictive “first in time-first in right” water

Production Managers

Kourtnie Rae Harris and Sera Sibley

law. Dye’s call to action sparked an investigation into the obstacles that landscape architects face in theory and practice.

Magazine Layout

Patsy Shaffer and Sera Sibley Amanda Jeter, R O O T Founder and Editor 2009-2010

Conceptual Design

Sergio Villanueva Preston

Photo Editor

Erin Devine

Cover Design

Peter Chivers and Sergio Villanueva Preston

Cover Art

Bryan Ganno, R O O T Editor 2010-2011

Peter Chivers Please share, recycle or up-cycle this publication.

W e b s i t e Te a m

Peter Chivers and Kent Martin Copyright © 2010 R O O T. Nothing shown may be reproduced in any form

PR Managers

Katie McKain and Jenna Perstlinger

without obtaining the permission of R O O T and its contributors.

thank you to the American Society of Landscape Architects Student Chapter of University of Colorado Denver for their financial contribution; Clarke Fine

of American Web for time, support and paper; Don Gustafson of Print Matters for his hard work and excellent laughter; Mudo Printing for quality printing and the faculty of UCD for their continued advice, support and financial backing. A special thank you to Doug Ekstrand for time and energy beyond what we could reasonably request.

To all the voices and eyes that went into the process of creating ROOT2 - it is only with a group of focused contributors that the magazine finds itself in print. To all who continue to challenge and inspire new discourse within the field of landscape architecture. To all who imagine and design with the goal of creating places that promote adaptability and quality of life. To all with the ingenuity to find resources within obstacles.

And finally, to all of you who have picked up our magazine and who will engage the words that follow.

ROOT v 2 |

contents INTRODUCTION Michael Leccese

theory & practice

THE INFRASTRUCTURAL ERA Garden in the Machine Kathleen Kambic

LOW IMPACT DEVELOPMENT IN DENVER Controlling S t o r m wa t e r a t t h e S o u r c e t o N a t u ra l l y R e d u c e D e s t r u c t i ve R u n o f f Katie McKain

innovative design

CAPTURING THE CAMANCHA Designing Fog Collection Te c h n o l o g y i n t h e A t a c a m a D e s e r t Ben Bookout

THE BLUEHOUSE A Conceptual Design to Cleanse Poll u t e d Wa t e r a n d Pr o d u c e Fo o d i n R e s o u r c e - R a va g e d L o c a l e s Anthony Marshall

voices from the field

BROADENING THE DEFINITION OF DESIGN An Interview w i t h Pa u l L a n d e r Deryn Goodwin

ANNE WHISTON SPIRN Reflections on the Social Cons c i e n c e o f L a n d s c a p e A r c h i t e c t u r e Patsy Shaffer

place over time

RIVERSIDE CEMETERY The Death (& Revival) of Histo r i c P l a c e Bryan Ganno

THE POWER OF PLANT AESTHETICS Self-Sown Garde n s , N a t u ra l i s t i c P l a n t i n g a n d t h e H i g h L i n e Amanda Jeter

LISTENING TO THE PEOPLE Reconnecting the Bayou t o t h e L owe r N i n t h Wa r d , N ew O r l e a n s Sera Sibley

| contents

Michael Leccese has written many newspaper and magazine articles on design, planning and real estate and contributed to numerous books and planning reports as well. He served stints as editor of Historic Preservation News and Landscape Architecture magazine. In 1995 he founded Fountainhead Communications to work with architects, developers and landscape architects, and in 2005 he became executive director of the 1,000-member Urban Land Institute (ULI) Colorado. With Ann Komara, he taught Design Communications at UCD this year.

[Many educated persons] simply ignore explanations and opinions that are not phrased in terms of the privileged discourse of academia or professionalism… At best they treat translation as a … dumbing down to please a client or to entertain a popular audience—rather than as a creative or demanding opportunity.

-Gwendolyn Wright, professor, the Graduate S chool of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, Columbia University.

Graduate school implants in many people the belief that there are terrible penalties to be paid for writing clearly, especially writing clearly in ways that challenge established thinking in the field.

-Patricia Nelson Limerick, University of Colorado history professor and faculty director,

Landscape architects and designers in general notoriously fear writing. Many seem convinced they are right-brained creative people who should leave that leftbrained rational stuff to, well, their CPA. When they do write they often cloak thought in jargon,

ROOT v2 | p2

McKain, Anthony Marshall, Patsy Shaffer, Sera Sibley and Bonnie Vogt. They devoted themselves to an unsung cause among writers on design and planning: clarity.

Design Communications posed, if not an attack, at least an alternative to the excesses of academic writing.

The class’s professor (me) often wondered what he was doing in the front of the room. Why trust a guy who spent half his career in common journalism (and much of the rest in marketing) to teach students how to produce Serious Academic Prose?

I offer a few possible answers.

Good writing is clear thinking inked, whether you are explaining the Fibonacci sequence, posting on Facebook, drafting an owner’s manual or essaying for The New York Review of Books. Here’s a test: If you can’t explain it clearly, you probably lack a good or fully formed idea or do not yet understand the concept you seek to illuminate.

Good writing persuades, educates, engages and

Center of the American West,

the lingua franca of academia and design, and target of

entertains. In the design fields, this is personified by

from Dancing with Professors

the critiques from professors Limerick and Wright.

Pattern Language author and architect Christopher

In spring 2010 a seminar of seven graduate

Alexander. In this biblical work, he etched words so

landscape architecture students and one department

clearly you could design a house just by reading and not

chair braved their fears through a new class called

even glancing at the illustrations. And, by the way, he

Design Communications. They are Bryan Ganno,

changed the course of architectural thought and practice.

RO OT a n d t h e A r t of Influence Michael Leccese

Amanda Jeter, Ann Komara (department chair), Katie

Many key figures in our profession have penned notable works. A wandering journalist and author in

his early career, Frederick Law Olmsted, Sr., thundered

If people and practitioners influence, so do

Thank you Ann Komara and the Department of

against slavery, and then practically invented both the

magazines and journals. In 1904 McClure’s magazine

Landscape Architecture for inviting me to help teach

city park and national park systems.

took on John D. Rockefeller and Standard Oil in a

this course and to the students for starting R O O T .

Ian McHarg’s Design With Nature sold 200,000

muckraking series. This immeasurably helped Teddy

copies and swayed national environmental legislation.

Roosevelt shatter the corporate monopoly system.

Boian (writing and delivering speeches), Mary Voelz

Meanwhile McHarg altered the face of landscape

The Barcelona magazine Pel & Ploma produced only 15

Chandler (criticism), Doug Ekstrand (graphic design),

architecture and advised four presidents.

issues. But one contained an article that launched the

Clarke Fine (publishing), Patrick Doyle (final paper jury),

career of 20-year-old Pablo Picasso.

David Hill (final paper jury), Patricia Nelson Limerick

Lawrence Halprin’s elegant book, Cities, catalogued their virtues at a time when “urban” was considered an

In the 1960s New York magazine and Rolling Stone

We also thank our wonderful guest lecturers Andy

(academic writing), Kathleen McCormick (editing), Ken

epithet unless paired with renewal. A showman of a

forged new literary styles—the New Journalism of Tom

Schroeppel (web sites and blogging), Stuart Steers

speaker, he would inaugurate his own parks by leading

Wolfe and Hunter Thompson’s Gonzo, an outlaw cousin

(grant writing) and Bart Taylor (publishing).

hippie brigades of waders into his celebrated fountains.

from just outside Aspen.

(This is a free park, man!)

When a firm wins a proposal or sees a project

Magazines may prove to be the print survivors of the digital tidal wave - especially specialized annual

approved because audiences (clients, the public)

journals like R O O T . Their tactile appeal cannot easily

actually understood and were persuaded by its

be replaced by bytes or replicated on an iPad.

message—that too is good writing.

Good writing is excellent research compressed into

R O O T benefits from its engagement with pressing issues that interest many outside the profession.

sedimentary layers by long, hard thought. Almost no

These include drought, water pollution, social equity,

one, not even a fiction writer, sits down and produces

population pressures, natural disaster and, in Bryan

from some secret well of creativity. That is the formula

Ganno’s exploration of Riverside Cemetery, a taste of

for crippling writer’s block. If you are blocked, perhaps

the afterlife.

you have nothing to say because you have not done

R O O T took a brave - that word again - start in 2009

enough research or employed your senses to experience

and expands its scope dramatically in 2010. UCD faculty

what is in front of you.

and students foresee national distribution.

Why else write? Words can outlast even landscapes.

My hope: Someday students will be lured to UCD’s

In Denver, Skyline Park has been maimed, and the 16th

Department of Landscape Architecture to write, a skill

Street Mall may be compromised. But thousands

that will be seen as indispensible as drawing.

continue to read Halprin’s Cities and Laurie Olin’s sketchbook journals.

| introduction

No work can be conceived independently of the human and natural processes that form its context.

-William Shermani

Infrastructure is traditionally considered purposefully designed systems that enable some type of exchange, whether it be ideas, goods or money.

Subways, water pipes, power lines and sidewalks are examples of traditional infrastructure that promote city growth. But landscape systems are a part of the

TH E I N F R AST R U CTURAL ER A Garden in the Machine Kathleen Kambic

ROOT v2 |

p4

PREVIOUS Venice, Italy. Gradual workings of water on traditional infrastructural elements illustrate how time and natural processes alter the urban realm. Photo by Alissa Ujie-Diamond 2006.

urban matrix as well, and as such, they constitute

The original relationship humans constructed with

crevices, permeates surfaces, collects at low points,

infrastructure. Landscape systems contribute to

nature, first framed by religion, politics and science,

evaporates - all notable actions modern city planning

the success of cities by fostering human health and

can now be framed by sensory experience. This takes

labors to control. Water moves through the city as

happiness; sunlight, fresh air and clean water all

the privileged position that humans maintain “outside”

a part of the water cycle, from tops of buildings to

contribute to the physical and mental well-being of

of nature and deconstructs it. The landscape stops

subsurface transportation tunnels regardless of

people. Urban landscape is often considered the

being a backdrop and becomes active in the process

what we design to prevent it. The landscape matrix of the city is permeated by rain, pipes and humidity,

“in-between” or the “leftover” spaces

Water shapes the earth around us. It literally forms the landscape through

all conveying and transferring water from place to

presence and absence...

place. This metaphor of landscape as threshold is

of cities, where

already exploited by people - traveling in elevators

landscape systems are broken down or work in isolation. Urban landscape

of city building - as landscape infrastructure. Instead

to skyscraper tops, descending to the subway. Water

doesn’t present itself as a cohesive system until one

of consuming landscape visually and literally, sensory

literally mediates the urban surface as humans do

realizes that each vacant lot, pocket park or public

and temporal experience reconnects us to nature in

urban structures.

square is connected by the movement of water, wind

leftover places of the city, i.e. alleys, vertical surfaces,

patterns, animal migrations, etc. These often invisible

roofs. Landscape as infrastructure becomes a means

or edge. As the mythic River Styx or the Blue Lake,

infrastructural systems frame our occupation of, and

for knowing the city and world through multi-sensory

water is seen as the threshold between life and death.

work within, the urban realm.

and spatial tactics, where we can use systems of

The River Styx of ancient Greece flows and is moved

Alternatively, water can be a threshold, as a volume

drainage or plant regimes as partners in a design

across, like a thickened barrier, while the Blue Lake of

as infrastructure, but as places indicative of a set

dialogue about occupation, place, time and making

the Tewa operates as a door through which people came

of relationships (Jackson 1984, 3-8). Landscape

to enrich the urban experience. Spatial and material

to live in this world, like a limit. Some recent projects

represented what humans were not - wild, untamed,

characteristics of threshold, time and scale are key

have similarly exploited the barrier/edge/threshold idea

uncultured. It was something to be consumed,

factors for reinventing the urban landscape, especially

but have been unfortunately considered one-offs. Diller

conquered and controlled. Landscapes are commonly

in the design of water infrastructure.

and Scofidio’s Blur building is a volumetric threshold,

Landscapes have not been traditionally defined

where it is difficult to determine where exactly the

manipulated by us to suit us; modern agriculture and the botanic garden are two of many examples of this. Such

Threshold

building begins or ends while the middle is evident.ii

projects are often large scale and strictly determine

The material landscape infrastructure can

Tadao Ando’s Church on the Water frames a pond behind

the function of landscape infrastructure within their

best utilize to foster new conceptions of the city

the altar as if to imply an infinity between the worshiper

boundaries. Humans change soil profiles, modify

is water. Water, which literally undermines and

and the worshipped.iii Whether as the actor crossing the

topography and manipulate drainage patterns to make

underlies our works of city building, has been

threshold or acting as the threshold itself, water both

landscapes more efficient for human uses, suppressing

dismissed from considerations of sustenance and

mythically and physically defines realms of occupation.

landscape functions.

survival as a species within the urban realm. It fills

| theory & practice

Time Water shapes the earth around us. It literally forms the landscape through presence and absence - as a

slowly eroded. Now, our connections to water happen

If instead of choosing to build massive and

in backyard pools, oversized bathtubs and local spas,

expensive infrastructural pipe systems above and

completely divorced from the natural cycle of water.

below ground, we started creating infrastructure at the

gorge, a river delta, a massive waterfall. The primordial function of finding its level dominates; as icebergs, rain or fog, it moves with gravity. It marks all that it touches,

Water operates across all scales. Water follows rules

increase. Decentralizing and deconstructing water infrastructure into human scale projects can specifically

through erosion or deposition. These actions are

which are not affected by the system it operates within.

address recreational, drinking, cleaning, agricultural,

violent, whether you live in a floodplain or on a mountain.

Drainage systems repeat riffle and pool structures

industry and other needs in situ. Infrastructural

Gravity acting on water is never about a gentle touch.

from backyard gardens to the Mississippi River. Water

costs would decrease as each incremental water

The constant tearing away or aggregation of material

overflows a child’s pool similarly to breaching a levee.

system disconnected itself from the urban whole and

through the movement of water changes boundaries,

It floods a bathroom the same as a city. Water is by no

addressed only the urban proximity. Operating massive

earth forms and plant communities. Water movement

means restricted to the large scale for its additive and

infrastructural systems is not economically or physically

over time leaves traces of past occupation, a history of

subtractive processes to be evident.

feasible any longer in many places, is foolhardy in others

In the last 100 years, the United States has built

the natural.

and impossible in yet others. If we can take any lessons

and then systematically ignored thousands of miles of

from New Orleans, Nashville and Fargo, one would be

shifts. Its sound, smell and taste uncovers memories

stormwater and sewer piping. On average a water pipe

that massive infrastructure tends to cause problems as

and forms perceptions. The feel of water on our skin

breaks every two minutes somewhere in the contiguous

big as the solutions supposedly provided.

can be both life affirming and terror filled, depending

48 states, a daily problem in larger U.S. cities (Powell

on if one wants to be in that water. Flooding was once

2010, 43). Presently, water issues are tackled from

a gift from the gods in ancient Egypt where geometry

an engineering perspective where what we build must

was first developed to re-mark agricultural plots after

“withstand” natural and man-made problems.iv

landscape with which we manipulate the ground to

the annual Nile flood. The fertile waters left the fields

The engineering perspective wants to garner more

suit our needs. It is also the element with which we can

and the people rejuvenated. In modern Cairo, divorced

federal dollars to create “defensible” water control, in

reestablish our relationship with nature, shifting from

from the land, the construction of the Aswan Dam

effect separating water further from the landscape. If

one of open hostility to one of mutual benefit. Small

precipitated the end of this vast natural cycle. Water

instead we allow for change, modification and response

water interventions inserted into the city to negotiate

has defined realms of occupation through its presence

according to the needs of the place as well as primary

shifting realities of season and need is one solution

or absence elsewhere too: at the Alhambra, the step

human needs, major water disasters may be better

to problems of pollution and availability. Incremental

wells of Rajasthan, Shanghai and Venice (Duhigg 2010).

prevented. For instance, Fargo, North Dakota might not

deconstruction of traditional infrastructure reengages

But with changing cultural standards, the simultaneous

flood if the massive system of downstream levees on

landscape architecture in the historic manipulation of

occupation of people and water in these places has

the Mississippi River were designed to allow for flexible

site construction and disengages the engineering fields

diminished. Our temporal connection to water has

water control.

from predetermined outcomes. The city becomes more

Over time, the way we see water shaping the earth

ROOT v2 |

scale of a person, the efficacy of the water cycle could Scale

p6

A New Age of Infrastructure Water is the defining and regulating element in the

random and yet more site specific.v Site considerations move to the forefront of design decisions. Experience of the city is

RIGHT The 1888 Silver Lake ditch of Boulder, CO was the area’s final ditch to be built. It was constructed high above Boulder Creek in order to divert water across the rugged foothills to new residential developments in North Boulder. In 1955 the failing wooden flumes built into the canyon cliffs were replaced with steel pipe and rock-anchored bolts. Today the 835 ft irrigation ditch continues to source water primarily from just below the Arapahoe Glacier in the Indian Peaks Wilderness, providing shareholders such as the City of Boulder Foothills Community Park and historic Long’s Gardens with the water to sustain their landscapes for most of the year.

Photo by Patsy Shaffer 2010.

more meaningful.

Two recent classes at the University of Colorado

water and its place in urban situations. Often, the

Boulder have pursued understanding of particular

places chosen by the students were “sites out of

cultural systems dealing with water and the physical

mind,” commonly ignored places one might pass by

implementation of accretive solutions for water

daily. Two examples of this are 1. a green roof bus

infiltration, detoxification and control. The first class,

stop and 2. a bioswale garden at a major pedestrian

“HydroLogic,” explored the far reaching effects of water

intersection.

upon the development of human settlement, industry

Each project endeavored to reveal the process

and cultural production. “Water Measure” taught in

of water moving through the site to engage

the spring semester of 2010, looked at reasons we

people but were clearly interstitial sites that were

manipulate water systems and methods to insert water

not treated as valuable landscape components.

infrastructure into cities in experiential and effective

Mapping studies and watershed calculations

ways. Establishing some ground rules first about

framed the specific conditions the urbanized

nature, landscape and design, the classes endeavored

landscape struggled to address. Then, critical

to produce work which valued site context as a complex

designs tested whether the observed problems

framework within which water operates.vi

could be retrofitted to improve watershed function

It was posited that all surfaces, all things can be

and human use. These insertions into existing

regarded as a part of landscape systems, to the point

places allow the passing of time to be noted, people

that places are palimpsests of human and natural

to interact with a natural system and re-enabled

actions in the past. The interventions proposed did not

the functions of the water cycle. Continuing work

attempt to erase these traces but instead embraced

on material possibilities and spatial characteristics

those marks and revealed the latent possibilities of the

of small-scale urban retrofits are part of on-going

existing places.

research efforts (Berger 2006, 44-45).

