With over 200 proposed river revitalization projects within the City of Los Angeles, the Plan has incorporated interesting and feasible possibilities into the document.  Some notable ideas:

1. Paseos and “Green Streets” would create intimate entryways to the river from adjacent neighborhoods.  Pedestrian and bicycle access would increase pedestrian activity and bring the river into neighborhoods.
   

   River Greenway

2. The River Greenway would be downstream of Canoga Park, and would provide pedestrian and bicycle trails that link pocket parks together.
3. River gateways would mark rivers along major access points, making the river more visible and inviting.
4. Another River Greenway proposed downstream of the Sepulveda Basin would restore natural ecosystems.
5. A River Greenway downstream of Studio City would feature shaded pedestrian pathways that connect to commercial streets.  The river would act as a destination, increasing commercial activity and reviving urban life.  Parking lots in these areas would be designed to capture storm-water runoff.
6. River Promenades along the river would provide casual destinations where pedestrians could view local artwork.
7. A Neighborhood Park in the Cornfields-Chinatown district would open up a critical LA area to increase urban activity.
   

   Cornfields-Chinatown Neighborhood Park

With increased participation between the City, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, local residents, and other key project partners, the project seems less like a plan and more like a movement.  Revitalizing the Los Angeles River would address not only the need to rehabilitate the ecological functions of the watershed, but would also target the city’s dearth of neighborhood parks.  Furthermore, the plan’s focus on public outreach, job creation, and youth participation shows efforts to be culturally sensitive and economically relevant.  The successful implementation of the plan will bring about meaningful public spaces, create inter-community connections, and foster economic equity and viability.

Shaped around its highways, Los Angeles has always been the city of anonymity and independence – an isolated dystopia.  Our dependence on the automobile has lent itself to an urban life that is practically devoid of the public realm.  The ensuing seclusion is manifested in stark physical divides between neighborhoods and between classes.   The lack of opportunity to “see how the other side lives” has bred fear and further isolation.  The LA River is easily one of the largest natural and infrastructural assets the city has, and meanders through various neighborhoods and geographies.  Its revitalization would catalyze profound changes to the physical and social landscape of the city.  And it couldn’t have come at a better time.

The Watershed Council hosts quarterly symposia to provide a forum to discuss the issues related to watershed management and land use planning.  Diverse panelists offer various perspectives on relevant topics to engage and stakeholders and educate the public on pertinent watershed issues.  This particular symposium was focused on stormwater augmentation, and took a closer look at the significance of the Elmer Avenue Neighborhood Retrofit Project.

Presenter Nancy L.C. Steele (executive director of LASGRWC) presented a brief history of the water augmentation study, describing Southern California’s drought problem, and the importance of weaning ourselves off of imported water.  She presented an interesting and convincing case for capturing stormwater as a means of acquiring regional water independence for years to come.

According to Steele, Elmer Avenue was chosen on the basis of three criteria:  it had poor street conditions; good soil as to keep pollutants from entering the groundwater; and resident support and participation.  Completed in May 2010, the retrofit project includes the use of bio-swales and an infiltration gallery under the street.  The project is designed to reduce flooding, improve water quality, and to recharge local groundwater supplies (40% of California’s water is from groundwater).  The one-block section of Elmer Avenue was retrofitted to capture runoff, improve water conservation, reduce river pollution, restore natural habitats and green space, and to beautify the community.

The pilot site is monitored on a regular basis to measure groundwater recharge, landscape water conservation, and changes in property values.  Furthermore, homeowners receive training on how to maintain the new streets.  Many of the retrofits included implementing stormwater best management practices (BMPs) on private and public property.  The retrofits include installing permeable surfaces, planting drought-resistant native plants on lawns and sidewalks, building bio-swales along the streets, installing smart-irrigation controllers, and solar streetlights.  The neighborhood project is a test site that serves as a natural laboratory and model for sustainable private and public space design.  It also is an example of how many technologies and efforts can be integrated to address environmental restoration, water regeneration, and flood management.

Sidewalk Bio-Swale

Solar-Powered Streetlight

Permeable Driveway

Native vegetation on private lawn

On my recent trip to Bali, Indonesia I fell in love with the quirky street fountains and water gardens. Often small and in front of shops, the water features are usually home made but have ambitious design concepts. The features alone are small, but taken together as a street scape you feel as though you are walking through a much larger urban water garden.

