runnel
As I've intimated many times in these Travelogues, I'm a big fan of small water. I like rain chains. I prefer narrow scuppers to wide sheet falls. I like waterfalls with flows the diameter of my thumb rather than the span of a grand, old tree. What I like most of all these days are described as rills or runnels - little channels that artfully
Among the most gratifying of all projects are those in which designers are able to forge links between different areas of a property, creating an unfolding, choreographed experience that generates notes of anticipation along with reassuring sensations of comfort and familiarity. In our work at Root Design Company (Austin, Texas), we’ve found that water is a powerful tool in defining those sorts of connections within a property, whether it is used in bold ways, as with fountains or swimming pools, or as subtler secondary or tertiary elements, including runnels or small waterspouts. In the project depicted here, we used multiple watershapes within architectural spaces that organize those settings and bring motion and continuity to the overall space. It all ties together visually, with each path leading to intriguing destinations that serve as rewarding visual experiences for anyone who visits. As we see it, the key ingredient in this project was our client, who understood
Root Design has always focused on developing environments that delight, inspire and occasionally surprise clients, but the project seen in this, the first of two articles, may well be the company’s most elaborate to date. Here, Ben Dozier and Michael Percy describe what went into designing and building across the entire site, including the multiple watershapes that helped transform this estate into an oasis filled with plants, light, sounds and water. Although it doesn’t always work out this way, the best-case scenario for us at Root Design (Austin, Texas) is to accept full responsibility for all exterior spaces of a given property, from the footprint of the house out to the property lines. In these situations, our team is able to establish designs with wall-to-wall continuity in response to the environment, the architecture and our client’s wishes. We commit ourselves in these circumstances to taking homeowners and their guests on a journey, starting the moment they enter the property and moving all the way through to the yard’s farthest reaches and all the spaces in between. Along the way, they’ll enter a variety of small or large vignettes, conceal-and-reveal discoveries, dramatic focal points and multiple rewarding destinations – each conceptually linked as a coherent “whole.” In this case, we were called upon to
As a rule, those of us who build watershapes meant for purposes other than swimming or hydrotherapy tend to pursue one path or another: Either we make our ponds, streams and waterfalls look as natural as we can manage, or we establish them to reveal the hand of man either partly or completely. In that either/or context, successful design depends at least in part on being perfectly clear with ourselves about what we are trying to achieve. In assessing ponds of these opposing forms, it's my personal practice to look at both natural ponds and formal ponds (or, more accurately, architectural ponds) as being right on par with one another with respect to their potential for beauty. Indeed, architectural ponds can be incredibly appealing when done up in such a way that
As a rule, those of us who build watershapes meant for purposes other than swimming or hydrotherapy tend to pursue one path or another: Either we make our ponds, streams and waterfalls look as natural as we can manage, or we establish them to reveal the hand of man either partly or completely. In that either/or context, successful design depends at least in part on being perfectly clear with ourselves about what we are trying to achieve. In assessing ponds of these opposing forms, it's my personal practice to look at both natural ponds and formal ponds (or, more accurately, architectural ponds) as being right on par with one another with respect to their potential for beauty. Indeed, architectural ponds can be incredibly appealing when done up in such a way that
As a rule, those of us who build watershapes meant for purposes other than swimming or hydrotherapy tend to pursue one path or another: Either we make our ponds, streams and waterfalls look as natural as we can manage, or we establish them to reveal the hand of man either partly or completely. In that either/or context, successful design depends at least in part on being perfectly clear with ourselves about what we are trying to achieve. In assessing ponds of these opposing forms, it's my personal practice to look at both natural ponds and formal ponds (or, more accurately, architectural ponds) as being right on par with one another with respect to their potential for beauty. Indeed, architectural ponds can be incredibly appealing when done up in such a way that
Our involvement with Vera Katz Park started with a phone call from Alan Beard of GBD Architects, a firm that has been responsible for designing several signature buildings in Portland, Ore. The project at hand was the complex renovation and transformation of the city's National Guard Armory into a modern theater and the new home of the Portland Center Stage Theater Company. After an energetic interview process, we were selected to design the site's landscape. We were enthusiastic about the project from the start. The sidewalk area we were designing is an integral part of the redevelopment of what's known as the Pearl District, a former industrial area now being revitalized with mixed-use buildings and high-rise developments. At 200 feet long by 20 feet wide, the space presented an interesting design challenge in an area much in need of parks and public places. The city's goal is to establish pedestrian connections throughout the neighborhood while creating a sense of community within the district. For our part, we saw the site, which was to be named in honor of former Portland mayor Vera Katz, a devoted supporter of the arts who had been instrumental in the repurposing of the Armory Building, as an opportunity to create a
Watershaping advanced by leaps and bounds from 1999 through 2004 – a journey of artistry…
The site was chosen because the existing water, terrain and natural landscape were a perfect fit: Like no other available space, the design team saw that this setting could be used to symbolize the character of Vietnam’s landscape – wetlands and bogs, water crossings, hills and forests, meadows and plains – and shaped into a memorial to casualties of a war that ended in Southeast Asia nearly three decades ago. It’s a beautiful and peaceful space, one that now encompasses four acres of land around the perimeter of Duck Pond, a small and scenic body of water nestled in the gently rolling landscape of