Interventions ranged from interactive water collection and filtration systems to complex realignment of water movement to promote infiltration

human activity. Large-scale water infrastructure does Conclusion Urban reinvestment and densification starts

and conservation. Placing these interventions on the

with water design. All moments in the city become

Boulder campus engaged the university community in

opportunities to reinvest and reinforce natural systems

ways that tested preconceived notions of the value of

that support ecological function, which in turn supports

incredible damage to places both near to and far from (in place and time) the dam, reservoir or flood control project at which it is aimed, as well as creating no-man’s

| theory & practice

BELOW An exposed pipe in the Asian Tropics renovation at the Denver Zoo. Photo by Jeramy Boik 2010.

lands where occupation is difficult or impossible. “Like a biological organism, the urbanized landscape is an

i

William Sherman, “Engaging the Field,” in Site Matters: Design

open system, whose planned complexity always entails

Concepts, Histories, and Strategies, ed. by Carol J. Burns and Andrea

unplanned dross… The challenge for designers is thus

Kahn (New York: Taylor and Francis Books, Inc., 2006), 313.

not to achieve a drossless urbanization, but to integrate

Philip Jodidio, “Blur Building: Expo .02,” Architecture Now! (2002): 3,

ii

inevitable dross into more flexible aesthetic and design

170. This building was constructed for Swiss Expo 2002 located at Lake

strategies” (Berger 2006, 44-45). By scaling down the

Neuchatel in Yverdon-les-Bains, Switzerland.

infrastructural interventions in the city, we can minimize wasted space and maximize user experience.

Water is not just a resource, a right or a commodity.

Humans must reevaluate how we want to utilize nature,

Francesco Dal Co, Tadao Ando: Complete Works (London: Phaidon

iii

Press Ltd., 1994), 282-287. The Church on the Water is located in Tomamu, east of the city of Sapporo on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido.

Kenneth Frampton, “Towards a Critical Regionalism: Six Points for an

iv

Technology: Water Supply (2007), 23-31; and Stan Allen, “Infrastructural Urbanism,” in Points + Lines: Diagrams and Projects for the City (New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 1998).

For further information on these and other projects developed in the

vi

two seminars and their effects on student design perspectives, please contact the author.

REFERENCES Berger, Alan, “Coda: Urban Landscape is a Natural Thing to Waste,” in Drosscape: Wasting Land in Urban America (New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2006), 44-45.

instead of subsuming its products, in order to capitalize

Architecture of Resistance,” in The Anti-Aesthetic: Essays on Postmodern

on its processes. This design research on water and

Culture=, ed. Hal Foster (Washington: Bay Press, 1983), 17-34. “Despite

Costly,” The New York Times, March 14, 2010, U.S. Section, Toxic Waters

landscape infrastructure is participatory in the ongoing

the critical importance of topography and light, the primary principle

series.

narrative of landscape, available to human history but

of architectural autonomy resides in the tectonic rather than the

not suppressed by it.

scenographic…” p. 30. Also note the sixth section entitled “The Visual

“[T]he idea of nature contains an extraordinary amount of human history. What is often being argued, it

Versus the Tactile” p. 31. v

Raymond Williams, “Ideas of Nature,” in Problems in Materialism and

seems to me, in the idea of nature is the idea of man; and

Culture (London: Verso, 1980); Denis Cosgrove, “The Idea of Landscape,”

this not only generally, or in ultimate ways, but the idea

in Social Formation and Symbolic Landscape (Wisconsin: University of

of man in society, indeed the ideas of kinds of societies”

Wisconsin Press, 1984); S.M. Karterakis, “The Hydrologic Cycle: A complex

(Williams 1980, 70-71). Now we have better methods,

History with Continuing Pedagogical Implications,” Water Science &

more information and new perspectives on how water supports city building through its flexibility and simple laws, nourishes both physical and emotional needs and re-engages nature in the on-going project of humanity.

ROOT v2 |

NOTES

p8

Duhigg, Charles, “Saving U.S. Water and Sewer Systems Would Be

Jackson, John Brinkerhoff, Discovering the Vernacular Landscape (Connecticut: Yale University, 1984), 3-8.

Powell, Anne Elizabeth, “The Infrastructure Roundtables: Seeking Solutions to an American Crisis,” Civil Engineering: The Magazine of the American Society of Civil Engineers, April 2010, 43.

Williams, Raymond, “Ideas of Nature,” in Problems in Materialism and Culture (London: Verso, 1980), 70-71.

BELOW Pervious vs. impervious surfaces: Parking lot L, Auraria campus, University of Colorado Denver. Despite higher maintenance needs, permeable pavers are a low cost and more effective stormwater alternative to impervious paving. Photo by Katie McKain 2010.

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Sustainable Cities Institute estimate stormwater runoff is responsible for 70 percent of all water pollution in lakes, rivers and creeks ( Sustainable Cities Institute 2010).

Urban runoff frequently contains litter, oil, chemicals, toxic metals, bacteria and excess nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus. When developers use conventional methods such as impervious surfaces, stormwater is often left uncontrolled. Designers treat runoff in this

situation as an obstacle to get around due to its many negative effects on the landscape, including reduced water quality, erosion and lack of groundwater recharge.

The emergence of Low Impact Development (LID) and effective stormwater Best Management Practices (BMPs), the integral drivers in the LID process, are changing designers’ perceptions of stormwater from a constraint into an opportunity for designing with natural processes. LID eliminates the negative connotation of stormwater associated with conventional practices because it is a new holistic development method that encourages stormwater to be incorporated into site designs using the natural process of infiltration. This reduces both the volume of runoff and the harsh environmental effects of uncontrolled runoff.

With our country trying to accommodate inevitable growth, stormwater BMPs will be important for environmental, social and economic stability for generations to come. This article: • Promotes the importance and need for LID • Examines which BMPs are effective for consideration in design • Reflects on current municipality methods providing ideas for furthering the presence of stormwater BMPs at public and private levels

LO W I MPACT D E V ELOPMENT IN DE NVER

Controlling Stormwater at the Source to Naturally Reduce Destructive Runoff Katie McKain | theory & practice

C O N V E N T I O N A L D E V E LO P M E N T SYST E M S Conventional stormwater systems treat precipitation as a waste product, directing it into storm drains and pipes and pouring it into receiving waters. Conventional development systems also cause undesirable effects in the landscape, such as reducing the water table and overall water quality, as well as forcing erosion, sedimentation and flooding issues. As the impervious surfaces that characterize urban sprawl development increase (roads, parking lots, driveways and roofs replace meadows and forests) rain can no longer seep into the ground to replenish our aquifers, forcing a lack of groundwater recharge.

Groundwater recharge is a natural hydrologic process where surface water infiltrates downward into groundwater to maintain the water table level. The infiltration process filters runoff naturally through vegetation and soils. Not only do conventional systems prevent groundwater recharge, they also cause significant stress to waterways and affect water quality. When the natural process doesn’t happen, runoff spreads over impervious surfaces and gathers pollutants which wash into lakes, rivers and streams, contaminating the water. There is a negative financial connotation also: building impervious surfaces and concrete curb and gutter systems is expensive. Curbs and gutters and

ground absorption

the associated underground storm sewers frequently cost as much

natural environment

as $36 per linear foot, which is roughly twice the cost of a grass swale.

urban environment

When curbs and gutters can be eliminated, the cost savings and positive

(75-100% impervious)

evapotranspiration

(evaporation & transpiration)

runoff

50%

40%

10%

15%

30%

55%

effects on the environment can be considerable.

W H AT I S L O W I M PA C T D E V E L O P M E N T ?

The ultimate destination of water after rainfall is divided into three

ROOT v2 |

The negative effects associated with unnaturally high runoff volumes from conventional methods of development have initiated the emergence of LID. The Low Impact Development Center, Inc. is a

categories as displayed in the chart to the right.i There is a dramatic

nonprofit organization in Beltsville, Maryland dedicated to the promotion of LID. The center defines

difference between water movement on natural areas versus urban

LID as “a new, comprehensive land planning and engineering design approach with a goal of maintaining

impervious environments.

and enhancing the pre-development hydrologic regime of urban and developing watersheds�

p10

OPPOSITE Low Impact Development Case Study | Parking Lot K, The University of Colorado Denver, the Urban Drainage and Flood Control District and the Auraria Higher Education Center combined efforts to convert Parking Lot K on the Auraria Campus into a stormwater test site. The functioning parking lot is also a rainwater collection research station where engineering students and faculty study the effects of stormwater quality and quantity. Over the next five years students will test a variety of porous pavements, infiltration basins, vegetation beds, and detention basins to promote on-site runoff reduction. BMPs are not only being tested at this site but at many sites across the country. We now have effectiveness rates for BMPs and can compare costs to choose the most efficient BMP for a site. Investigations for discovering new creative methods and new engineering materials will be an ongoing process. Photo By Katie McKain 2010.

(Low Impact Development 2010). LID promotes the

lead respectively. Bioretention techniques include

far from its place of origin, depleting waterways of

integration of stormwater management into site and

adsorption, absorption, volatilization, decomposition,

their natural processes. The sewer system is not only

building designs, controlling stormwater at the source

phytoremediation and bioremediation.

diminishing groundwater supplies but is also causing

before it collects and deposits harmful pollutants.

2. Increase Ground Water Recharge

significant stress to the waterways and affecting water

Another crucial component is to minimize impervious

General water infiltration is important for

quality. When contaminated water runs off into rivers

areas and have buffer zones between them. Allowing for

groundwater recharge (replenishing the water table).

and water bodies, it poisons the water and aquatic life,

infiltration and daylighting of runoff to the surface will

Unsatisfactory groundwater recharge is becoming a

and the majority of it evaporates, never making it into

control stormwater at the source.

serious concern as cities continue to develop land with

the groundwater recharge cycle. Some runoff actually

impervious surfaces (see table below).ii

leaks into sewage systems of fading infrastructure.

Development of LID principles began with the introduction of bioretention technology in Prince George’s County, Maryland, in the mid-1980s (Urban Design Tools 2010). LID was pioneered to help Prince

loss of potential groundwater recharge each year

new development within 1982-1997

population growth 1980-2000

George’s County address the growing economic and environmental limitations of conventional stormwater

Seattle

10.5 to 24.5 billion gallons

141,000 acres

32%

management practices, such as water quality concerns.

Boston

44 to 102 billion gallons

403,000 acres

12%

Atlanta

56.9 to 132.8 billion gallons

609,000 acres

46%

A D VA N TA G E S T O U S I N G L O W I M PA C T D E V E LO P M E N T 1. Improve Water Quality

As the statistics are directly proportional, it is not

When there is not ample ground water recharge, the

surprising Atlanta earned a number one ranking in both

water table is lowered and negatively affects all facets

process which uses the chemical, biological and

loss of potential groundwater recharge and acres of new

of nature, including the drinking water supply. BMPs aim

physical properties of plants, microbes and soils to

development. These extremely high numbers should

to promote infiltration to satisfy the necessary ground

improve water quality. Hyperaccumulators are unique

take the population increase into account also, but

water recharge.

plants with natural abilities to degrade, bioaccumulate

Seattle managed much lower numbers across the board

or render harmless contaminants in soil, water and

despite having a relatively high population increase to

3. Reduce Erosion, Flooding, Sedimentation,

air. There are many species of hyperaccumulators:

correspond; perhaps this is due to their advances in

Water Temperature

barley (Hordeum vulgare), water lettuce (Pistia

stormwater management.

Many BMP techniques involve bioretention, a

stratiotes) and Indian mustard (Brassica juncea) are common types and counter aluminum, mercury and

When water is sent to a treatment facility instead

LID practices reduce rates, volumes and temperatures of stormwater. By reducing volume

of infiltrating to the groundwater, it is often taken

| theory & practice

RIGHT Conventional rooftop drainage directs runoff directly to the storm sewer.

Alley in Downtown Denver off 15th St between Larimer and Lawrence Streets.

Photo by Katie McKain 2010.

and rates of runoff, phenomenon occurrences such as

1. Bioretention Swales

erosion, flooding and sedimentation will also decrease.

Bioretention swales, also known as bioswales and

Pollutants increase the faster and farther runoff travels

vegetated swales, are long, narrow landscaped channels

on impervious surfaces, and the increase in speed

which cleanse runoff using bioretention techniques

causes runoff to warm up before depositing them into

as well as infiltrate water and act as a conveyance

lakes and streams and adversely affecting aquatic

system. Vegetation in the swale must be flood tolerant,

life. Interupting impervious surfaces with permeable

erosion resistant, close growing and have good pollution

alternatives is the best way to decrease flow rate and

removal efficiencies, much as hyperaccumulators do.

volume of runoff. Aesthetically, providing green space

A gentle slope is used within a swale to move water

and visual attractions in a usually less appealing area,

through it slowly enough for the plants to respond.

such as a parking lot, is always a benefit to consider.

Swales can be wet, riparian areas or they can be dry areas only to be wet during large storms. Dry swales

TYPES OF BEST MANAGEMENT

are most common in Colorado. Irrigating a swale isn’t

PRACTICES

a good practice except for during the establishment

Designing with LID principles and incorporating

period of two to three years. Grassy swales, similar

BMPs into site designs are responsible and affordable

to vegetated swales in their design and activity, are

ways of incorporating the land and its natural processes

landscaped solely with a mixture of grasses. The

into development. The EPA defines a BMP as a

major difference is maintenance and form: the grasses

“technique, measure or structural control that is used

can be mowed regularly as a buffer strip, be mowed

for a given set of conditions to manage the quantity

occasionally depending on aesthetic and stormwater

and improve the quality of stormwater runoff in the

filtering requirements or be left to grow tall. Swales

most cost-effective manner” (Stormwater Authority:

are inexpensive compared to traditional curb and gutter

Best Management Practices 2010). There are many

techniques, and although maintenance is an increased

types of stormwater BMPs to consider for a design. A

concern, a swale is still less costly and provides more

site analysis should be performed to note the size of

benefits. Studies have estimated the initial cost for a

the area and the amount of water the system needs

swale ranges between $5 and $10 per square foot. The

to accommodate. Each BMP has its own pros and

maintenance cost for a 900 square foot vegetated

cons and is site dependent. In many cases, BMPs are

swale is estimated at $200 per year.

cheaper alternatives to curb and gutter systems. The

ROOT v2 |

The Wal-Mart SuperCenter in Aurora, Colorado

following are some basic types of effective and efficient

incorporates a variety of advanced efficiency

stormwater BMPs.

technologies which includes a functioning bioswale in

p12

the parking lot. Palmer Elementary School and Marrama

a rain garden travels a long distance and picks up excess

Elementary School, both in Denver, were designed in

pollutants and sediments, infiltration may not cleanse

2009 with bioswales. Although these specific swales

it enough. This will result in contaminated ground water

need to be under drained for the safety of the children,

or clogged systems. In addition, the type of soil needed

the majority of the site’s stormwater drains into

to accommodate proper infiltration of half an inch to

them, and they are not only functioning as an effective

three inches per hour is an extremely important design

BMP but are an asset to the education of students.

pretreatment. The soil should have no greater than 20

The schools were designed as part of the Learning

percent clay content, and less than 40 percent silt/clay

Landscapes program at the University of Colorado

content. Although vegetation within infiltration basins

Denver, which encourages outdoor learning, social

is encouraged for optimal filtering, basins can also have

interaction and community stewardship in the students.

layers of sand and rocks in a type of soakage trench, without vegetation.

2. Rain Gardens / Infiltration Basins Collectors of runoff water, rain gardens are meant

Infiltration basins are cost-effective practices because little infrastructure is needed when

to be a short-term dry detention area. Infiltration

constructing them. One study done by the Southwest

practices are highly recommended in Colorado and

Region Planning Commission estimated the total

other arid climates to recharge the ground water.

construction cost at about $2 per cubic foot of storage

Typically small areas, rain gardens usually only collect

for a quarter-acre basin. An infiltration basin filters

about two to three percent of total site drainage. Rain

water at a minimal level, therefore water quality is a

gardens (usually grasses) should be planted to minimize

concern for the area, considering a BMP with more

erosion and provide some plant and soil filtering

filtering purposes would help prevent ground water

functions, but the main function of a rain garden is to

contamination.

allow the stormwater to infiltrate into the ground and recharge the stormwater reserve. These gardens are sited close to the source of the runoff, and different

3. Detention Ponds Detention Ponds are larger, less particular versions

from swales, rain gardens do not convey the water to

of infiltration basins, designed to temporarily hold

a specific place; they promote infiltration in a smaller

large amounts of storm runoff. This BMP is common

contained area. It is important to position a rain garden

in Colorado’s arid climate because they handle the

close to the runoff source. The water table should be at

short but strong storms efficiently. These ponds have

least five feet below the basin at its peak. If runoff into

a forebay to allow particles and pollutants to settle

| theory & practice

and be treated while preventing them from clogging

commonly seen adjacent to parking lots and streets.

has a 20,000 square foot green roof. There is also a

the entire pond. Generally, detention basins can be

Sand filters that use sand layering to remove pollutants

successful green roof on the parking garage of REI’s

used with almost all soils, but the outlet where runoff

are also options available for planter boxes, but are

flagship store in Denver at 1416 Platte Street.

enters the detention area needs to be large, or it can

generally unvegetated.

6. Buffer Strips

clog with sediment. With that in mind, the pond should be a minimum of ten acres, making it a difficult BMP to implement in urban settings. Unlike retention ponds,

A green roof, also called an eco-roof, is a vegetated

A buffer strip located adjacent to waterways provides a physical barrier for protection from

which are always wet, detention ponds by definition dry

roof system consisting of lightweight soil and plants

development. An adjacent strip of vegetation will help

up and infiltrate relatively fast. Some pollutant filtering

adapted to survive the area’s climate. A very efficient

filter out pollutants before they can enter the waterway.

is accomplished with this system; in addition, dry ponds

BMP, green roofs intercept rainwater directly at the

A buffer will also reduce the flow rate and volume of

can help to meet flood control and sometimes channel

source preventing most of the water from becoming

runoff to mitigate flooding, erosion and sedimentation

protection objectives in a watershed. On the basis of

runoff. Since the rainwater is used by the vegetation,

of the channel. The temperature of runoff increases as

cost per area, detention ponds are the least expensive

a major advantage to a green roof is its ability to

it picks up speed traveling over impervious surfaces. If

and most common stormwater management practice.

decrease the volume of runoff, thus mitigating flow

abnormally heated water moves directly into a body of

There are numerous detention ponds in the Denver area,

rates, flooding, erosion and sedimentation. Green roofs

water it negatively affects aquatic life, reiterating the

such as the Grant Ranch Residential Development in

promote infiltration for the advantage of the vegetation

importance to slow the flow rate with an intercepting

Littleton, which protects Bow Mar Lake under the Grant

on the roof but not the water table. Additionally, green

buffer strip. Buffer zones adjacent to waterways will

Ranch Stormwater-Quality Management Program.

roofs provide wildlife habitat and attract birds. A

not have infiltration features since the water table will

green roof also provides energy-saving benefits to the

be so close to the surface. Strips can be any variety of

building, including increased roof insulation, mitigating

vegetation, from a simple grassy strip to a forest area.

building and roof temperatures and possibly doubling

Buffer strips can be an aesthetically pleasing way to

the roof’s lifespan.

define the floodplain or to use adjacent to impervious

4. Planter Boxes Planter boxes are structural landscaped reservoirs designed to catch water, filter it and then promote infiltration to ground water. Different from a bioswale,

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5. Green Roofs

There are two types of green roofs, intensive and

surfaces such as parking lots while providing wildlife

a planter box doesn’t convey water, and is situated in a

extensive. Intensive green roofs promote human

habitat and a location for snow storage. The flexibility

significantly smaller, more structured environment. Due

interaction where people are encouraged to connect

of the strips keeps the costs minimal. A grassed buffer

to the configuration, a planter box will usually require an

with plant life through paths and gathering areas,

strip adjacent to a parking lot can be seen at Wendy’s at

overflow valve and is most effective when a filter fabric

whereas extensive green roofs contain only vegetation.