This is a micro water garden in front of a nail salon in Kuta where they do fish tank pedicures. Water bubbles out of the two tiny rectangular plinths. Notice how they extended the geometry of their water garden with the paving. The whole garden is less than 1.5m square.

A small sculptural fountain built into the sidewalk in front of a shop. The fountain is only about 1m high. In the US we would probably think of this as a residential or large table top fountain but here it is built into the street scape which gives it a greater sense of monumentality.

This fountain with an overflowing vessel is located in front of a fine textile dealer in Ubud. The sound of water fountains can be heard on many Balinese streets.

A spiggot on the fountain let’s them water the grass and other plants in their front courtyard directly from the fountain.

PVC pipe and a garden hose create a pretty ambitious water wall on the front windows of this massage parlor.

A large ceramic vessel overflowing with water sits in a nook between building along a major street in downtown Ubud. The water was a little bit funky, but the display of water running off the lip of the vessel was gorgeous and surprising regular. The strong sound of the water curtain could be heard from two store fronts away.

Bali is criss-crossed with channels of all sizes, many larger than small runnel in a shopping district.  Intended for irrigation and drainage, this channel has been transformed into a water feature with the addition of a stone sculpture of a woman (with a vessel) at the water’s edge and the adjacent seating area.

Located 1/2 a block from Kuta Beach, along the sidewalk at the south edge of the Hard Rock Cafe Hotel, this feature combines large architectural water walls,  rain curtains and geysers. Ambitious in scale, this feature becomes a focal point for the whole block and creates a small public space as people gather in front of it.

I love the strong connection between water and vegetation in the fountains in Bali. Almost every time a water element is present there are plants flourishing nearby. Often times, in the United States I feel that we forget to include (or intentionally exclude) plants in large scale water feature designs. On that note, I’ll post more photos of Balinese temple and garden fountains next week.

Photo courtesy of Galerie Lelong

Andy Goldsworthy’s new exhibition at New York’s Galerie Lelong features time-based photographs and videos.  In a photographic suite, Goldsworthy documents how natural and artificial light play off of sculptural water patterns on the ground, evoking nature in an urban environment.  Check out the exhibit and the press release.

Water in the City (WITC) is a new forum focused on the role of water in the design and urban planning of cities. We will look at cross disciplinary mix of artists, designers, architects, landscape architects, engineers, politicians and theorists around the world who are working on projects related to water.

WITC is interested in urban water not only as hydrology, but also as potential engines/vehicles for all kinds of economic, environmental and social change within cities. Water is a basic building block of life and we as humans are instinctively drawn to it. The presence of accessible water in our cities has the potential to play a huge role in the way we reshape communities in this century, as we strive to create denser more walkable communities.

We are still “under construction” and in a BETA mode. WITC plans to officially launch in June 2010. Feel free to look around and get a preview of our site.

Follow Water in the City on Twitter: @waterinthecity

If you just want to say hello or have suggestions for articles please drop us a line at WITC.blog@gmail.com.

Thanks!

The Dutch artist behind The Blue Road, Eggcident + other monumental public art installations

With Blue Road you set out to create an art installation that could be seen from Google Earth. How did you decide that you wanted to create a “river”?
The Blue Road used to be a canal. In the sixties they made it into a road. In 2007 the local politicians want it to make it a canal again (which is a general movement in The Netherlands these days: to make former canals canals again, interesting for your website maybe).  At the same time the city Drachten wanted to have an identity and they decided that ‘art’ was a good idea, so they invited several artists and asked them for ideas. Mine was the best. “To prepare the people for the canal, we’re painting the road blue”,  I said. That was in 2007. In 2008 they should start to dig, but it’s still a road, because the company who got the order has financial problems (this company also builds houses and you probably heard about the economical crisis). So The Blue Road is still there.

Have you worked on water themed projects before?
No, not with projects. I do make a lot of paintings where water is involved, some of them you can see on my website. In my spare time I like to sail.

Do you think that Blue Road helped people see urban water differently?
People do start to see the environment differently. For instance, before they never wonder why all roads are gray.

Eggcident, which came after Blue Road also has a watery, visceral quality. What is it about water or wet things that attracts  you?
That’s far-fetched. It’s about eggs, ‘The first egg has been laid’ (a Dutch saying). It’s hard to explain what I like about water, I like to  sail and ‘nature in the city’ in general. Without it, it can make a city depressed as the architecture of the (former) communism  countries.

What kinds of drawings or models do you create for  your installations?
Paintings, photos and prints.

