commercial setting

The structures and grounds at the Cross Valley Water District’s headquarters in Clearview, Wash., stand as a prime example of how a public facility can send important messages to the community about responsible environmental stewardship. According to landscape architect Sandra Hasegawa Ingalls of Foresight, Inc., the project’s watershape is a key element in a broad program that makes this facility what she hopes is a model for others to come.

A Clear, Clean Public Service

Sometimes it's the small things that give a project its character and value. In the case of landscape design and installation at the Cross Valley Water District facility, we were able to take a relatively modest property and transform it into a demonstration campus that illustrates how man-made environments can be used to enhance the natural surroundings and meet the needs of human beings - and do it all with grace and harmony. I became involved in this project in June 1998, when I was approached by Brandt McCorkle, Lee Beard and Galen Page of Page & Beard Architects. That firm had been chosen to design the water district's new headquarters building and had developed a craftsman-style structure that blended perfectly with its rural, wooded surroundings. Set on five acres in Clearview, Wash., the district office serves