Ridgeview Commercial Center in Colorado Springs.

is used within the base. Planters may be used to help

A green roof is a relatively high cost BMP up front but

fulfill site specific landscaping requirements in addition

has energy-saving returns that are worthwhile down the

to handling stormwater constructively and are most

road. In Denver, the EPA’s newly built Region 8 office

p14

BELOW The Wal-Mart SuperCenter in Aurora, CO incorporates a variety of advanced efficiency technologies which includes a functioning bioswale in the parking lot.

Vegetation in bioretention swales must be flood tolerant, erosion resistant, close growing and have good pollution removal efficiencies. Photo by Katie McKain 2010.

7. Tree Plantings One of the most underutilized BMPs, tree plantings

8. Permeable Paving Although permeable paving doesn’t have all the

more natural alternative to impervious paving.

Around Denver there are many sites where

are effective at mitigating stormwater in urban settings

benefits of most other systems, it is the alternative to

installed porous pavements are being monitored for

due to their ability to absorb large amounts of water

impervious paving, where runoff hits its peak damage

effectiveness. Pervious asphalt and concrete are fairly

while occupying minimal surface area. Trees provide

point. Permeable paving allows for water to percolate

new technologies (designed to infiltrate stormwater

shade and habitat, which helps reduce the heat island

through cracks in pavers and infiltrate directly to the

runoff instead of shedding it off the surface) that try

effect. Trees are also an important factor in cleansing

soil, preventing runoff from occurring. Permeable

to maintain the smooth and durable features that

and filtering the air. The branches and leaves of trees

paving is one of the easiest ways to reduce runoff.

asphalt and concrete provide. The Urban Drainage and

help to soften rainfall speed, reducing stormwater flow

Examples of permeable paving include paving blocks

Flood Control District (UDFCD) is currently monitoring

rates and decreasing erosion. Trees also help aid the

of numerous shapes and sizes, plastic grids which allow

pervious concrete at a test site in Lakewood (Lakewood

view shed, break up the impervious landscape, provide

grass growth between the plastic, pervious concrete

City Shops maintenance building at 850 Parfet Street).

small but essential green spaces, linking walkways and

and pervious asphalt. The numerous different types

Many other pervious concrete examples exist but

trails and reduce the visual dominance of cars. Property

of permeable paving materials provide flexibility in

are not being monitored, such as Safeway at 14th

owners in Denver are responsible for the care and

choosing the most appropriate system for the usage. In

and Krameria Streets in Denver and the Wal-Mart at

maintenance of their street trees (Denver Tree Laws

arid climates like Colorado, permeable paving systems

I-70 and Tower Road in Aurora (Urban Drainage and

and Regulations 2010).

work better than mortared paving systems due to the

Flood Control District 2008). Both porous asphalt and

intermittent freeze-thaw cycles. Although needing

permeable concrete paving blocks are being monitored

more maintenance, permeable pavers are a low cost and

and tested at the Denver Wastewater Management Building located at 2000 West 3rd Avenue.

S T O R M W AT E R A U T H O R I T Y P R O C E S S The EPA furnishes federal regulations on stormwater management. States can then choose to personalize their own stormwater policies, which are to be mirrored after the federal program or follow the EPA regulations and keep the EPA responsible for administering the state’s stormwater management plan.

The Stormwater Authority gathers state stormwater information into one place. The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment is responsible for

| theory & practice

administering Colorado’s stormwater management plan. Colorado has an immense amount of stormwater resources including published documents, forums and a knowledgeable taskforce. There are many affiliated companies and public agencies, some nonprofit, that dedicate time to the promotion of LID in Denver. These include but are not limited to the Urban Drainage and Flood Control District, the Colorado Association for Stormwater and Floodplain Managers, the Colorado Stormwater Council and the Cherry Creek Stewardship Partners.

The Clean Water Act of 1972 aims to reduce pollutant discharges into waterways, finance wastewater treatment facilities and manage polluted runoff. The Clean Water Act authorized the EPA

extent practical, the standard for a SWMP is not set

adopted a similar concept while also using a variety of

to implement the National Pollutant Discharge

high to encourage the largest participation possible. In

other techniques to calculate the charge. Today, even

Elimination System (NPDES) program in 1972, which

addition, infrastructure built before the law was set was

more progressive ways of thinking are emerging.

later included a permit program in 1990. The NPDES

grandfathered in, and many existing storm drains are not

program requires Municipal Separate Storm Sewer

compliant with SWMP standards, meaning many drains

ADDITIONAL INCENTIVES FOR

Systems (MS4s) to apply for permits with regulations

lead runoff directly into a waterway. In Colorado, there

INCORPORATING LOW IMPACT DEVELOPMENT

based on their population size. MS4s are publicly

are no numeric requirements for stormwater pollutant

owned or operated stormwater infrastructure (which

removal established at this time.

is not part of wastewater treatment), such as curbs,

To help fund the SWMP, Denver implemented an

monthly or yearly stormwater fees and decrease MS4 infrastructure requirements, there are other ways to

culverts and pipes. Common owners and operators of

annual storm drainage service charge in January 1981.

promote LID. Incorporating stormwater treatment

MS4s include cities, towns and public institutions. The

An earlier attempt in 1974 failed due to an apparent lack

into parking areas and landscaped zones will reduce

permits hold the MS4s responsible for establishing

of public knowledge regarding the need for the charge.

required detention volume on the site. This allows for

a Stormwater Management Program (SWMP), which

Denver currently uses a rate table with multipliers

an increase in building area and the potential for further

meets six minimum measures to educate residents

ranging from $0.37 to $1.17 per 100 square feet of

profitability for an LID educated developer. There is

and control discharges.iii Although the NPDES program

impervious area, and the rate is determined by the ratio

liability associated with altering original hydrology

requires stormwater to be treated to the maximum

of impervious area to total area (American Public Works

patterns, and since LID techniques are meant to

Association 1981). Many other cities across the country,

mimic predevelopment hydrology there is a reduced

such as Billings, Montana and Tacoma, Washington have

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In addition to credit opportunities to offset

p16

OPPOSITE Green roofs like this one have become a resident-initiated practice in Sandy, Oregon in response to a municipal Stormwater Management Incentive Program. A small community of 5,800 people located 21 miles southeast of Portland, Sandy set the bar high not only with the launch of a monthly stormwater management fee, but they also have initiated a stormwater management incentive credit program to encourage the use of BMPs. Property owners are awarded credits based on the BMPs implemented, and the end result is a discounted monthly charge in addition to all the benefits of controlling runoff at the source. The town believes if the amount of runoff that enters their stormwater system infrastructure could be reduced so would their overall costs. This concept of attacking stormwater at the source not only mitigates infrastructure costs but also is the best way to prevent nonpoint source pollution.

According to the EPA, many states report nonpoint source pollution as the leading cause of water quality problems. The town of Sandy encourages property owners to reduce runoff by decreasing impervious surfaces. While the city acknowledges it may be impractical to eliminate all impervious surfaces, it offers credits for the re-directing of runoff into vegetated areas on site, therefore reducing the effect of impervious surfaces.

Locally, at Denver International Airport flow diversion techniques intercept 80 percent of the glycol used in airplane de-icing and prevent it from entering Barr Lake, the local receiving water body. MS4 administrators do control public stormwater pollution, but the responsibility of water quality should not solely be left to public officials. In addition, it is also up to private citizens to change their methods of handling stormwater. Incorporating public and private sectors into stormwater management systems, as Sandy does effectively, allows for optimum impacts throughout the entire MS4. Photo by Patsy Shaffer 2010.

potential liability for the developer. Properly designed

such affirmative outcomes emerging from creative low

landscaped zones which are fed with stormwater reduce

cost design ideas, LID has transformed conventional

requirements for irrigation and lower building operation

perceptions of stormwater as an obstacle, and it can

costs. Perhaps in the future, agencies can promote LID

now be viewed as an opportunity to give back to the

in the private sector by offering density bonuses to

land. Rather than designing around stormwater we can

developers who incorporate LID principles. This idea

now embrace it by utilizing LID.

is similar to the density bonus offered to developers in downtown Denver if they incorporate public spaces in their designs. To “frost the cake,” many of the BMPs that can be incorporated into LID are already available and can be built at a lower cost than conventional systems.

TA B L E S O U R C E S A N D N O T E S U. S. Environmental Protection Agency, “Water Quality Facts,” http://

www.epa.gov/owow/waterqualityfacts.html (accessed May19, 2010).

CONCLUSION The harsh effects of uncontrolled runoff have

Smart Growth America, “Paving Our Way to Water Shortages:

ii

How Sprawl Aggravates the Effects of Drought,” http://www.

made it necessary to change the conventional building

smartgrowthamerica.org/DroughtSprawlReport09.pdf (accessed May19,

methods we are so accustomed to in order to protect

2010).

the natural processes that ultimately govern the land.

6. Pollution Prevention/Good Housekeeping for Municipal Operations.

i

U. S. Environmental Protection Agency, “National Pollutant Discharge

iii

REFERENCES American Public Works Association. “Urban Stormwater Management Special Report No. 49.” Chicago, Illinois, 1981.

Denver Tree Laws and Regulations. Parks and Recreation (2010) http://www.denvergov.org/ForestryandTrees/ForestryRegulations/ tabid/432237/Default.aspx (accessed May 1, 2010).

LID stormwater management methods, with focus on

Elimination System: April 2003” http://www.epa.gov/region8/water/

handling stormwater at the source, will be important to

stormwater/pdf/R8%20Small%20MS4%20Permit%20Fact%

incorporate for the environmental, social and economic

20Sheet.pdf (accessed May 1, 2010). The six minimum measures are:

stability of the world’s future. Research is showing

1. Public Education and Outreach on Storm Water Impacts; 2. Public

www.ci.sandy.or.us/index.asp?Type=B_BASIC&SEC={A9D3CDDE-3BA0-

positive results using LID to design for stormwater

Involvement/Participation; 3. Illicit discharge detection and elimination;

42DE-BE30-4E321A155AA8} (accessed May 1, 2010).

management at the source rather than ignoring it. With

4. Construction Site Storm Water Runoff Control; 5. Post-Construction Storm Water Management in New Development and Redevelopment; and

City and County of Denver. “Water Quality Management Plan.” http:// www.denvergov.org/tabid/396037/Default.aspx (accessed May 1, 2010).

City of Sandy. “Stormwater Management Incentive Program.” http://

Colorado Association of Stormwater and Floodplain Managers. “Low Impact Development Photo Base.” http://www.casfm.org/stormwater_

| theory & practice

BELOW Conventional parking lot drains allow parking lot pollutants to travel directly into rivers. Parking lot L, Auraria Campus, University of Colorado Denver. Photo by Katie McKain 2010.

committee/LID-Summary.htm (accessed May 1, 2010).

DeLaria, Michelle. “Low Impact Development as a

Nonpoint Source Colorado. “Reducing Stormwater Costs through Low Impact Development (LID)

Stormwater Management Technique.” http://www.npscolorado.

Strategies and Practices.” http://www.npscolorado.com/

com/LowImpactDevelopment.pdf (accessed May 1, 2010).

reducingstormwatercosts.pdf (accessed May 1, 2010).

Denver International Airport. “Aircraft Deicing Fluid Collection and Treatment.” http://business.flydenver.com/ community/enviro/systemGuide.asp (accessed May 1, 2010).

Denver Tree Laws and Regulations. “Parks and Recreation.”

City and County of Denver. http://www.denvergov.org/ ForestryandTrees/ForestryRegulations/tabid/432237/Default. aspx (accessed May 1, 2010).

Geosyntec Consultants and Wright Water Engineers, Inc.,

Stormwater Authority: Best Management Practices. http:// www.stormwaterauthority.org/bmp/ (accessed May 1, 2010).

Sustainable Cities Institute. Stormwater Management. http//:www.sustainablecitiesinstitute.org (accessed May 1, 2010).

U. S. Environmental Protection Agency. “Costs and Benefits of Stormwater BMPS.” http://epa.gov/guide/stormwater/files/ usw_d.pdf (accessed May 1, 2010).

“Analysis of Treatment System Performance: International

U. S. Environmental Protection Agency, “Denver, Colorado:

Stormwater Best Management Practices (BMP) Database,”

Region 8 Office.” http://www.epa.gov/greeningepa/facilities/

http://www.bmpdatabase.org/Docs/Performance%20

denver-hq.htm (accessed May 1, 2010).

Summary%20June%202008.pdf (accessed May 1, 2010).

U. S. Environmental Protection Agency. “Storm Water Technology Fact Sheet: Bioretention.” http://www.epa.gov/

Jojola, Katie. “Engineering Faculty, Students Seek Solution to Stormwater Pollution.” University of Colorado Denver. http://

owm/mtb/biortn.pdf (accessed May 1, 2010).

U. S. Environmental Protection Agency. “What is nonpoint

www.cudenver.edu/WHO%20AM%20I/NETWORK/TELL/

source pollution?” http://www.epa.gov/nps/whatis.html

SUMMER09/Pages/stormwater.aspx (accessed May 1, 2010).

(accessed May 1, 2010).

Kula, Deborah, P.E. and Piatt Kemper, Jill, P.E. Interview-City of Aurora, Colorado: Water Resources Division, Water Quality and Environmental Programs.

Urban Design Tools. “Introduction to LID.” http://www.lidstormwater.net/background.htm (accessed May 1, 2010).

Urban Drainage and Flood Control District. “Urban Storm

Low Impact Development Center. “Sustainable Design and

Drainage Criteria Manual.” http://www.udfcd.org/downloads/

Water Quality Research.” http://www.lowimpactdevelopment.

pdf/critmanual/UDFCD%20Criteria%20Manual%20Vol%20

org/ (accessed May 1, 2010).

1,%202%20&%203.pdf (accessed May 1, 2010).

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BELOW Experimental fog collectors at Alto Patache: These are double the size of a Standard Fog Collector (SFC) but use the same principles of construction . TOP RIGHT Collection pipe: Collected water droplets are gravity-fed to the pipe as it descends to a connected storage tank. All photos by Ben Bookout 2008, unless otherwise noted.

In the far north of Chile lies the Atacama Desert, part of the greater Atacama Sechura ecoregion that covers a 1,300 mile stretch of Peru and Chile.

(Ephedra breana) are just some of the plants that etch out an existence along with lichens and beetles in the harsh desert. They do not survive on scarce precipitation but on a continual cycle of fog called the camanchaca, which blows in off the Pacific Ocean. By grouping together around the rocks and increasing their collective surface area these species are able to create small oases.

Because parts of the Atacama are inhospitable, this concentrates human populations to costal areas or small river valleys that flow from the Andes Mountains. In an attempt to make life in the desert less difficult, humans have adapted the use of natural plant processes for their own survival through fog collection. Similar to lichens that use the rock’s

The Atacama Desert receives an average of two

surface area and plants that use their leaf surfaces,

millimeters of precipitation annually, and during the

the practice of fog collection uses relatively simple

last 100 years the region’s largest city Iquique has not

technology. Sheets of polymer-based fabrics

received a single drop of precipitation 60 percent of the

suspended between two anchors harvest the small

time (Cereceda 2005). There seems to be little chance

water droplets in the incoming fog. These droplets

that life can survive in this moonscape environment.

gravity feed to a piece of pipe cut in half so it

Yet, amongst the rocks at higher elevations, life

resembles a small trough. The water collects there

seems to find a way to survive. Chañarcillo (Lyciunm

and is again gravity fed to a holding tank nearby. At the

leiostemum), Sosa (Nolana sedifolia) and Pingo Pingo

Universidad Católica de Chile test site, Alto Patache,

CA P T U R I N G T H E CAMANCHACA Designing Fog Collection Technology in the Atacama Desert Ben Bookout

| innovative design

BELOW Specifications for a Standard Fog Collector. Robert S. Shemenauer 1994.

these collectors are placed facing the southwest

impression of snow but the heat, desolation and silence

where the camanchaca comes every afternoon carrying

of the place made you reconsider. As Rodrigo pushed

varying amounts of water depending on the season.

the overloaded truck up steep slopes and around

Spring and winter historically yield the most; autumn

corkscrew curves, we held our breath and clenched our

and summer the least (Cerecede 2002). The cost for a

fists. Having taught the class for the past five years,

Standard Fog Collector (SFC) is $100 U.S. The water

navigating the small truck around drop-off cliffs to the

collection can average from one to three hundred liters

camp site seemed to be just another day at the office

per square meter of polypropylene material depending

for our professor.

on weather conditions (Schemenauer 1994). Fog

Upon arriving at Alto Patache base camp, the

collectors at Alto Patache average around eight liters

first thing we noticed was the sculpture park of fog

per square meter per day.

collector interpretations installed by Universidad

The excitement surrounding fog collection in the

Técnica Federico Santa María based in Iquique. The

Atacama Desert is twofold. The first is the technical

installation stands alone in the desert as if waiting to be

challenges of harvesting water in a harsh desert

discovered. It offers no protection and seems to suffer

environment and the resourceful ability to take

the same feelings of loneliness and exposure that typify

advantage of an untapped water supply. The second is the

the Atacama Desert. One feels so vulnerable in such a

innovative design of the fog collection device itself and its

landscape with little protection from the sun and wind,

aesthetic repercussions for landscape architecture.

save a few boulders. It leaves most wondering how anything can survive in such an environment. There is

Tr i p t o P a t a c h e / U S M F o g C o l l e c t o r s

not much difference in looking at images from Mars and

Universidad Católica de Chile offers a class each

those of the Atacama Desert. Along with learning about

spring called Paisaje Xerofito (Xeric Landscape) with

the intentions of research at Alto Patache, we learned

the intent of designing new, prosperous futures at its

about the fog collection process, its potentials for

research facility, Alto Patache. Each class visits the

plant growth and potable water. We also learned about

test site and groups create master plans and design

the plant communities that survive on water droplets

interventions. In October 2008 our Paisaje Xerofito class

from the camanchaca. Constanza Caceres, Sarah Kutz,

took a trip to Alto Patache to observe, analyze, sketch and

Isidora Larrain, Thibaut Villiers-Moriame and I made

gather ideas for an eventual master plan and proposal.

group observations of the area we would eventually use

Professor Rodrigo Pérez De Arce picked us up on the side of a highway lined with salt from the nearby mine.