What do children think of your projects? Do they respond differently than adults?
Yes they do! Children are more open-minded than a lot of adults. They were very positive about it and said it’s cool and great. A lot of adults found it also cool, but not always immediately.

Rumor has it that you have a big project opening this summer. Can you tell us anything about it?
Two actually, one is not about water and will be in the news about two weeks. The other, in June, I can tell you a bit about it.
Title: Above Water. It will be in Lelystad, a Dutch city in a polder (reclaimed land). About the town, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lelystad

Is there anything you want to add about the Blue Road?
A few weeks after The Blue Road was there, a regional newspaper published about ‘The Blue Buy Wave’ surrounded shops in the city sold more than before, because a lot of tourist came to see  The Blue Road (and than they bought books, clothes, ice cream).

If you have interesting artnews, send it to www.hollandartavenue.nl <http://www.hollandartavenue.nl>   (info@hollandartavenue.nl )

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Links:
www.henkhofstra.nl

More images of the Blue Road:

Steven Soloman recently came out with a new book, How Water Shapes Human History. He interviewed me for the book a couple of years ago when I worked at WET, back before the book even had a title.

Zócalo Public Square recently reviewed the book and invited him to give a lecture a couple of weeks ago. I am disappointed that I missed the talk, but you can view the video HERE.

Peter Davey, author of Exploring Boundaries,  wrote the article Water Water – Use of Water in Architecture for The Architectural Review back in 1998. It is a great little essay of the ancient use of water in architecture. Click here to read it.

That being said, there are a lot of other great waterfronts in the world that don’t get as much attention as they deserve. Check out Travel & Leisure’s slide show of their pics for top waterfronts.

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Weburbanist is one of our favorite design blogs. Read the rest of their fountain mashup HERE.

Atalier Dreiseitl, a German based landscape architecture firm that specializes in water related projects recently opened an office in Portland, Oregon. I was excited to hear that they have come to the Americas. I have seen some of their work in Europe really enjoyed the playful way they manipulate water mostly with gravity.

Interview: In 2009 the ASLA interviewed Herbert Dreiseitl on his thoughts on designing with water. You can read ASLA interview here.

Detail of the survey: I posted a link to the online survey on Facebook and on a number of industry related forums on LinkedIn and Land8Lounge.  To my delight I got a number of responses (80+), but not everyone actually took the official survey. I received additional responses to the first question, “What is your favorite fountain?” via Tweets, emails, Facebook, etc. The question also sparked some lively discussions in several of the online forums. The survey was open to the public, but because of the places I posted it, the majority of the respondents were landscape architects, urban planners, architects and people in the water feature industry. I admit this is not the most scientific study, but I hope people find the results interesting and that it continues to generate a dialogue.

The drum roll please… here are the most favorite:

#07: THE PINEAPPLE FOUNTAIN

Location: Charleston, VA | Designer: Stuart O. Dawson,  Sasaki Associates with Edward Pinckney Associates | Year: 1990

Photo Credit: Courtesy of the Charleston Area Convention and Visitors Bureau

Survey Comments:

• “The pineapple represents the southern symbol of hospitality.” – survey response

Links:

Waterfront Park Charleston

#06: THE MUSTANGS OF LAS COLINAS

Location: Irving, Texas | Designer: Robert Glen with SWA | Year: 1976-1984

Links:
Mustangs of Las Colinas

#05: The Dubai Fountain, Burj Khalifa

Location: Dubai, UAE | Designer: Andrea Silva, WET Design | Date: 2009

Survey Comments:

“For sheer power and size, I’d go for the Dubai Fountain. It’s akin to three Bellagio’s side by side. And you can feel the throb (or is it a boom) every time it shoots its highest pulse/stream.” – R.F. Land8 forum

“The Burj fountain. Its dramatic movements, sounds, and powerful song selection gives a person chills when they watch it….. and its absolutely unforgettable!” – J.M. LinkedIn Fountain Design forum

Links:

The Dubai Fountain – Wikipedia

#04: Fort Worth Water Gardens, Fort Worth, Texas

Location: Fort Worth Convention Center | Designer: Phillip Johnson and John Burgee | Date: 1974

Links:

Fort Worth Water Garden – Wikipedia

#03: Paley Park, NYC

Location: Midtown Manhattan | Designer: Zion & Breene -  Landscape Architects | Date: 1967

Survey Comments:
This feature got a number of votes but no one commented on why they voted for it. I would speculate that people are primarily drawn to the sound of the water wall in Paley Park. What do you think?