The crusty white salt bound to North America gave the

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for our master plan at Alto Patache.

BELOW LEFT The view from Alto Patache toward the southwest where the Camanchaca clouds originate. The Pan American highway runs along the coast of the Pacific Ocean. This photo is taken from an altitude of 800 meters above sea level where the fog contacts the tops of these coastal mountains every afternoon. RIGHT Plan view for Camping Oasis Bajo Niebla.

Our Design: Camping Oasis Bajo Niebla Using our experience in the desert and building on previous ideas, we decided to plan a recreation area between Alto Patache and Bajo Patache located on the hillside just above the ocean. Through a system of interlocking gabion walls, the project will protect users and plant life from the Atacama wind and sun, analogous to the way people have survived for centuries in deserts.

Locating the gardens between Alto Patache and Bajo Patache allows for greater access from the Pan American highway that follows the coast as well as access to the beach. The location’s other advantage is it can be irrigated by a gravity system from Alto Patache, where we located all fog collection devices to supply the project with water.

We based consumption on an average of 30 liters per day per user with an average of 150 users per day and 500 liters daily for plant irrigation for a total of 5,000 liters daily use. Then we had to consider seasonal fluctuations of water supply. Thus we used a worst-case scenario in February where fog collectors receive an average of two liters per square meter of material to calculate the installation of 52 fog collectors. Installing for the lowest flow from fog collectors at Alto Patache will allow for a surplus of water the rest of the year which can be gravity fed to nearby settlements. For example, high flow is in September when it is estimated the fog collectors can accumulate 18 liters per square

meter. Consequently, our project can function on just six fog collectors in September—the rest becomes surplus water for export.

The design group decided to celebrate this small surplus amount of water in such a desolate place. The irrigation system has a main collection tank at the top of the gabion wall system. This tank is fixed with a float allowing a valve to be turned on automatically when the tank is full. The tank would fill as fog collectors worked in Alto Patache and water can be gravity fed to the holding tank below. Excess water would then flow down the main canal at various moments and be collected in the lower holding tank for export. Potable water tap systems and drip irrigation would also be supplied from the main tank and dispersed throughout the site.

| innovative design

LEFT View from above Camping Oasis Bajo Niebla with access to adjoining Pan American Highway and Pacific Ocean. LEFT BELOW Sculpture park by third year architecture students from Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María (Profesors Ciro Najle and Jorge Godoy with collaboration from Pablo Barría, César González y Carlos Castro). The park was named Tardonaturalezas, Jardín de Niebla, or “Garden of Fog” and was constructed in a very desolate area. Specific project goals were to capture the camanchaca, allowing endemic species to take root near the fog collectors and to accumulate water for use by nearby settlements (Alumnos expusieron proyectos realizados en Desierto de Atacama 2009). These elegant interpretations of a simple SFC demonstrate the design and ecological potential of fog collectors at Alto Patache. With time we may see entire plant communities taking hold around these sculptures while water harvesting for consumption remains within reach. RIGHT BELOW Fogcollecting sculpture at the Alto Patache research site, designed using a combination of solid and perforated stainless steel tiles. The structure gains its shape from a series of metal ribs on the inside of the structure. The studio for this work took place during the first semester of 2008 (February - July). Photo by Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María.

The gabion rooms would have distinct uses such as camping and picnicking, as well as designated garden space. Rooms that offer a function are fixed with water taps. This water is then filltered through small gray water gardens, and along with water from the solar showers, it is collected in the gray water holding tank for export to the impoverished, nearby town of Chanabaya that currently imports water by truck. Water could be further separated into potable and non-potable sources with more infrastructure. Garden rooms use native plants found at Alto Patache, and by using gabions we hoped the walls would create their own ecology and begin to encourage plant and lichen environments similar to the process at Alto Patache.

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CENTER Upright sculptures at the Alto Patache research site. RIGHT Night rendering of strategically placed solar lights at camp Bajo Patache.

There is also a plentiful supply of large cobble near the beach, providing ready stone to form the gabion walls.

Bamboo rods would be spread across the tops of some rooms for shade while the materials for wooden paths would be imported.

Conclusions The practice of fog collection in the Atacama Desert offers unusual design opportunities. The ability of this simple technology to alter the environment in the desert to create more irriguous microclimates has wide-ranging implications. More must be learned to understand the most efficient means to use this technology. The team has just scratched the surface of design possibilities for fog collectors and the water they accumulate. Universidad Católica de Chile is committed to implementing a design intervention at Alto Patache, and with further academic studies by various universities we may see a thriving desert oasis come from thin air, one that enhances local ecologies and local economies.

NOTES All renderings are from the group studio work of Ben Bookout, Constanza Caceres, Sarah Kutz, Isidora Larrain and Thibaut Villiers-Moriame 2008.

Desert of Chile.” Instituto de Geografía, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. http://www.geo.puc.cl/observatorio/cereceda/C37.pdf (accessed October 19, 2009).

Schemenauer, Robert S. “A Proposed Standard Fog Collector for Use in

REFERENCES Cereceda, Pilar, Pablo Osses, Horacio Larrain, Martín Farías, M. Lagos,

High-Elevation Regions.” Journal of Applied Meteorology 33, (1994): 1313-1322.

Universidad Tecnica Federico Santa Maria. “Alumnos expusieron proyectos

R. Pinto and R. S. Schemenauer. Radiation, Advective and Orographic Fogin

realizados en Desierto de Atacama.” http://www.dgc.usm.cl/?p=1440

Tarapacá Region, Chile. Proceedings of the Second International Conference

(accessed October 19, 2009).

on Fog and Fog Collection, eds. Schemenauer, R.S. and H. Puxbaum, 2001, 457-459.

Cereceda, Pilar, Raquel Pinto, Hoacio Larrain, Pablo Osses, Martín Farías.

World Wildlife Fund. “Atacama-Sechura Desserts. http://wwf.panda.org/ about_our_earth/ecoregions/atacama_sechura_deserts.cfm (accessed May 26, 2010).

“Geographical Description of Three Fog Ecosystems in the Atacama Coastal

| innovative design

The “Bluehouse” was second year LA student Anthony Marshall’s conceptual answer to LA Design Studio3, also referred to as “The Impossible Studio”. By linking two or more bluehouses, contaminants are removed prior to crop irrigation, thereby eliminating the threat of tainted food products. This is accomplished through the use of phytoremediating flora such as sunflowers (Helianthus annuus) which are able to extract and metabolize heavy metals, releasing purified water that can be utilized for food production. Additional design opportunities may be realized through the exposure of this process: underground water movement has the potential to be brought to the surface temporarily before connecting with the next structure.

As the sun glints off the pitched glass roof above, I twist a ripe tomato off its emerald vine.

the walls – and watch it disappear into small pipes and reappear at my feet below. Immediately after released onto the soil, the water vanishes again, fading into the soil’s pores and pulled back up by the roots of an awaiting plant. Expanding its leaves as if taking in a deep breath, the plant stretches skyward, and my eyes follow. Sharpening my focus, beads of water become

Tipping my hat to a neighbor as he bites into a similar

visible as they build upon the underside of the ceiling

crimson sphere but a few rows past, the overwhelming

and slide down like the water that flowed between the

reality of time floods all thoughts. Harvest season has

glass panes before. From here, tiny water droplets slip

arrived. The time when patient friends and strangers

down into what appears to be a small gutter. Gravity

join to reconnect, reflect and of course, feast.

moves the liquid alongside the wall until allowing it to

Upon studying the brilliant red colors of a tomato in hand, my eyes soon begin to drift. In all four directions

escape to the outer world.

Out in the late summer sun, people gather. I stretch

craning their heads to the west to gather the last hours

stand tall, clear walls inviting the sun’s powerful light and

my hand outward and twist counterclockwise an

of daylight. Pipes enter and leave the building, diving

warmth inside. Above, light gleams through a layer of

awaiting tap. Releasing the liquid and filling my glass

below the ground’s surface and shooting to the roof

flowing water, trapped between two panes of thickened

with water drawn from a large barrel, I catch up with

above where flowing water emerges.

glass, casting rippling shadows in all directions.

once unknown individuals that have become like-minded

The water overhead prompts curiosity – what

What becomes clear is the connection of flow

friends. Beyond the jovial faces a similar structure

between the day’s participants – water, buildings, plants

purpose does it serve above? I follow the liquid from

comes into view. Appearing as a greenhouse, this

and residents. Water continues to enter and leave each

the roof’s peak, down its angled sides – where it meets

building also contains the unique flowing water within

building, ultimately consumed by those who quench the

its roof. Rooted within it stand bashful sunflowers,

day’s thirst. As I finish my glass of water, the questions

TH E B L U E H O U S E

A Conceptual Design to Cleanse Polluted Water and Produce Food in Resource-Ravaged Locales Anthony Marshall

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p24

linger. Where can all of this water come from? This dry

increased levels of stress, pushing environmental

the clock, consuming vast amounts of energy to remove

region of the earth is rarely greeted by rain. No wells are

systems to the verge of collapse. The most startling

heavy metals, pathogens and various toxins. These

near to bring water from the underground to the surface.

impact can be felt in our freshwater systems.

systems require tedious maintenance, substantial

Residents avoid the river below as it cumbersomely

According to the Environmental Protection Agency

monetary support and the warm effluent released

cuts back and forth across the landscape, carrying with

(EPA), water quality assessments show 40 percent of

offsets riparian habitat downstream. However, until

it toxins and runoff from polluting sources upstream.

streams and 45 percent of lakes do not pass quality

preventive measures supercede reactionary ones, our

Only water found miles away is potable. But piecing the

standards (U.S. EPA 2000). In China, nearly 70 percent

reversal attempts shall continue.

surroundings together, the realization sets in. This toxic

of all freshwater resources are polluted, as a result

river provides the very water used to grow the tomatoes

300 million rural Chinese residents lack access to clean

supply of potable water, we need dynamic, inexpensive

that rest in the bucket below.

water (Plafker 2005).

and localized systems that can be used in widespread

Polluted rivers, lakes and streams are growing so

Heavily reliant upon freshwater for ecosystem

To adequately address our global water crisis and

parts of the world. Furthermore, we need to expose

common in discovery that our minds grow numb to such

health and human consumption, we must search for

the treatment process to communities, reconnecting

shocking news. As nations around the globe undergo

new methods to reverse these trends. Conventional

ourselves to the influences we make downstream. The

rapid development and strive to maintain heightened

methods focus less on prevention and are far too

question of how remains.

levels of prosperity, our natural resources endure

reactionary. Wastewater treatment plants work around

One alternative grew to conceptual fruition during an urban agriculture studio at the University

| innovative design

of Colorado Denver. According to graduate-level landscape architecture instructors Austin Allen and John Lanterman, the studio focuses on design issues that appear impossible, forcing students to expand their approach beyond common methods and push conventional norms. Attempting to produce localized food systems within the context of an arid climate and limited water supply played into this framework.

With an elevation of 5,732 feet and nestled in the eastern foothills of the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, the village of Eldorado Springs brings forth multiple challenges as our given site. Here, long stretching plains from the east collide with dynamic montane conditions of the west, bringing drastic differences of topography, climate and ecology. Here, South Boulder Creek emerges from its mountainous headwaters and meanders eastward through Eldorado Canyon State Park, divides the adjacent town, slices expansive brittle prairie and merges with its main stem on the eastern side of Boulder. It is here where clear skies make way

channeled to serve places slightly off its natural course,

of these rivers and streams have been termed “over

for the sun to scorch this eastern slope over 300 days

and most importantly it is owned. Colorado water

appropriated,” or unable to satisfy a senior right most

a year, prompting water to defy gravity and evaporate

law implies the Prior Appropriation Doctrine. Most

or all times of the year (Colorado Division of Water

skyward, drying the earth’s surface and leaving the

commonly described as “first in time, first in right,” this

Resources 2010). To obtain a permit now involves the

ground in a constant state of thirst. Intense heat,

policy, following a court decree, grants persons who first

economic obstacle of purchasing rights from those who

drought and unpredictable winter snowfalls that melt

claim beneficial use of a water source seniority over

hold permits – a costly endeavor.

and drain east create a fragile landscape of wavering

any subsequent permit that is awarded. When water

scarcity. Introducing food systems heavily reliant upon

flows decline, those permits that fall junior to older

possible for new housing developments to emerge each

water sources surfaced as an initial challenge.

permits cannot remove any volume until adequate flows

year? How are water needs met for domestic use?

However, climate and adverse weather conditions are only half the story when it comes to water scarcity.

Water is not simply a free-flowing natural element.

It is held back to fill void spaces in the land; it is re-

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If the majority of water is spoken for, how is it

rebound, ensuring the senior water right is satisfied. In

In short, some water is taken from underground

other words, the older the permit dates, the better the

sources. This action can still have setbacks as ground

chance of access. Some major Colorado waterways

and surface water are intricately linked. Returning

have water rights dating back to the 1850s, and some

groundwater to its aquifer, typically through soil

p26

CENTER Within a relatively small plot of 15’x20’, plants with a high water demand such as corn (Zea mays), can produce the recommended daily intake of water for 53 persons per year.

fashion. This water can be controlled and quantified. To

all throughout the world inside greenhouses. In the

obtain a consumptive use permit proves difficult, almost

morning, beads of water can be found clinging to the

impossible. Nonconsumptive use permits are far easier

ceiling as the cold night air cools the roof. The ability to

to acquire.

collect this water and return it to its source is crucial to

Herein lies the challenge – to promote agriculture for a community with an unobtainable water right.

Seems impossible.

Perhaps there exists a method to overcome such a

the design’s success.

The source of water in this case is South Boulder Creek, adjacent to a dry prairie landscape. With the process of condensation in mind, ensuring a constant

constraint. Perhaps the ability to release the consumed

temperature throughout daylight hours must be

water back in liquid form could solve this problem. If

maintained to induce condensate formation from

plants are known to release water, then getting this

the flora growing below. Using water to cool a roof

vapor to condense back into liquid form on site, by

structure not only allows for the pumped water to

definition, would be a nonconsumptive use.

become multifunctional but also more reliable given its

What conditions provoke water vapor to condense?

The answer involves temperature. Cold air cannot hold as many water molecules in comparison to warm

ability to hold temperatures more steadily than air.

Water began to flow. Ideas began to flow.

Once dew point temperatures were found, a roof

air. As evaporated water ascends into the upper

temperature of 50 degrees F proved appropriate. When

atmosphere, it encounters a much colder environment.

the water from South Boulder Creek is warmer than

percolation, is likely to be enforced. What differentiates

This is the basic understanding of cloud formation. The

50 degrees F, pumping it underground approximately

domestic use from agricultural use is the notion of

cold air forces the molecules to stick to one another,

four feet below the surface will cool it to the required

phase change. Water that is provided to agriculture

gain mass and fall in the form of rain or snow. Down

temperature. To make certain, pipe layout needs to be in

is considered a “consumptive use,” as water will be

on the ground we can see this with a cold beverage on

a horizontally coiled manner, allowing adequate contact

consumed by plants as a liquid and released as a vapor

a hot summer day. Invisible water molecules cool and

time with the cooled subsurface environment. From

when they “breathe” – a term known as transpiration.

condense on the outside of the cold glass, loosening our

here the water can be forced to a roof, flow parallel

Adding the water released by plants to the water

grip and keeping the drink coaster economy alive.

across its apex and release by means of a perforated

evaporating from the soil is collectively known as

In order to sidestep water policy and promote

pipeline. Capping the opposite end provides only one

evapotranspiration. This water must complete the

irrigation of crops as nonconsumptive, the designed

way out – through the sides – similar to simple drip

hydrologic cycle before being available again for use.

system will need to essentially bring the cold

irrigation systems used on ground.

Domestic use – such as bathing, brushing one’s teeth,

sky down to the ground. Immediately following

Once released, the water will move down through a

washing dishes – is considered a “nonconsumptive use”

evapotranspiration, a cooled structure overhead must

60 degree peaked roof between two panes of thickened

as water enters in liquid form and leaves in the same

be in place to promote condensation. This occurs

glass. With constant flow, the roof will cool to 50

| innovative design

degrees F. As the water reaches the juncture of ceiling

consume carbon dioxide and release oxygen. When

specific role to purify water. Envision water pumped

and sidewall, small gutters will direct the water into

plants clean soil and water, we learn the process of

from a toxic river, making its way underground to cool,

a single pipe. This will take place on both sides of the

phytoremediation. The ability of a living system such

entering a bluehouse with planted phytoremediators,

greenhouse-like structure.

as this to cleanse water in diverse landscapes provides

such as sunflowers. As contaminants are either

a unique opportunity. South Boulder Creek is much

degraded or removed, pure water releases from the

water down to where crops are planted or allow the

cleaner than many waterways found globally, therefore

sunflower’s stomatic cells and condenses on the ceiling.

water to exit if saturation needs are met. After soil has

applying alternate methods to combat contaminated

From here the water is not returned to the river, but

reached appropriate saturation levels for the growing

water sources is necessary to meet water and food

redirected to a secondary bluehouse where edible

crop, a simple valve will redirect the excess water back

demands elsewhere.

crops are being grown. Depending on the magnitude of

From here, the option arises to either direct the

toward the creek. This can be accomplished by means

For instance, bringing a polluted water source into a

toxicity, severity of hazards and the diversity of toxins

of overland flow to create a riparian zone or through

greenhouse for crop application would suggest the ripe

present in the water source, multiple bluehouses can be

a conduit to ensure all remaining water returns to the

red tomato in hand potentially contains the very toxins

linked, each with specific plant species that can treat

source as liquid.

we should avoid.

each contaminant. The last bluehouse receiving the

Now the plants do their part.

Herein lies the second daunting challenge.

Removing water from the soil, the plants pull out

To overcome this hurdle, a deeper understanding

filtered water will be constructed for food production.

Again, the notion of site specificity must be

nutrients as the water flows up their stems, opening

of phytoremediation unlocks potential. plants such as

stressed. A water test will provide the dangers hidden

stomata in their leaves to release water as vapor. The

Western Wheatgrass (Agropyron smithii) have been

within the water source. Turbidity, or the amount

vapor rises until contacting the ceiling where it cools,

found to degrade hydrocarbons. White Lupin (Lupinus

of suspended solids, will drive decisions to make

condenses, gains mass and slides down the inside pane

albus) is known to remove arsenic and store the toxin

use of sand filters. These large columns of sand,

down to the wall. The same gutter installation can direct

within its root structure. Indian Mustard (Brassica

capable of filtering sediments, will remove soil-bound

this water back to the creek.

juncea), Sunflower (Helianthus annuus), Hairy Golden

contaminants and ensure optimal transparency for

Rod (Solidago hispida) and Violets (Viola spp.) are

solar penetration through the roof panes. No matter

capable of extracting, storing and/or degrading metals

the constraints, designing with what ultimately

such as copper, nickel and zinc (Puget Sound Action

become simple gestures of physics and botany can

Team 2010).

counteract the accumulation of toxins entering and

The system meets the goal of nonconsumptive use since liquid water enters and liquid water returns.

But is there opportunity to further the system’s benefits? If the water source is not of irrigation quality, can plants be chosen to adjust for various conditions?

The list of species capable of cleansing our soil and

exiting a bluehouse.

Yes.

water is continually growing and these observations

What about evapotranspiration rates? How much

As our understanding of natural systems becomes

allow for site-specific treatment. In regard to design,

“breathing” does each plant endure each growing season?

explored to greater lengths, we can begin to observe

imagine a linked treatment system of multiple fluid

plants as living filters. From grade school we learn they

structures, (or bluehouses as coined for the MLA

Meteorological Network (COAGMET) “More than 99.9

studio’s final jury presentation) each engaging in a

percent of the water used by an irrigated crop or turf

According to the Colorado Agricultural

is drawn through the roots and transpires through the

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p28

BELOW Sited within a dry upland prairie ecosystem adjacent to South Boulder Creek, this conceptualized bluehouse intends to achieve the goals of water purification, food production, social interaction and riparian creation.

leaves. Only a small amount (0.1 percent) of the water

lines and common rain barrels can be used to collect

conventional methods by turning attention toward our

taken up by plants is actually used to produce plant

flowing water, irrigate crops and store the collected

natural surroundings.

tissue� (Puget Sound Action Team 2010).

condensate respectively. Polymethyl methacrylate

To investigate suggested output percentages one

Reading the ladscape that we rely upon provides

(Plexiglass ÂŽ) of various thickness will be pieced

clues into ecosystem health and opportunities to

bluehouse could produce, a hypothetical space of 15 by 20

together to construct the hollow roof and the sidewalls

imitate for human experience. Exposing this knowledge

feet is used. Calculating this space of 300 sq.ft., planted

of the building. Soil media will vary depending on

brings others to live more consciously, connecting

with 200 stalks of Corn (Zea mays) and a water demand

conditions on site. Therefore, soil testing should be

the dots between human needs and environmental

of 22 inches per growing season, 9,750 gallons of water

conducted to address porosity and overall media health

consequence. Implementing systems like the one

will be applied and subsequently released. This equates

prior to construction.

described can cleanse water derived from polluted

to 53 servings of 64 ounces of drinkable water per day,

This system is contingent on understanding local

water sources, educate and unite communities through

per year from a space the size of an average living room.

conditions. Thorough analysis is a must. However, the

a visual, hands-on, transparent process and ultimately

Copious amounts of water flow into the system and

process of water treatment and food production share

provide safe drinking water and food resources

the same amount flows out. When the growing season

a simplistic approach. We are capable of expanding our

simultaneously on site.

terminates, the stalks dry and almost all water will be expelled. (See supplemental chart on pages 26-27).

Whether the plant species in use are slow or heavy breathers, it is known that almost all of the water consumed is lost through cellular respiration. Valves that either water the soil media or release excess back to the source offer control over input and output.

Collection of condensate might be a longer process for those plants transpiring at slower rates, but still this water can be collected and sent to the next system for further treatment and use over time.

In terms of construction materials, the idea remains to simplify. Common four-inch diameter pipes can be used to move water from a river to the bluehouse.

Solar-powered pumps can efficiently provide energy for removing water from the river and to force water up to the roof peak. Small gutters, standard drip irrigation

p29

| innovative design

BELOW Graphic novel illustration by 2010 MLA graduate Kourtnie Harris. Part of a group entry with Stephan Hall and Amanda Jeter for the Van Alen Institute’s Manhatta 2409 Competition. The project “ELEMENTAL EXCHANGE’ proposes a future urban identity of intensified bonds between cultural + natural elements through adaptive design. The quotes are from Walt Whitman’s “Leaves of Grass.” For more information on this project please visit www.root-land.org.

With these thoughts in mind and a hefty bucket of produce, the day’s questions become less intimidating

NOTES All drawings and charts are by the author.

to answer. Exiting the bluehouse, it is time to return home. Looking skyward once more, sunlight penetrates the flowing water and casts the day’s final shadows from

Colorado Division of Water Resources, Office of the State Engineer.

History of Water Rights in Colorado. Denver, CO. Web. May 2010. http://

sway against one another. I shake hands with friends

water.state.co.us/org/history.asp (accessed April 1, 2010).

McCutcheon. 2003. “LID Technical Guidance Manual for Puget Sound:

today’s findings and prepare fresh summer meals. The

Sampling of Plant Species Studied for Phytoremediation.” Web. May 2010

sun fades beyond the horizon and the cool night air sinks

http://superorg.net/archive/proposal/plant%20species%20phyto.pdf

into the landscape. The once limited access to water

(accessed April 1, 2010).

and food becomes a thought of the past.

ROOT v2 |

on Water.” The New York Times Web. May 2010. http://www.nytimes.

REFERENCES

above, making the motionless plants below appear to outside as we begin to part ways, anxious to slice into

Plafker, Ted. 16 Dec. 2005. “China, Parched and Polluted, Puts a Price

com/2005/12/16/business/worldbusiness/16iht-rdevchin.html (accessed April 1, 2010).

U. S. Environmental Protection Agency. Aug. 2002. Water Quality Conditions in the United States: A Profile from the 2000 National Water Quality Inventory” Web. May 2010. http://epa.gov/305b/2000report/ factsheet.pdf (accessed April 1, 2010).

Paul Lander, LEED AP, is an Instructor in the Department of Geography at the University of Colorado at Boulder and Principal of the Dakota Ridge Partnership, specializing in urban ecology, specifically urban water systems. He has been active in conservation for 28 years, with program experience in energy, land and water conservation with the City of Boulder, City of Longmont, South Suburban Parks and Recreation District- Littleton, County of Boulder, Trust for Public Land-Seattle, State of Washington Scenic Rivers Program and Minnesota Energy Agency.

Dr. Lander was the first Executive Director of the Colorado WaterWise Council, and for 16 years directed the award-winning water conservation program for the city of Boulder. He is a member of the AWWA WaterWiser editorial committee, the advisory board of Oregon’s Lane Community College Water Conservation Technician Program and the water conservation committee of the American Society of Landscape Architects. He received a Ph.D. in Geography from the University of Colorado at Boulder, M.L.A. in Landscape Architecture & Planning from the University of Washington and B.A. in Environmental Conservation from the University of Colorado at Boulder. Photo courtesy Paul Lander.

This text has been excerpted from the University of Colorado, College of Architecture and Planning’s Weekly News on November 6, 2009 announcing his lecture “Rainfall and Landscape: A Contested Commons” The lecture was conducted on Monday, November 9, before which I sat down with Lander to discuss his philosophy on landscape architecture as it relates to water conservation. - D.Goodwin

“[D]esign should be understood as a way to approach problems,” said the energetic and passionate Paul Lander,

beyond the oft-quoted excuse that larger environmental

the ability to think abstractly, to represent possibilities

and regional issues are simply “not my problem.”

creatively and to consider the visual and ecological

Instead, he argued, “design provides a unique set of

impacts of critical decisions. It is true that landscape

tools for addressing these issues that can’t be solved

architects are, in many ways, artists and dreamers. But

by engineers alone.” It provides the groundwork for

we are also equipped with a palette of practical skills.

successful policies and education. It stimulates the

Our guidance could be infinitely valuable in responsibly

public’s imagination as they go about creating the future

shaping the physical, environmental and aesthetic

of their physical and social environments.

qualities of our communities.

With this in mind, Lander offered three broad-scale

Lander uses Australia as a case in point, where the

recommendations on how landscape architects can

existing water supply is far too low to support future

change the way they think and practice:

growth. Perth, for example, has a current population of 1.7 million that is growing by 3 percent annually; however,

a Colorado landscape architect, geographer and political

1. Our visual and graphic skills can help communities

the amount of water flowing into storage has dropped

advocate for sustainable water practices.

dream up new directions to take, new avenues to

by 65 percent in the last ten years. Moreover, according

pursue, which is an endeavor too often left to more

to Land & Water Australia – a statutory research

every minute spent with me, he insisted that landscape

policy-minded planners. Even beyond G.I.S., SketchUp

and development corporation within the Australian

architects have to move beyond project-based thinking,

and two- and three-dimensional renderings, we have

Packing what seemed to be at least 100 words into

BR OA D E N I N G T H E DEFINITION OF DES IGN An Interview with Water Expert Paul Lander Deryn Goodwin

p31

| voices from the field

Government – systemic changes in groundwater tables

water does not fall on that site – or when evaporation,

He went on to suggest, however, that ecological

have left terrestrial ecosystems at great risk.

transpiration and other natural processes are not

restoration projects are only beautiful and educational

accounted for – more water is delivered downstream

to those who understand the processes already. He

understand these linkages between water allocation,

than normal ecological systems could allow. As a

argued that we also need interactive and engaging

surface and groundwater, and water-dependent

result, not only does water get apportioned unevenly

designs that go further in connecting visitors to their

ecosystems. However, in such dire circumstances,

across a particular geography, but side effects

environments – and to water - and he has seen very

planners and designers must create alternative futures

like flooding, erosion, sedimentation and habitat

limited progress in that direction. While strategies

for their communities. Among other possible solutions,

destruction complicate the problem. However,

like carefully zoning water use for large urban parks

Lander indicated that Australia is taking a serious look

collaboration among a handful of neighboring

according to specific-use patterns can substantially

at additional desalinization plants. There is one in

landowners – and design approaches that embrace

reduce water consumption, Lander would like to see

Perth that supplies 20 percent of its daily water. Are

stormwater originating beyond the boundaries of

more design-based solutions that arouse visitors’

there other approaches to sustainable water use that

a given site – could prompt incremental changes in

curiosity. One of the underlying questions seemed

can be coupled with the development of alternative

regulations. Lander referenced an online community

to be: How can landscape architects move beyond

water sources? How can we as landscape architects

of water conservationists that highlights some of

interpretive signage as means for educating visitors

design other solutions to water shortages in our own

the most successful efforts of this kind. See http://

on water issues? “Design offers the groundwork for

communities?

coyotegulch.wordpress.com/ for more information.

policy and education,” Lander maintained, but he was

Additional research is being conducted to better

mum on how specifically we as designers might go 2. If we look beyond our habitual client-focused,

3. If we were to seek out design projects for large-

about achieving that end result. I suppose in some

site-based approaches, we can discover more

scale, high-profile civic spaces, we could effectively

ways he was taunting our creative sides to come up

collaborative, sustainable and cost-effective

educate a broader audience than the one client

with the answers.

solutions to shared problems. Lander cited ways in

group landscape architects typically address at a

which neighboring landowners can collectively adopt

time. In a similar fashion, Elizabeth Meyer, a respected

serious need for education and advocacy on water

more cost-effective and sustainable approaches to

theorist and landscape architecture professor at the

issues, specifically in the arid west. In fact, leading

stormwater management. Typically, a developer is

University of Virginia, proposes a landscape aesthetic

ASLA’s Professional Practice Network (PPN) on Water

required to account for 100 percent of the rainwater

that educates those who experience a site. Only then,

Conservation, he insisted that landscape architects

that has the potential to fall on a particular site and

she asserts, only once individuals fully understand

should be front and center in water advocacy efforts in

to ensure that no less water reaches its respective

and care about the impact they themselves have on

their communities – and he sees a great need for that

watershed. Such requirements are so shortsighted,

the environment – only then can sustainability truly

here in Colorado. As with any political issue, he noted

however, that in effect, when the predicted amount of

be achieved (Meyer 2008). When asked his opinion on

that keeping regulatory systems up to date with shifting

Meyer’s manifesto, Lander agreed with her assertion.

cultural values and environmental conditions can

Throughout our interview, Lander stressed the

amount to a full-time job. But in his experience as both

ROOT v2 |

“Flows” speculates on the natural alterations of landforms over time by way of geomorphic and hydrologic processes. Through experimentation with a garden hose and a sandbox model the results of dynamic upstream water conditions reveal erosive formations as evidence of the relationship of river behavior with existing geology. The work is suggestive of large-scale site potentials as channels migrate and gradually change the alluvial architecture of a landscape over time. The site explored through this drawing was a recently abandoned gravel mining pit in Longmont CO, adjacent to the Saint Vrain River. Student work by Patsy Shaffer as part of LA Design Studio 1, Fall 2009.

a landscape architect and an advocate for sustainable water policies and practices, he feels strongly that design provides the perfect opportunity to do just that.

To begin, he suggests checking out his newly-formed Water Conservation PPN: www.asla.org/water. There are a number of resources there, including two book recommendations: Hot, Flat and Crowded by Thomas Friedman and Water Follies by Robert Glennon. Most importantly, he says in a letter to the PPN membership, “Whatever you do, please send us your ideas.” Lander can be reached at paul.dakotaridge@gmail.com.

REFERENCES Goodwin, Deryn Ruth. “Interview with Water Expert Paul Lander, Ph.D.” (November 9, 2009).

Land and Water Australia. “Canberra.” http://lwa.gov.au/ (accessed October 14, 2009).

Meyer, Elizabeth. “Sustaining Beauty: The Performance of Appearance: A Manifesto in Three Parts.” Journal of Landscape Architecture (2008): 6-23.

Sullivan, Michael. “Australia Turns to Desalination Amid Water Shortage.” National Public Radio. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story. php?storyId=11134967 (accessed November 8, 2009).

University of Colorado Denver, College of Architecture and Planning.

“Weekly News.” (November 6, 2009).

p33

| voices from the field

Dressed in a high collared, shibori shirt of indigo blue, Anne Whiston Spirn sits in a small conference room of UCD’s Landscape Architecture Department.

The noted writer and scholar has come to address

share all that she has experienced. We soon learn that

career based on her love of art, nature and people. She

she has spent the last few days touring the dryland

has used her time in practice and academia to inform a

farming fields of Kit Carson County and meeting with

lifetime of research, resulting in a celebrated collection

Colorado water managers, as well as the engineering

of articles, books and planning projects. Her first book,

students and faculty about her insightful work, The

firm involved with Denver’s Commons Park, Wright

The Granite Garden: Urban Design and Human Nature

Language of Landscape (Yale University Press 1998)

Water Engineering. Spirn reminds us of the migration

(Basic Books 1984), earned the American Society of

and to discuss her most recent publication, Daring to

of people from Colorado to the Northwest during the

Landscape Architects’ President’s Award. Articles

Look: Dorothea Lange’s Photographs and Reports

Dust Bowl where large-scale federal irrigation projects

such as “Vacant Land: A Resource for Reshaping Urban

from the Field (University of Chicago Press 2008).

promised a future of productive farming.

Neighborhoods” (1991) and “The Poetics of City and

Spirn’s demeanor is reserved, yet eager to engage and

An accomplished author, professor, photographer and landscape architect, Spirn has developed a rich

AN N E W H I STO N S PIRN

Nature” (1988) have further developed a nature-based urban design approach, fusing ecology and landscape with an intimate understanding of people and their communities. Spirn’s clear and poetic writing style

Reflections on the Social Conscience of Landscape Architecture Patsy Shaffer

ROOT v2 |

OPPOSITE TOP House and Grove. Near Ault, Colorado. March 1989. From Spirn’s forthcoming book, The Eye Is a Door: Photography and the Art of Visual Thinking.

BELOW LEFT Daring to Look (University of Chicago Press, 2008) won the 2009 Great Place Book Award from by the Environmental Design Research Association and the 2009 John Brinckerhoff Jackson Book Prize from the Foundation for Landscape Studies. BELOW RIGHT Prior to lecturing at UC-Denver, Spirn spent three days in the field with Ken Wright of Wright Water Engineering and water lawyer Ruth Wright to learn about Colorado water law and practice. Among the experts with whom they met was George Varra, District 3 Water Commissioner, seen here with Spirn in the Cache La Poudre watershed. Photo by Ken Wright.

speaks of landscape aesthetics, social conscience and

Gallery in British Columbia, Canada (2005), Vassar

long-term thinking in a way that promotes landscape

College in Poughkeepsie, NY (2000, 2004) and Harvard

pure storytelling quality of her presentation. Her gift of

architecture as an integrated planning movement.

University’s Museum of Natural History in Cambridge,

capturing the essence about people through their words

Weaved through the many mediums of Spirn’s work,

MA (2006-2007). Her color images primarily focus on

gives us the ability to remember them too, without ever

from writing and research to photography and teaching,

capturing the pairing of natural processes with traces

having met them. Daring to Look also paints a picture

are telling landscapes that are inspired creations of

of human life without utilizing people as subject. Spirn

of the individuals who manage the reservoirs and

both natural and human collaborations.

explains, T h r o u g h

irrigation ditches of today, like Allen Brown, ditch rider

Photography has long been a t o o l

photography, I try to discover

What I haven’t expected from meeting Spirn is the

what is there, hidden and real, to understand

for the Owyhee Irrigation District in eastern Oregon.

for Spirn’s research and visual exploration,

why and how things come about and to imagine

She details for us her conversation with Brown and his

supplementing conceptual drawing and the vivid

what they might become. I want to inspire

family’s resilience, “It takes three generations to make

poetic language of her writings. Through the camera’s

others to see the extraordinary in the everyday,

a go of it...” he said. “I’m standing on two generations’

lens, she discovers new and changing relationships

to pause and look deeply at the surface of

shoulders” (Spirn 2008, 288).

within landscapes and between people and their

things, and also beyond that surface to the

environments. Spirn’s work has been exhibited on

stories landscapes tell

of discoveryi

numerous occasions, including at the Kamloops

(Spirn & White 2003).

Spirn’s most recent publication, Daring to Look,

Later that evening, Spirn addressed a standing room only crowd of students and faculty of UCD’s College of Architecture and Planning. She read for an hour

documents the life-struggle and vigilance of Dust Bowl

from The Language of Landscape, a text now included

refugees in the rural landscapes of Oregon, Washington

as required reading in many graduate landscape

and California, as well as North Carolina. She

architecture programs:

retraces the steps of photographer Dorothea Lange’s

Landscape is loud with dialogues, with story

prolific 1939 documentation of the Farm Security

lines that connect a place and its dwellers.

Administration’s programs as part of the New Deal. The

The shape and structure of a tree record an

book is a collection of Lange’s photographs and field notes, accompanied by Spirn’s essays and contemporary photographs of some of the same landscapes. The title is inspired by a comment Lange made later in her career: “No country has ever closely scrutinized itself visually. … I know what we could make of it if people only thought we could dare look at ourselves.” Like Lange, Spirn’s journey through these forlorn landscapes that were the source of hope and heartbreak for a displaced population, is one of discovery and visual thinking through photography.

p35

| voices from the field

evolutionary dialogue between species and environment: eucalypt trees turn their edge to bright sun, deciduous leaves that fall off during seasonal heat or cold.