Links:

Paley Park – Wikipedia

Paley Park – Yelp review

#02: The Fountains of the Bellagio

Location: Las Vegas | Designer: Claire Kahn Tuttle, WET Design | Date: 1997

Survey Comments:

“Probably the one at the Bellagio. Yeah, I know I’m supposed to scoff at it as a landscape architect, but I love how it works!” – survey response

Links:

Fountains of the Bellagio – Wiki

Fountains of the Bellagio – Yelp

#01: Ira Keller Forecourt Fountain, Levi Plaza

Location: Portland. Oregon | Designer: Angela Danadjieva, Lawrence Halprin & Associates  | Date: 1970

Survey Comments:

“The Lawerence Halprin fountain at Levi’s Plaza in San Francisco, for the look, sense of discovery it fosters, and especially the sound.” – L.R. LinkedIn ASLA forum

“I’m a pretty big fan of Halprins ‘fountains’/water features. Too bad we really cant design places like those anymore thanks to initiatives like CPTED…d’oh!..forgot this is a fountains discussion.” – N. A. Land8 forum

Links:

Ira Keller Forecourt Fountain – Wikipedia

Ira Keller Forecourt Fountain >> whereintheworldispatty.com

Thoughts + Observations

Historic Water Features:
I was surprised that all the top favorite fountains were under 45 years old. There were a number of historic fountains, such as Trevi, Villa d’Este, and Buckingham Fountain that received a few votes. But collectively they did not rank very high on the survey. Considering how well known and venerated they seem to be, I found it a bit surprising. It makes me want to investigate how people relate to historic water features in modern cities and how they may function differently as they get older.

Sculptural Fountains:
The Pineapple Fountain and the Mustangs of Las Colinas illustrate that sculptural water features continue to be popular with the public and highly iconic. I wasn’t personally familiar with the Pineapple Fountain before this survey. A Google search for the Pineapple Fountain brought up a surprising number of artist paintings depicting the fountain. You can even buy bookmarks depicting the Pineapple Fountain on Etsy. The symbolism of sculptural fountains is often regional, as is the case in both of these fountains.

Show Features:
No big surprise here. The results of the survey confirm that people love huge musical water features. The Fountains of the Bellagio and the Dubai Fountain got high points for their emotional impact, scale and strength. They offer a unique collective experience on a large scale. Sometimes criticized for using a lot of water, these fountains are a guilty pleasure for many people. I loved the comment from the landscape architect who said that he knows that he shouldn’t like the Fountains of the Bellagio but that he does anyway.

Also noteworthy, is that the Dubai Fountain is less than a year old and already ranked in the top 7. I have a hunch that only a huge musical fountain could enter our collective consciousness and become an international favorite so quickly.

Waterscapes:
Going into this, I wondered if one of the huge musical features would get the most votes. The answer was no. Remarkably a gravity fed waterscape in Portland got more votes than any other fountain in the world.  Admittedly a knock-out water feature, the Forecourt Fountain was described in 1970, as “One of the most important urban spaces since the Renaissance”.  Forecourt Fountain and the Fort Worth Water Garden, offer highly immersive, interactive experiences that are abstractions of how water works in the natural world. Waterscapes aren’t fountains to look at, but rather offer watery places to be.

The fact that Forecourt got so many votes indicates that an immersive experience can have the same kind of draw and fame as an iconic water feature. This should be encouraging to people trying to bring these types of experiences to their cities and projects. The challenge, as several people pointed out, is that it would be very difficult to build a water feature like Forecourt Fountain today due to safety and litigation concerns. Notably, the Fort Worth Water Garden has been redesigned to make it shallower after 4 people drown in 2004. While safety is a serious issue, there have been many successful interactive water features and waterscapes built in the last twenty years.

Personally, I think that we will see a lot more waterscapes built in cities in the coming decades. Globally people are being asked to make increased sacrifices regarding their personal water use  (i.e. use less water, don’t water lawns, don’t hose down your driveway, don’t fill your swimming pool, etc.) Urban waterscapes offer a public place for people of all ages to to come together around water communally. I speculate there will be more demand for these types of collective experience with water, when water inevitably becomes more expensive.

Also
The survey also asked what special memories people associated with fountains and what they think the most famous fountain is in their city or country. I’ll discuss these topics in future blog posts.

+There were also a handful of interesting off-the-beaten-path fountains that people nominated. I’ll write more about them soon.

What is your favorite fountain? Why?

(Re-posted from www.pattyhume.com)