Each species has a characteristic form from which individuals deviate, as true of human body shape as of trees. A coherence of human vernacular landscapes emerges from dialogues between builders and place, fine-tuned over time. They tell of a congruence between snowfall and roof pitch, between seasonal sun angles and roof overhang, wind direction and hedgerows, cultivation practices and dimensions of fields, family structure and patterns of

always inserting a human role within that context (NPR

heavy construction that have dominated our approach

settlement. Dialogues make up the context of

2008). Her hopeful attitudes about our relationship

to public works, it is possible to work within nature in

individual, group, and place. The context of life

with the environment have been a force for viewing

urban areas to enhance human life” (Bender 1984). While

is a woven fabric of dialogues, enduring and

humanity and nature as inseparable.

this approach is common practice today, many cities are

ephemeral.

Her voice, firm, her writing, a how-to narrative

the workings of nature in the city and shed light on

still bandaging the infrastructure design problems of the 19th century.

disguised in rhythmic verse. With each line and projected

how this information may be used to create a more

photograph, Spirn describes to the audience an

holistic, integrated approach to city building. Prior to

interpretation of the landscape that begins with the roots

this research, little had been done to analyze the vast

of a tree and bridges a connection to the West Philadelphia

amounts of information relating urban infrastructure

forests of northwestern Connecticut, eastern

Landscape Project that became her touchstone, in the

problems to planning practices that ignored the natural

Massachusetts and suburban Cincinnati, Ohio. She

underserved neighborhoods of West Philadelphia’s

forces of local ecology. After the book’s initial release,

credits her father as being a prominent mentor, admiring

Mill Creek. She speaks of a visual literacy of landscape

Richard Bender, then Dean of UC Berkeley’s College

his ability to synthesize material from all of the five

that is as essential to informed design as it is to a child’s

of Environmental Design wrote in a NY Times Book

different disciplines in which he has degrees. Spirn

understanding of the streets where they live.

Review how Spirn “shows us that urban life can be set

describes this influence:

Through Spirn’s work we understand the artful

ROOT v2 |

Spirn’s first book, The Granite Garden, uncovered

Action and Reflection Born in 1947, Spirn grew up among the deciduous

It never occurred to me

in a garden. Spirn demonstrates that the tools and

that you couldn’t cross boundaries. I thought

skill of precise communication about landscape. Spirn

techniques that are available to us now are much more

you could always change your field at any point

points out to us the connotations that are attached

powerful than those that formed the basis of the 19th-

in your life

to certain words and how they assume values that

century’s explosion of public works. By recognizing

well in her career, allowing her to knit an art background

influence attitudes about nature. She chooses to use

that the best of these new tools may be the ‘soft’

with science, research and social service.

the word “landscape” in place of “nature” as a way of

techniques of ecology, rather than the hardware and

(Spirn 2003). This view would serve her

LEFT The Mill Creek Sewer under construction at 47th and Haverford, 1883. Photo courtesy of the Philadelphia Water Department Historical Collection.

After earning an undergraduate degree in art

McHarg’s groundbreaking work utilized natural processes

subsidence and, ultimately, to vacant lands along

history from Harvard while pursuing her own drawing

as a foundation for the design of new communities, Spirn

the line of the sewer on the buried floodplain. The

and photography, Spirn changed her course of study to

asked herself, W h y

city’s poor planning and neglect in addressing this

landscape architecture. As a graduate student at the

principles to the city as well?

can’t we apply these ecological

problem, along with economic disinvestment, led

The Granite Garden became the fruit of the research

University of Pennsylvania, she encountered Department

to an increasingly racially segregated, low-income

Chair Ian McHarg’s book Design with Nature that

formulated to answer this question. At the time,

community. By 1990, the formerly racially integrated

described a field of study bridging art with science and

Spirn was also mindful of her fellow students’ career

neighborhood was primarily African-American,

utilizing ecology as a foundation for the planning of new

paths. She witnessed many of them spending years

and the area became a patchwork of vacant lots.

development. Spirn was hooked.

struggling to establish their own firms by taking

Sulzberger Middle School is on the buried floodplain

commissions for design they did not want to be

and, by 1990, was surrounded by vacant lots.

The social justice movement of the 1970s was a force that shaped Spirn’s views of the environment:

doing, like designing parking lots and bollards.

Prior to the environmental justice movement,

Spirn opted to follow in McHarg’s footsteps instead. By

clouds and oppressive humidity remain as the sound

environment was something for everyone…it was

writing The Granite Garden with the general public as

of rushing water resonates from the sewers. The noise

a h e a l t h a n d s a f e t y i s s u e , she explained.

the audience, she was able to communicate her design

might be louder if some of that water wasn’t being

and Philadelphia suffered from similar infrastructure

ideas to potential clients. While the opportunities

detained by one of Philadelphia’s newest stormwater

issues; combined sewer and stormwater systems

for work flooded in, a path of a c t i o n

strategies, the watershed garden. These earth

produced hazardous and polluted living environments

awaited. Spirn opted to pursue a career of research and

depressions have been dug out at low points within

after severe rain events. Nineteenth century city

teaching at Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania

community gardens and vacant lots. Such strategies

building buried streams and their floodplains below

(Spirn 2010).

support wetland plantings such as sedges, cattails and

Both Boston

and reflection

impervious surfaces, ignoring the natural processes that

Today the rain has ended in Philly but the heavy grey

ferns while reducing the volume of water that reaches

existed in the landscape. Over the course of a century,

The Family of the

the low-lying neighborhoods began to crumble, both

West Philadelphia Landscape Project In 1987, Spirn launched an integrated planning

literally and figuratively. House vacancies rose while the

the storm sewer.

As Chair of the Landscape Architecture Department at the University of Pennsylvania (1986-

unsustainable infrastructure and building foundations

effort of research, teaching and community

2000), Spirn applied her research to the Mill Creek

sank (Bennett 2000, 69). Spirn’s thesis question became:

service in the West Philadelphia Landscape Project

Neighborhood, correlating the vacant urban lots

How do you integrate environmental restoration

(WPLP). This project incorporated the University of

of West Philadelphia with buried floodplains. This

with an economically distressed community?

Pennsylvania’s new desire to focus on the greening

research was applied to studios where students were

of West Philadelphia with safety and ecological

able to develop a database of spatial information

five years with McHarg’s firm Wallace, McHarg, Roberts

concerns for the Mill Creek watershed. Since the

about the neighborhood that would later inform

and Todd (WMRT), primarily working on projects that she

late 1800s, the brick-encased Mill Creek sewer would

design alternatives for stormwater management.

describes somewhat dismissively as e c o l o g i c a l l y

overflow into the Schuylkill River during heavy rain

Spirn completed her Masters Degree in 1974 and spent

designed resort communities and new towns.

well-

While

Through these efforts, the project has grown to

events, causing a health and safety dilemma. Homes

become an archetype for the ecological renovation

were built on the buried floodplain, which led to

of spaces on vacant lands as a means of regenerating urban neighborhoods and promoting community

p37

| voices from the field

development. The venture eventually led to new Best

of the West Philadelphia Landscape Project from the

i n o n e ’ s n e i g h b o r h o o d . To f e e l b o t h a t h o m e i n a

Management Practices for stormwater infrastructure

point of view of the people involved in the project,

place and ashamed of it is harmful. It saps self-

on city redevelopment projects. Over the last 23

including herself, Hayward Ford (president of Aspen

esteem and can engender a sense of guilt and

years, the project has expanded exponentially,

Farms Community Garden) and one of her University of

resignation. Without an understanding of how

involving over 500 people, including Sulzberger Middle

Pennsylvania students, John Widrick, whose design for

the neighborhood came to be, many believed that

School teachers, community members, University

Aspen Farms was chosen for construction. She speaks

the poor conditions were the fault of those who

of Pennsylvania students, Aspen Farms Community

of the time dedicated to the project by each individual

lived there, a product of either incompetence

Garden organizers and the City of Philadelphia Water

as experiential memories that were about more than

or lack of care. Once they had the skill to read

Department. The most recent success of the project

building a garden—these memories are about building

the landscape’s history, they began to see

occurred in 2009 when the City of Philadelphia

relationships with the people involved and the success

their home in a more positive light and came to

developed a citywide “green infrastructure” program

of the project as a result of those fruitful interactions.

appreciate the effort and vision that places like

designed to reduce the combined stormwater and

I’m not an armchair theorist…for me, ideas

(Spirn 2005, 413).

While Spirn continues to direct the WPLP, she

come out of the act of observing and engaging,

Environmental Protection Agency, the project is a $1.6

not just through reading or abstract thinking.

speaks of how difficult it was to leave the day-to-day

billion endeavor over the span of 20 years, estimating a

The West Philadelphia Landscape Project

operations of the project after deciding to move to

reduction in stormwater runoff by 80 percent through

w a s m y l a b f o r ‘ T h e L a n g u a g e o f L a n d s c a p e .’

Boston to teach at MIT:

the use of rain gardens, porous pavement, green roofs

I wanted all people to be able to understand

Landscape Project became very personal,

and additional tree plantings (Markham 2010).

t h e i r e n v i r o n m e n t , n o t j u s t d e s i g n e r s (Spirn 2010).

Spirn says. Her father, an economist, incorporated

H a v e y o u s e e n ‘ Yo u J u s t D o n ’ t L e a v e F a m i l y ’ …on my website?

Spirn asks. She is referring to a

six-minute digital film on her site which tells the story

Spirn pursued this goal through the cooperative development of programs with Mill Creek’s Sulzberger Middle School. Curricula included urban watersheds, local history and social studies, math and economics.

By teaching children how to read their own landscapes, Spirn was able to inform parents of local health and safety concerns. The children soon became adept at understanding the hazards of having cracked and sinking foundations and envisioning solutions.

Te n y e a r s a g o , I t h o u g h t t h a t t h e w o r s t effect of landscape illiteracy was to produce environmental injustice in the form of physical hazards to health and safety. There is an even greater injustice than inequitable exposure to harsh conditions: the internalization of shame

ROOT v2 |

Aspen Farms represent

sewer overflows. While still being reviewed by the

The West Philadelphia

mathematics into the curriculum. He helped the students of Sulzberger Middle School write a business

OPPOSITE LEFT The West Philadelphia Landscape Project Web site, which launched in winter 1996, is a forum for research, teaching, and community development and an archive of the WPLP database, reports, teaching materials, student work and news stories. Both images from www.wplp.net. BELOW The redesign and reconstruction of Aspen Farm Community Garden in 1988-89 was a collaboration between the gardeners, students and faculty from the University of Pennsylvania’s Department of Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning,

plan for a miniature golf course to raise income for the

skills

(Spirn 2010).

ephemeral ones, and to imagine how to join the

neighborhood. And her son, Sam, worked as a research

To p l a n p r u d e n t l y i s t o t r a n s f o r m p r o b l e m s

assistant and webmaster for the project site, teaching

into opportunities and liabilities into resources,

design are cultural practices that can serve

a n d t o i n t e r v e n e a t a n a p p r o p r i a t e s c a l e . To

either to perpetuate the inequities of existing

design wisely is to read ongoing dialogues in

social structures or to enable and promote

a place, to distinguish enduring stories from

democratic change

the kids web authoring.

T h e p r o j e c t , Spirn says, w a s

more than just research

(Spirn 2010).

On the Future of Landscape Architecture

conversation. Like literacy, urban planning and

(Spirn 2005, 413).

It is Spirn’s stories about the people she has worked with over the years that provide us with a telling impact of her work. The larger lesson is the underlying ethics of a life spent investigating and reflecting on the value of human design for the enhanced understanding of nature. Spirn offers no predictions for the field of landscape architecture but offers up a compelling view of what the field has the potential to become: The strength of landscape architecture is

NOTES Editor’s note: All quotations by Ann Whiston Spirn are italicized.

REFERENCES Bennett, Paul. “Landscape Organism: The West Philadelphia Landscape Project. “ Landscape Architecture Magazine 90 (2000): 66-71, 82.

Bender, Richard. “Making the Metropolis Green.” The New York Times Book Review. January 22, 1984.

Leach, Susan Lewelyn. “A Look at Landscape Puzzles.” Christian

Spirn, Anne Whiston with Robert Cheetham. The West Philadelphia Digital Database: An Atlas and Guide. Graduate School of Fine Arts, University of Pennsylvania, 1996. http://web.mit.edu/spirn/www/ newfront/book/pdf/phil_digi_data.pdf (accessed April 24, 2010).

Spirn, Anne Whiston. The Language of Landscape. New Haven. Yale University Press, 1998.

Spirn, Anne Whiston. “Restoring Mill Creek: Landscape Literacy,

that we bridge design and planning… We are

Science Monitor , http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0608/p18s02-hfes.

Environmental Justice and City Planning and Design.” Landscape

the profession that acts in the world, in the

html (accesssed June 8, 2006).

Research 30 no. 3 (July 2005), http://web.mit.edu/spirn/www/

landscape, and that also has grounding in both

Markham, Derek, “Philadelphia’s Stormwater System Overhaul.” http://

natural and cultural processes…the world is

bluelivingideas.com/topics/rainfall-precipitation/philadelphia-pledges-

in desperate need of professionals with these

16-billion-storm-water-infrastructure-overhaul/ (accessed May 14, 2010).

NPR Interview with Anne Spirn. “All Things Considered: Daring to Look: Dorothea Lange’s Photographs and Reports from the Field.” June 30, 2008.

newfront/2005/SpirnMillCreek2005.pdf Spirn, Anne Whiston. Daring to Look: Dorothea Lange’s Photographs and Reports from the Field. Chicago. University of Chicago Press, 2008.

Spirn, Anne Whiston. “Anne Whiston Sprin.” www.annewhistonspirn. com (accessed April 2, 2010).

Spirn, Anne Whiston with Laura Muthler White. “Tensions of Change:

Platt, Harold L. “Book Review: The Granite Garden.” Technology and Culture 27. (1986): 332-334.

Shaffer, Patsy and William Rawlings. “Interview with Anne Whiston Sprin.” (April 19, 2010).

Spirn, Anne Whiston. The Granite Garden. New York. Basic Books, 1984.

Spirn, Anne Whiston with Daniel Marcucci. Models of Success:

A Conversation with Anne Whiston Spirn.” www.annewhistonspirn.com (accessed April 12, 2010).

Spirn, Anne Whiston. “Daring To Look: Dorthea Lange’s Phtographs & Reports from the Field.” www.daringtolook.com (accessed April 14, 2010).

West Philadelphia Landscape Project. http://web.mit.edu/4.243j/ www/wplp/index.html (accessed May 20, 2010).

Landscape Improvement and Community Development. A Publication

Zaltzberg, Keith. Profile: The West Philadelphia Landscape Project.

of the West Philadelphia Landscape Plan. Graduate School of Fine Arts,

Green Urbanism and Ecological Infrastructure http://courses.umass.edu/

University of Pennsylvania, 1991.

greenurb/2006/kzaltzberg/index.html (accessed May 6, 2010).

p39

| voices from the field

LEFT An angel with a broken arm and rust-stained cheek adorns the top of Richard Whitsitt’s grave marker. Whitsitt (b. 1830, d. 1881) was a director of the Colorado City Town Company, which founded Denver City on August 12, 1859. Photo by Bryan Ganno March 2010. BELOW Locator map of Riverside Cemetery

There is little sound save for the magpie’s song. It echoes softly as the bird who sings it perches atop a dead stump – a prominent remnant of a once mature Elm that thrived in its place and stretched more than 60 feet overhead.

It is but one of many such blemishes that pepper Riverside Cemetery’s expanse – a sea of ornate tombstones cast out among dead and dying foliage. Riverside Cemetery, a 77acre span located two miles north of Denver’s

RIV E R S I D E C E M E TERY The Death (& Revival) of Historic Place Bryan Ganno ROOT v2 |

downtown and nestled between East Brighton Boulevard and the South Platte River, is an alien space among the otherwise industrial stretch.

Dating back to 1876, it houses over 67,000 former citizens, is Denver’s oldest operating cemetery and in 1994 was designated a National Historic District.

This landmark, once known for its lush park-like design as much as its pioneer inhabitants, has been in a rapid state of decay for many years. Each passing year sees more tree stumps, less ground cover and a continually approaching dusty haze in the distance. But how can this trend of decline end and a culturally significant landscape be returned to former glories without access to the one thing that made it flourish?

In 1981 Riverside Cemetery lost its free water rights, which dated back to 1879. A state employee identified a paperwork discrepancy which revealed legal water rights belonged to local florist and nursery

RIGHT Harvey Lowrie’s plan view of original Riverside design. Image courtesy of US Department of Interior Nationl Park Service. BELOW The Burlington & Colorado Railroad tracks are the first to greet Riverside’s visitors prior to entering the cemetery, while the backdrop is encompassed by three refinery smokestacks. Photo by Bryan Ganno March 2010.

owner Marion Elliott, his cousins and a woman who

further and allow for consumption to be focused on

owned adjacent farm land (Student 2007, 24). Appeals

specific areas, not saturated across all 77 acres. Test

reaching the Colorado Supreme Court were upheld,

plots have been in motion since summer 2008, and

and Riverside then began a yearly contract with Denver

these native grass and wildflower mixes may provide a

Water Company. This lasted until 2003 when Fairmount

glimpse into Riverside’s future.i

Cemetery Company – which purchased Riverside in

However, the test plots’ current conditions are

1900 – stated it could no longer afford the monthly

weak. The grasses are sparse and the weeds are plenty.

dues, which topped $1,500. Shortly thereafter, the

It is not possible to expect native plants to outgrow

water was turned off.

invasive weeds. Compared to native species, weeds

To turn it back on would be costly. In addition,

are heartier, faster growing and spread like brush

Riverside Cemetery’s irrigation system was stolen

fire. To establish prominence across the landscape, a

around 2002, and the cemetery lacks a water hookup

strategic, costly maintenance plan would need to be

need to eventually step in. But there are issues with

(Kass 2009). A 2009 Denver Magazine article titled

implemented. And, native plants, at least in a swath this

this approach as well. Economic times are less than

“The Cemetery is Dying” stated that “a one-time ‘tap

large, would require watering and massive amounts of

booming, and it’s a nearly impossible sell to increase

fee’ to buy into Denver Water for lower-priced, recycled

weed plucking for the first three to five years to have

resident’s taxes for a place many don’t know exists.

water could cost a little over $450,000. Denver Water

a chance at full establishment. There is no doubt a

Also, Riverside straddles two counties – Denver and

then estimates it would take 20 million gallons to water

naturalistic prairie setting is in Riverside’s future, but

Adams. Neither seems to be jumping at the opportunity

77 acres of less-thirsty native plants [an option to

creating it is a lot more difficult and expensive than

to take over. The red tape involved in procuring a weed

redesign the existing landscape]. The yearly bill would

people may realize – even with donated seed. Other

whacker is typically thicker than a brick wall when

almost reach $18,000...” Riverside’s water needs are

options do exist.

dealing with multiple city jurisdictions.

In addition to a myriad of plantings, the city may

similar to a moderately sized subdivision or a nine-hole, par-three golf course.

To counteract the fact there is no money to pay for water coupled with an average annual rainfall of about 15.4 inches, which could barely fill a Kool-Aid jug, it seems a multitude of creative responses working in concert would provide the greatest potential to succeed. Fairmount Cemetery Company has begun work on an answer. Native plantings – low on water use and evolved to the high-altitude grasslands ecosystem of the eastern slope – will extend water capacities

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| place over time

LEFT Denver’s downtown skyline, which is 2 miles south of Riverside Cemetery, can be seen in the background - past the tombstones, weeds and trees. BELOW Remnant tree stumps are abundant throughout the cemetery. Photos by Bryan Ganno June 2010.

only the interred individuals but also the ecologies

Downtown has reconfigured the blighted space it

present. Riverside needs greater visibility and

had become. Such an undertaking requires time, and

introducing future leaders to it has merit. Could this

Riverside is somewhat of an afterthought in the grand

garner money in some fashion? Potentially.

scheme. Potential outcomes listed in the plan are

The green burial movement is another option, which places emphasis on maintaining a natural

a] history museum.” Interestingly, the Denver Botanic

environment. It seeks to curb costs and maximize

Gardens themselves were once a cemetery.

space and profits by utilizing eco-friendly burials,

Riverside Cemetery, plotted by landscape designer

void of embalming and metal or hardwood caskets.

and civil engineer Harvey Lowrie, was not always that

They are also devoid of elaborate tombstones, the

way. Yes, prior to its inception, Riverside was likely

notion of which seems adverse to the cemetery’s

a sprawling golden prairie, devoid of bluegrass and

something akin to a museum, which would garner state

original principles. But they require little money and

towering trees. It was, however, shaped into a grassy

funds. This has been done in the past – Civil War battle

no additional upkeep. This would once again give

expanse with shaded comfort among meandering

sites are among them.

people the choice to be buried at Riverside and could

carriage routes. Riverside’s founders, among them Dr.

potentially boost the endowment enough to turn

John H. Morrison, realized the cemetery had potential

could potentially have value as well. Hugh Graham,

the water back on in a minimized capacity (McGhee

beyond traditional interment; they saw value in the living

president of the non-profit Friends of Historic Riverside

2008). There are currently 14 cemeteries in the U.S.

as an active participant of the place.ii After all, history

Cemetery, discussed a natural history and educational

utilizing this burial approach, according to the Centre

stretches vast distances on a single breath. To invite

component the cemetery could utilize as well as

for Natural Burials. Prairie Wilderness Cemetery,

leisure into a space typically devoted to grief and

the potential to establish a working precedence for

a burgeoning green burial ground in Denver (which

remembrance can only breed understanding and

similarly plagued landscapes. He said, “Riverside has

is still seeking space) would be the first Colorado

the opportunity to serve as a touchstone or sounding

cemetery to embrace the practices. Their

board for these types of landscapes.” History is rich at

mission seeks “to establish a low cost, low impact

Riverside and its proximity could also be advantageous.

cemetery with natural landscaping and restore a

A boardwalk meandering from a re-envisioned Riverside

prairie wilderness ecosystem” (Prairie Wilderness

as a native prairie down through a riparian ecosystem

Cemeteries).

It is not out of the question to turn Riverside into

Tying Riverside into the South Platte River trail

and meeting the South Platte River and corresponding

ROOT v2 |

“desirable recreation facilities, [a] botanic garden, [or

Currently, a massive project along the South

trail system is ripe with ecological intricacies that could

Platte River is underway. It is called the River

be exposed to the passersby. Placards detailing the

North Greenway Master Plan, which stretches

wildlife and habitat have educational value. At the least,

from Prospect neighborhood adjacent Coors Field

elementary through high school classes could make

to Riverside’s northern edge. The plan calls to

Riverside a field trip destination to learn about not

resuscitate the area in much the same way Lower

RIGHT As the Burlington and Colorado Railroad extends along Riverside’s eastern boundary, the horizon to the north morphs into a second set of refineries. Photo by Bryan Ganno March 2010.

knowledge. Those who live on will inevitably read

barley fields of the mid-1800s, the Riverside Cemetery

borders, 450 graves with flowers planted around them,

about those who came before, and this intersecting

Association covered the grounds in bluegrass and

and 142 iron, terra-cotta, or rustic wood vases containing

relationship has provided Riverside with a cultural

white lawn clover (U.S. Environmental Protection

flowers”), mostly water hogs, were also fed by a 540 foot

importance throughout history and into modern times.

Agency). Two on-site nurseries grew about 3,500 trees,

artesian well that supplied 418,000 gallons of water

Fathers, mothers, sons and daughters shaped this city

a multitude of shrubs, vibrant flowers and climbing

every 24 hours (Student 2006, 25-26). That’s roughly

and state; aren’t they worth knowing about?

vegetation to be transplanted to the grounds or sold to

two-thirds of the water volume in an Olympic-sized

patrons (Student 2006, 25). According to a March 29,

swimming pool. However, this water reliance at the time

experience. Few frequent the place. Immediate views

1879 Rocky Mountain News article, a 16,000 gallon tank

was not a concern. The cemetery was sited specifically

display sandstone and granite molded into crosses,

was emptied twice a day during summer to irrigate the

with regard for its proximity – less than 300 feet – to the

anchors, harps, scrolls and angels, which are awash

outdoor grounds. The plants, grounds and greenhouses

South Platte River. To fulfill watering needs, Riverside

with names such as Evans, Elbert, Morrison, Drake and

(including “70 flower beds, about 500 feet of flower

Cemetery Association sunk wells into the river bottom

These days though, Riverside is a solitary

Zang. The first two have 14,000 foot Colorado peaks iii

named after them. Pioneers, politicians, war heroes as well as an untold number of unknown masses are all subterranean residents.iv There are over 67,000 stories at Riverside Cemetery. Few landscapes can reach those bounds. The names depict a story, and the tombstones suggest a love left behind. One such tombstone – that of Marion G. White, who was born in 1857 and died in 1907 – summarizes simply what so many feel after a loved one has passed. “Love is a short word that says so very much.”

City Councilwoman Judy Montero, who presides over District 9 (encompassing Denver County’s portion of Riverside), believes in the cemetery’s significance.

When asked about the importance of saving the cemetery, she said, “The art alone is one huge reason to preserve this lovely, historic area. However, the primary reason is to respect the families who have loved ones laid to rest there.”

To achieve its distinct appearance adjacent a riparian zone and among the winter wheat, corn and

p43

| place over time

additional funding, the water can never be turned back on and the above ground residents, anchored to shriveling roots, will continue to decay at a much faster clip than their subsurface counterparts.

It must be stated though that Fairmount Cemetery Company is a business. According to a 2009 Denver Magazine article, “[Kelly] Briggs [president of Fairmount Cemetery Company] expects Riverside to lose more than $100,000 this year with the Fairmount company making up the difference” (Kass 2009). This difference is primarily made up through burials at Fairmount Cemetery, which currently range from $5,733.68 for “simplicity” single burial packages to $11,803.84 for “prestige” single plots (Fairmount Cemetery). An unfortunate fact of business is that profitable ventures endure while those that lose do not. and conveyed the grounds’ lifeblood through 2,000 feet

crowded in around it during the first half of the 1900s and

of pipe utilizing steam-powered pumps.

by the 1950s was commonly used as storage for bodies

Fairmount Cemetery is maintained in this vein. Its

Even with access to water over the subsequent 100

awaiting autopsy (Student 2007, 26). Industry blanketed

website describes the surroundings as such. It states,

years, Riverside was not free of problems. Four years after

Riverside and left a ravaged, grime-slicked remnant in its

“The peaceful, well maintained 280 acres offer families

Riverside’s inception, in 1890, the 280-acre Fairmount

wake, but it was not the only factor to play into Riverside’s

of any religion or walks of life a dignified surrounding in

Cemetery, located at the modern intersection of Alameda

decline. In the 1970s, Elm beetle infestation required

which to honor the lives of loved ones.” Cemeteries deal

Avenue and Quebec Street, opened its doors. Within one

extensive removal of trees at Riverside (Student 2007, 26).

in memory, in life and in death. This fact alone beckons

year, the number of interments declined from 2,169 in 1890

ROOT v2 |

However, cemeteries are emotional landscapes.

v

Today Riverside exists on a $2.1 million endowment.

involvement and response from community members

to 1,259 in 1891 (Student 2007, 26). This decline was partly

This provides for about $62,000 per year, which covers

attributed to the new cemetery and partly attributed to

two caretakers’ annual pay and minimal upkeep. Plots

the difficulty in crossing the Burlington & Colorado railroad

are no longer for sale, although open land still exists.

(FHRC) was founded in response to the dust choked

tracks which spurred the construction of slaughterhouses,

The last burial site was sold in 2005, but people who

weeds and the lifeless trees that had long ago stopped

smelters and other industry (Student 2007, 26-27). These

own plots can still choose Riverside as their final resting

stretching toward the sun. A non-profit, volunteer group

compounded facts seem to have been the impetus for

place. Whereas decline by locale association and natural

of roughly 75 community members and presided over

Riverside’s merger with Fairmount. Riverside became

selection took their toll in years past, today Riverside

by Graham, a local designer, the FHRC is dedicated to

a by-product of the industrial wasteland that feverishly

continues to perish for a different reason. Without

“increasing awareness and promoting preservation of

and politicians alike.

In 2007, the Friends of Historic Riverside Cemetery

OPPOSITE LEFT and RIGHT Colorado native grass and wildflower test plots exist throughout the cemetery. The photos to the right depict a few of the marked test plots. Most, however, are overrun by weeds and are often surrounded by cracked dry earth. Photos by Bryan Ganno June 2010.

Denver’s oldest cemetery.” Organized solely to ensure

Riverside Cemetery may never again own a lush

Riverside’s continued existence, the group is conducting

bluegrass skin, but its landscape will once again thrive.

research to support a long-term vision called Riverside

People will continue to visit and be affected by the

2020 (findings are not yet available). In addition,

place. And they may one day soon stand among golden

common duties include maintenance and prioritizing

grasses and native wildflowers as the magpie’s song

monuments for restoration. But Graham knows the

drifts along the breeze. Landscapes such as Riverside

increasingly difficult battle the cemetery faces, which

should never die. As with memories, they are too

has been exacerbated by the urban environment’s

important to lose.

Of its position in space, Graham says “Riverside

wallflower, Tanseyleaf tansyaster

ricegrass, Saltgrass

Buffalograss, Blue grama NOTES

right-of-way access across the southeast corner of the

Sharp’s Sandy Soil Pasture Mix See adjacent sidebar for specific plants. Donors include:

i

cemetery grounds in December 1881” (Student 2006,

Beauty Beyond Belief, Pawnee Buttes Seed, Arkansas Valley Seed

25). Sandwiched between East Brighton Blvd. and the

Solutions, Sharp Brothers Seed, Western Native Seed Company, Chem

cemetery and raised ten feet above the former and

Way John Deere Landscapes, and Alpha One, Inc. ii

University of Denver). On April 1, 1876 Morrison sold his sprawling 160-

east. As Riverside was modeled after Massachusetts’

acre ranch to Riverside Cemetery Association, and two months later,

Mount Auburn Cemetery to be experienced as a park,

on June 1, Henry Walton became the redefined space’s first permanent

its new, prominent shoulder – grown five years after its

resident. Morrison has the distinction of being the fifth resident.

Arizona fescue, Sideoats grama, Western wheatgrass, Switchgrass, Little bluestem, Annual ryegrass, Yellow Indiangrass, Blue grama, Big bluestem, Prairie sandreed Riverside Native Wildflower Mix

Morrison aided in establishing Colorado Seminary (now

in but becomes the only view out, at least toward the

bluegrasses and statuesque shade trees.

coneflower, Stiff goldenrod, Hairy clematis, Western

Native Wonder Mix

town.” With regard to the tracks, this literally is the case:

own formation – hardly befits its idyll of sun-washed

Hairy false goldenaster, Bigelow’s tansyaster, Rocky mountain beeplant, Purple prairie clover, Upright prairie

Buffalograss, Blue grama, Green needlegrass, Indian

is on the other side of the tracks in the wrong side of

15 feet above the latter, the broad mound halts views

Planted Summer 2009 Riverside Custom Flower Mix

Experimental Native Grass Mix

crushing grip upon it.

“The Burlington and Colorado Railroad was granted

C o m p l e t e L i s t o f Te s t P l o t s :

Lester Drake was a founder of Black Hawk, CO, and his

iii

Shell leaf penstemon, Blue flax, Prairie coneflower, Leadplant, Chainpod, Prairie larkspur, Silky golden aster, Tansy aster, Stemless evening primrose, Dotted gayfeather, Wand beardtongue, White prairie clover, Purple prairie clover, Black footed daisy, Green thread leaf Custom Colorado Native Grass Mix

grave marker is one of the most distinct at Riverside. A miniaturized,

Blue grama, Sideoats grama, Little bluestem, Sanddrop seed,

five-foot tall sandstone replica, it is supposedly an exact match to his

Buffalograss, Green needlegrass, Indian ricegrass, Sheep

in addition to the train tracks, gazes are greeted by

Black Hawk cabin – complete with a shovel and pick axe, which rest at an

fescue, Wild ryegrass, Slender wheatgrass, Perennial rye,

smokestacks and decrepit chain link fences twisting

angle against the building’s front edge. Philip Zang, one of the largest

over on themselves. With the exception of the South

stockholders of Vindicator Gold Mining Company in Cripple Creek, CO,

Platte River and its floodplain, industry engulfs

was a brewer by trade. He owned Philip Zang & Company (formerly John

Riverside, itself a precursor to any of the current

Good’s Rocky Mountain Brewery – Denver’s first established brewery),

incorporated surroundings. In an ironic sense, the very

and the grounds are still accessible today. However, they now house

thing that has maligned Riverside over the years has

Elitch’s Six Flags and the Denver Children’s Museum.

Extending outward from the cemetery’s interior,

Western wheatgrass W e s t e r n Tr a i l s N a t i v e G r a s s S e e d M i x Blue grama, Little bluestem, Indian ricegrass, Sideoats grama, Galleta, Alkali sacaton, Western wheatgrass, Sand dropseed, Buffalograss, Sheep fescue, Green needlegrass, Perennial rye grass

been the thing that gave rise to it – its location.

p45

| place over time

A dying tree stands branchless as a train rolls by. Photo by Bryan Ganno June 2010.

Nearly 25 percent of those buried at Riverside were

iv

considered “welfare cases” because they were too poor to afford traditional burials. Riverside accepted these individuals over the years but did not catalog them or provide descriptive headstones. See Annette Student, Denver’s Riverside Cemetery: Where History Lies (San Diego: CSN Books, 2006), 27.

Annette Student, Denver’s Riverside Cemetery: Where

v

History Lies (San Diego: CSN Books, 2006), 30-32. (quoting an article by Olga Curtis, which was published in Denver Post Empire Magazine on November 22, 1970).

Hutchinson, Julie. “Seeking a Lifeline for Historic Cemetery.” Rocky Mountain News, February 7, 2009, Local News section.

Kass, Jeff. “The Cemetery is Dying.” Denver Magazine, September 24, 2009.

McGhee, Tom. “Some Cemeteries Dig Green Burials.” The Denver Post, August 26, 2008, Denver and the West section.

Prairie Wilderness Cemeteries. http://www. prairiewildernesscemetery.org/. (accessed May 11, 2010).

Smiley, Jerome. History of Denver. Denver: Old Americana Publishing Company, 1901 (reprinted 1971).

Student, Annette. Denver’s Riverside Cemetery: Where History Lies.

San Diego: CSN Books, 2006.

REFERENCES City and County of Denver. “The River North Greenway Master Plan.”

City and County of Denver. http://www.denvergov.org/Portals/626/ documents/RINO.pdf (accessed April 30, 2010).

Fairmount Mortuary & Cemetery. “Fairmount Cemetery.” Fairmount Cemetery. http://www.fairmount-cemetery.com/index2.html (accessed April 16, 2010).

Friends of Historic Riverside Cemetery. “Supporting Awareness and Preservation of Denver’s Oldest Cemetery.” http:// friendsofriversidecemetery.org/ (accessed March 25, 2010).

ROOT v2 |

The Centre for Natural Burial. “Natural Burial in the U.S.A.” The Centre for Natural Burial. http://www.naturalburial.coop/. (accessed May 11, 2010).

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. “The South Platte River in Colorado.” EPA 908-F-98-002 (1999): 7.

BELOW Pioneer plant aesthetic captured by fine art photographer Joel Sternfeld 2000.

From the 1930s until the last train delivered three carloads of frozen turkeys in 1980, Manhattan’s High Line transported rail freight to warehouses and factories 30 feet above the city’s busy industrial district.

Soon after the abandonment, wild seeds began to take root in the elevated rail ballast. The story of the High Line’s 2009 rebirth as one of Manhattan’s most significant urban landscapes since Central Park originates with that abandoned, self-sown garden.

TH E P O W E R O F P LANT AESTHETICS Self-Sown Gardens, Naturalistic Planting and the High Line Amanda Jeter

p47

| place over time

LEFT Historic High Line. Author unknown 1934.

the 70-year-old structure. In response, community members Joshua David and Robert Hammond formed the non-profit, Friends of the High Line, to preserve the elevated “garden.” Strategically using artist Joel Sternfeld’s color photographs that documented the High Line’s spontaneous landscapes, the organization raised millions of dollars and announced a high-profile design competition. In October 2004, the landscape architecture firm of Field Operations and architecture firm of Diller Scofido + Renfro won the commission to turn the 22-block long structure into an official park that preserved the qualities of the pioneer garden. The first section of the High Line opened in 2009, and the second section, from 20th to 30th streets, is projected to open Despite popular belief that neglected spaces are an

entrance, the riveted black steel columns and girders

in 2011. Famed Dutch garden designer Piet Oudolf

eyesore and limitation on redevelopment, the accidental

are cut to expose a profile of the hybrid infrastructure:

created the planting plan that included mossland,

aesthetic of the wild High Line made financial and

the repainted steel supports a cast-concrete platform

meadow, woodland and wetland communities inspired

regulatory change possible in one of the country’s

topped by grey birch (Betula populifolia) rustling

by the emergent aesthetic of the linear garden.

most competitive cities. The story evolves with the

behind sleek glass fencing. Neutral concrete stairs and

High Line’s reopening in 2009 and the new dynamic

stainless steel railing ascend to tawny weathering steel

costly—The New York Post reported the yearly High

planting aesthetic that helped create one of the city’s

planters. Just months after the park’s 2009 summer

Line operations and maintenance budget to be $671,641

most popular and expensive parks. A pressing question

opening, a visitor could see lush plantings of purple

per acre. In comparison, Bryant Park costs $479,166

engaging the power of both plant aesthetics is how can

aromatic aster (Aster oblongifolius ‘Raydon’s Favorite’)

per acre, and the average New York City park costs

the initial transformation of abandoned infrastructure

and violet fall crocus (Crocus pulchella) beaming

$9,555 per acre to maintain. The High Line expenses

be maintained through space and time?

amongst the powdery grey birch bark and verdant cool

include the operations of Friends of the Highline, which

season grasses.

acts as conservancy charged with maintaining the park.

The southern tip of the High Line rises above the corner of Gansevoort and Washington streets in the

ROOT v2 |

In 1999 (encouraged by local property owners who

The current High Line is celebrated, well-used and

Conservancies have helped maintain urban spaces

Meatpacking District and soars north to 20th Street

claimed easements under the abandoned High Line)

including Central Park and Bryant Park, but according

and Tenth Avenue in Chelsea. At the Gansevoort

the city of New York announced plans to tear down

to Vice-President of Horticulture and Plant Operations,

BELOW The textured concrete walking surface meanders through tall plantings in the Chelsea Thicket (Section 2, 20th to 30th strets). Design by James Corner Field Operations and Diller Scofidio + Renfro. Courtesy of the City of New York. RIGHT Photo on the newly constructed Highline Park. Photo by Amanda Jeter 2009.

Patrick Cullina, Friends of the High Line is unique in that

the rail maneuvered between painted brick warehouses

the conservancy took part in the initial conception and

tagged by graffiti artists.

design of the park. He also adds that Friends of the High

Sternfeld’s photos show that the original High

Line raises all of its own operating income (Cullina 2010).

Line bloom list included five-inch tall colonies of grape

This scale of ongoing fundraising may be plausible in

hyacinth (Muscari racemosum) in the spring, fall clusters

the affluent West Side of Manhattan, but could it be

of purple aster and in winter a small pine tree wrapped in

repeated in the poorer landscapes of New York’s Lower

white Christmas lights. According to ecologist Richard

East Side or Denver’s Riverside Cemetery?

Stalter, the original High Line landscape consisted of over 161 species of plants. Stalter performed an

Invaluable Pioneer Plants During the 1980s and 90s, tenacious perennial and

assessment of the High Line during early planning meetings and states that the “largest plant families

annuals appropriated the High Line corridors to create

represented were Asteraceae, Poaceae and Rosacea,”

a secret, marginal garden appreciated by intrepid urban

or plants in the aster, grass and rose families (Ulam

explorers. Often, Manhattan residents adopted the

2009, 103). Rooting in a planting medium of less than

space for art installations or their own garden project.

a few inches, pioneer plants including little bluestem

Adjacent resident Patty Heffley tossed over water

grass (Schizachyrium scoparium) and purple lovegrass

balloons filled with seeds in an attempt to start a garden

(Eragrostis spectabilis) made a home on the abandoned

on the High Line from her West 20th Street loft (Green

railway with no irrigation (Darke 2007, 168-169).

2009, 3). Photographs from Sternfeld and other artists reveal isolated landscapes hidden from the pedestrians below. Wispy grasses emerge from the rusted rail and ballast. Woodlands of gangly sumac converge where

p49

| place over time

CENTER Gansevoort Slow Stair, corner of Gansevoort Street and Washinton Street, looking North. Photo by Iwan Baan 2009.

In the early 2000s the haunting aesthetic portrayed

New Wave movement that promotes ecologically

in Sternfeld’s photos became an integral part of saving

inspired garden design. In Planting Design: Gardens in

the High Line from demolition. At one fundraising event

Time and Space, Oudolf and co-author Noel Kingsbury

fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg presented a

define naturalistic, ecological plant design as a series of

$10 million challenge grant that was immediately met

principles: 1) use of plants with wild character, 2) nature-

by rising socialite Lisa Marie Falcone. In addition to the

inspired planting patterns, 3) pragmatic synthesis of

massive fundraising efforts, New York City regulation

native and non-native plants, 4) biodiversity, 5) ecologic

had to be changed. From 2002 to 2005, the New York

fit to site and 6) dynamic, perennial plantings. Oudolf

City Planning Department rezoned the industrial area

also looks for plants that have an “elegance in their

around the High Line to be a mixed-use area with special

decay” that adds to the psychological journey through

design guidelines for adjacent development (Ulam

the seasons. Field Operations founder and lead

2009, 100). Titled the West Chelsea/High Line Rezoning

designer James Corner stated that Oudolf composes

Law, the regulation won the 2006 American Planning

plants in a way where “all 12 months are interesting”

Association’s Outstanding Planning Award. All this

(McGrane 2008, 1). This aesthetic is translated into the

originating from a bewitching pioneer plant aesthetic.

High Line maintenance regimes where seed heads and grasses are allowed to decay and persist through the

A Dynamic New Garden Compared to most of Manhattan’s sparse

winter before spring trimming.

Oudolf’s New Wave philosophy and the High Line

streetscapes, the new High Line is an abundant sky

pioneer plant aesthetic join forces in the new garden

garden of over 40,000 grasses and perennials grown

design. Working with Field Operations one year

in an 18” to 36” deep growing medium. In The Sundance

before the competition, Oudolf remembers that “from

Channel’s “High Line Stories,” Piet Oudolf states that

the beginning we believed the planting design should

the design is “a journey section by section” and that he

have the same feeling of the wild garden” (Oudolf

sees his “work as process, how you start something

2010). No plants were salvaged, however, due to the

that performs…a performance in place.” Lauded as

toxic chemical pollution from leaking freight trains

one of the leading authorities in perennial plant design,

and lead paint. The new design became a metaphor

Oudolf is often called “gutsy” for his strong focus on

for the original garden that differed in its intention

structure and form rather than a monotheistic color

and maintenance strategy. Oudolf states that 95

allegiance. He is also associated with the European

percent of the new plants are natives precisely chosen for their ability to grow well together

ROOT v2 |

BELOW Washington Grasslands, aerial view of the High Line over Little West 12th Street. Photo by Iwan Baan 2009. TOP Image showing the rustic reality of the highline before it was turned into a park. Photo by Joel Sternfeld 2000.

throughout their lifespan: American bittersweet

buildings designed by famous architects including

(Celastrus scandens) replaces Oriental bittersweet

Renzo Piano, Frank Gehry, Jean Nouvel, Shigeru Ban

(Celastrus orbiculatus), an invasive. Inspired by the

and Neil Denari - all empowered by a dynamic hybrid of

rail ballast, grey gravel mulch keeps weeds out and

garden and infrastructure.

reduces irrigation needs. Linear cast-concrete planks taper into verdant planting beds to create a transition between urban and green infrastructure and allude back in time to the aesthetic of spontaneous vegetation emerging from the abandoned rails.

Behind this new beauty lingers that costly maintenance regime—$671,641 per acre. Graphics from Field Operation’s winning entry show the maintenance of the plantings decreasing over five years with biodiversity increasing. Thanks to Oudolf’s design, plant maintenance regimes will decrease in intensity over time, but yearly costs that include 17 operations staff will remain. Due to popularity, items like crowd control consultants have become additional expenses. In the summer of 2009, roughly 20,000 people per day visited the park, and staff must limit the visitors to the 1,700 legal capacity set by the park’s unique elevated location.

With estimated operating costs to be $3.5 million to $4.5 million a year by 2011, Friends of the High Line proposed a High Line Improvement District (currently on hold due to community concerns) and concessions to help cover costs (Kovaleski 2009). In contrast to costs, the intense investment in the High Line has yielded profitable development for the community as evidenced by the flurry of new hotel, residential and museum

p51

| place over time

BELOW Image showing the rustic reality of the highline before it was turned into a park. Photo by Joel Sternfeld 2000.

Repetition and Resiliency If the rejuvenation of aging infrastructure and abandoned spaces are to be repeated and maintained over time, what can be learned from the High Line?

Cullina, from Friends of the High Line, underlines the importance of “framing value” to engage interest, much like Sternfeld’s photographs framed a haunting narrative of the threatened High Line garden. Themes of community action, regulatory reform, alternative funding mechanisms and designs that integrate plant process and cultural adaptation emerge as well. In

Bowring, Jacky. “Lament for a Lost Landscape.” Landscape Architecture Magazine 99 (October 2009).

Calder, Rich. “Sky ‘High’ Costs.” New York Post, August 3, 2009, http:// www.nypost.com/ (accessed May 15, 2010).

Darke, Rick. The Encyclopedia of Grasses for Livable Landscapes.

Portland, Oregon: Timber Press, Inc. , 2007.

Green, Penelope (June 25, 2009) “West Side Story Amid the Laundry.”

The New York Times, June 25, 2009, Section D. Friends of the High Line, Editor. “Designing the High Line: Gansevoort Street to 30th Street.” January 2008).

times of government austerity measures and shrinking

The High Line. http:// www.thehighline.org / (accessed April 12, 2010).

budgets, non-profits like Friends of the High Line are

Jeter, Amanda. “Interview with Piet Oudolf.” (May 5, 2010).

becoming more essential to funding the maintenance

Jeter, Amanda. “Interview with Patrick Cullina.” (May 20, 2010).

of public space. While the new plantings are abundantly beautiful with seasonal bloom interest, the original plantings had a powerful appeal as a wild garden thriving in the density of Manhattan. Biotic and abiotic processes like wind and anonymous gardeners tended the abandoned High Line for little or no expense. In less affluent neighborhoods, the growth processes of the wild High Line could inform designs that cost less to maintain while still providing a garden experience.

Communities and designers have much to learn from the resiliency of plants to grow, decay and re-emerge through obstacles of space and time.

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REFERENCES

Kovaleski, Serge F. “With Success of High Line, Dual Rewards for Executive.” The New York Times, August 25, 2009, http://www.nytimes. com/ (accessed May 15, 2010).

McGrane, Sally. “A Landscape in Winter, Dying Heroically.” The New York Times, January 31, 2008, http://www.nytimes.com/ (accessed May 15, 2010).

Oudolf, Piet and Noel Kingsbury. Planting Design: Gardens in Time and Space. Portland, Oregon: Timber Press, 2005.

The Sundance Channel. “High Line Stores: James Corner and Piet Oudolf.” www.sundancechannel.com/digital-shorts (accessed on April 30, 2010).

Ulam, Alex. “Back on Track.” Landscape Architecture 99, (2009): 90-109.

A muddled mess of debris sits in the foreground of a photo from February 2006.

Amidst this pile of cloth, cinder blocks and pieces of a place dissolved are multiple metal structures twisted and broken.

They look to have been fences and gates at one time and show evidence of wrought iron artistry. A

red truck points diagonally toward the ground, its bed

solutions. His work, with the joined efforts of UCD

sticking up like the tail feathers of an ostrich whose

faculty and students, ultimately led to the creation of a

head is buried. Green grass peers out from under the

simple platform.

piles that stretch beyond the truck in disintegrated

The platform project evolved out of multiple

mounds of rubble. Full-sized trees lie across the mid-

semesters of landscape architecture design studios,

ground, their branches reaching barrenly up into the

years of research and extensive community discussion.

gray white sky. Through this screen a red industrial scale

Through this extended process came the realization

barge sits on solid ground, marking the place where a

that reconnecting the neighborhood to the Bayou

levee once held back the water of the Industrial Canal

Bienvenue wetland was a top priority. Identified as a

from the Lower Ninth Ward, a neighborhood district of

prime location for wetland restoration that could help

New Orleans, Louisiana.

manage stormwater for all of New Orleans, the Bayou

The image shows the neighborhood’s devastated

also offered an opportunity for perspective away from

landscape four months after Dr. Austin Allen, Professor

the difficult work of recreating homes amidst the

of Landscape Architecture at University of Colorado

destruction left by Katrina’s wake.

Denver (UCD), arrived to document the situation and

The platform’s success can be measured by the

find ways to direct the resources of the university to

degree to which it has been and continues to be fully

rebuilding the neighborhood. Though one of the first to

accepted and utilized by the neighborhood. Outside of

arrive, many others followed to represent institutions

this embrace, it serves to host prestigious guests who

and universities offering service and ideas. His take was

stand on the wooden planks to experience the unique

unique in that he focused all his immediate attention on

perspective offered while they explore discussion

listening to the community without offering immediate

about wetland restoration and/or how to help rebuild

LISTENING TO THE PEOPLE Reconnecting the Bayou to the Lower Ninth Ward, New Orleans Sera Sibley p53

| place over time

PREVIOUS The original platform structure as seen from the neighborhood of the Lower Ninth Ward. LEFT Railroad tracks at base of platform. BELOW Panoramic view of the Bayou Bienvenue taken from the platform. Photos by Brian Stuhr April 2008.

to the community. The structure is made of wood planks

a perspective that was unavailable to the many not

that stretch out parallel to the wetland expanse that

willing or able to climb the 15 foot wall and wade into

had so far been isolated from view and immediate

the swampy waters. Now the viewpoint is offered

experience. Connected to the structure is a stairway

equally to local residents, students and visitors

that drops down over a 15-foot steel piling wall. This wall

from other areas. As reconnection on a local scale

acts as a levee put in by the Army Corps of Engineers

increases, the national discussion intensifies.

after Hurricane Betsy flooded the neighborhood in 1965.

The stairs drop into a mostly abandoned strip of land

the White House identifying the Bayou Bienvenue

that houses a low-use railway. A packed dirt pathway

as a project that “…integrates sustainability with

offers passage across the tracks along Florida Street

mitigation measures and will restore approximately

to the mouth of Caffin Street - a core artery of the

10,000 acres of critical cypress wetlands using

neighborhood.

wetland assimilation of wastewater effluent.” These

In 2009 Nancy Sutley, Chairwoman for the White

words directly reflect extensive research coming

House council on Environmental Quality visited the

from such institutions as Louisiana State University,

platform. As she stood and spoke to a small crowd,

University of Wisconsin and the Sewage and Water

President Obama addressed people blocks away at

Board of New Orleans. Studies have shown that

Martin Luther King, Jr. school. Their combined visit

wetland restoration will be an important step

the Lower Ninth Ward. The platform has burned, been

marks an important moment for discussion of wetland

in creating stormwater management that could

rebuilt and is now claimed by so many that the credit

restoration and for national attention to the extreme

increase safety for all of New Orleans.

due to the original builders is somewhat lost.

difficulties that continue to inundate the Lower Ninth

The built design of the platform was finally realized in January 2008. The design, though structurally simple,

ROOT v2 |

Nancy Sutley’s visit led to a press release from

Ward.

This local and national attention has been directly

came from the complexity of many minds – particularly

supported by the platform. The creation of a place

those who followed Dr. Allen’s lead in listening closely

for study, conversation and an expansive view offers

The platform itself offers an established nexus for these groups to conduct research, in turn increasing interaction and exposure of this work to the neighborhood residents. Though these

Both photos by Brian Stuhr 2008. MIDDLE The destroyed neighborhood of the Lower Ninth Ward in February 2005. In the background is the barge that was parked in the Industrial Canal and broke through the levee after Hurricane Katrina brought heavy rain and rising water. Photo by Ya King Masani February 2006.

connections are ultimately of proximity, they

cigarette in a plastic garbage can) burned a 25-foot

When it comes down to it, helping the neighborhood

show how important the access over the levee is

hole in the platform’s center. The fire happened on a

through their devastation is where the project started.

to the many that could be affected by restoration

Friday night in 2009. By Monday morning the rebuilding

The embrace of the platform by the people of the Lower

efforts.

process was underway. With the help of the “Make It

Ninth Ward – that they have painted the structure,

John Taylor is one such person. A local,

Right Foundation,” the community not only recreated the

brought garbage cans and mowed a path to its steps

life-long resident of the Lower Ninth Ward,

platform, they added a shade structure and a lower level

all in the midst of the complete rebuilding of their own

lovingly referred to as “swamp man,” Taylor

access to the Bayou.

homes – is true evidence of a project that has served its

offers a unique knowledge base and acts now

The word from Dr. Allen and other involved students

as an informal interpreter at the platform. In

and faculty members who have visited in the last few

an intriguing photo from 2009, the Ecumenical

years is that the platform is now a destination place for

Patriarch Bartholomew of the Greek Orthodox

those who continue the struggle to rebuild and live in the

Archdiocese of America stands in full religious

Lower Ninth Ward.

greatest purpose.

dress, the wooden shade structure of the rebuilt platform rising above his head. Reaching to a pleasant handshake is the extended, tattooed arm of Taylor (link here). This interaction reflects one example of many that are part of

NOTES Thank you to Dr. Austin Allen, Jeramy Boik,

connecting local intelligence and lore to larger

Lori Catalano, Charlie Chase and Brian Stuhr

networks. The adoption of the structure and its

for the interviews that created this article.

happenings by Taylor is a powerful indicator of the neighborhood’s embrace.

Further evidence of this appears in how quickly the structure was rebuilt after a fire (started by the burning ember of a discarded

p55 | place over time

There are some places that cling to life through decay. They exist, not as they once did, but rather in a suspended state where neglect and time has displaced their former purpose. These spaces include, but are not limited to, those in contest, areas lacking a communicative presence, interstitial go-betweens, post-industrial landscapes and post-crisis places removed from prominence in favor of the grandiose, the highly visible or the acutely popular. These stretches are peppered throughout the urban landscape and beyond, are quite likely undesirable and assuredly have untapped potential.

We call on students and professionals alike to participate in ROOT3 . Submissions are requested to address the above topic or to fill ROOT departments including: book reviews, landscape critiques, thesis research, scholarly papers, travel projects, design work, photo-essays or interviews. All submittals will be reviewed by the ROOT editorial staff and faculty advisors. Deadline for submissions is January 14, 2011.

RO OT 3 CA L L F O R SUBMISSIONS FORGOTTEN SPACES For information on submitting, please visit www.root-land.org or email bganno@root-land.org

In places of ruin, that are forgotten and abandoned by human interaction, an exchange begins to take place. It is an exchange of energy, and of culture and nature, where the controlling hand of a human is removed and the latent potential of the earth is realized.

In this vein, this rendering exhibits the very essence of this poetic and delicate exchange.

- Erin Devine, Studio I, Fall 2009 Landscape Architecture

ROOT3 CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS: F O R G OT T E N S PAC E S

There are some places that cling to life through decay. They exist, not as they once did, but rather in a suspended state where neglect and time has displaced

their former purpose. These spaces include, but are not limited to, those in contest, areas lacking a communicative presence, interstitial go-betweens, post-industrial landscapes and post-crisis places removed from prominence in favor of the grandiose, the highly visible or the acutely popular. These stretches are peppered throughout the urban landscape and beyond, are quite likely undesirable and assuredly have untapped potential.

We call on students and professionals alike to participate in ROOT3 . Submissions are requested to address the above topic or to fill ROOT departments

including: book reviews, landscape critiques, thesis research, scholarly papers, travel projects, design work, photo-essays or interviews. All submittals will be reviewed by the ROOT editorial staff and faculty advisors. Deadline for submissions is January 14, 2011.

For information on submitting, please visit www.root-land.org or email bganno@root-land.org

Our mission is to encourage the discourse of landscape architecture by highlighting the designs, challenges and inspirations of students, faculty and professionals through print and digital publications. www.root-land.org