Transforming Traditional Landscapes?EUR??,,????'??+The Creation of "Floating World"

When landscape architect and artist collaborated on an art installation that would define the recreated Eldorado Park Aquatic Center in Scottsdale Ariz., they pushed the limits of landscape architecture. The result is something that ?EUR??,,????'??exceeds what either of us could have made on our own,?EUR??,,????'?? says fine artist Sylvia Tidwell, referring to the creation of ?EUR??,,????'??Floating World;?EUR??,,????'?? a public art installation planned and executed in partnership with her good friend, landscape architect Calvin Abe.

A view of contoured concrete bench seating that blends into the river creating a "virtual beach" at the shallow end of the pool. Bright blue umbrellas offer a shady retreat from the relentless Arizona sun. The 13-lane lap pool and diving well with four diving boards can be seen in the distance.

In September 2002, the city of Scottsdale began removing and replacing the Eldorado Pool, their oldest and most heavily used pool facility. The existing facility was completely demolished and a new aquatic and fitness center was built within the footprint of the original site. Enhancements included a lap/competition pool with 13 lanes, a diving well with four diving boards in two different heights, a beach-like entry play pool with an interactive water playground, built in benches and shade areas, and a 1,200-square-foot. fitness center.

Rather than create a basic utilitarian swimming pool design, the city of Scottsdale partnered with the Scottsdale Public Art Program (SPAP) to make public art an integral component of the $5.4 million project. ?EUR??,,????'??We?EUR??,,????'???ve integrated public art in other applications like highways, libraries and water treatment plants,?EUR??,,????'?? says Margaret Bruning, associate director for the Scottsdale Public Art Program. ?EUR??,,????'??We knew that lots of people use the pool, and we wanted to better improve their experience?EUR??,,????'??+to encourage them to spend time at the pool: The art just adds to the feeling of the place.?EUR??,,????'??

The Eldorado Park Aquatic and Fitness Center is a perfect venue for public art for many reasons: It?EUR??,,????'???s located in Indian Bend Wash, a huge greenbelt pathway that runs the entire length of Scottsdale. This area was a natural wash in the ?EUR??,,????'???80s. When it rained, water would collect and wash across the desert, sometimes creating flash floods. Instead of closing off the area, the city turned it into an amenity, building pools, playgrounds and lakes. Since then, the park?EUR??,,????'??+located in a very prominent area?EUR??,,????'??+has been a convergence of activity, making it the perfect location for art.

The glistening Technicolor River creates a dynamic, wavy, beach-like entry to the shallow end of the pool. Before installation, samples of the Lithocrete inclusions (glass marbles, beads, tiles, seashells and marbles) were rigorously heat tested to assure they could absorb the relentless, Arizona sun without burning the bare skin of pool loungers.

The SPAP funded and assigned the commission of the pools public art and assisted in planning its role in the recreation of Eldorado Park. The art project was held out for application in a national competition. A panel of SPAP volunteers reviewed the applications submitted, looking at past history and the artist?EUR??,,????'???s ability to work well with others. ?EUR??,,????'??We interviewed several candidates,?EUR??,,????'?? says Bruning. ?EUR??,,????'??We decided that the team approach of Abe and Tidwell would provide the most interesting solution.?EUR??,,????'?? Tidwell had performed smaller art installations and Abe provided the technical background to balance the team out. The best thing about the team, according to Bruning, is that they listened to the community?EUR??,,????'???s concerns.

Before Tidwell and Abe began working on a design, they performed focus groups with the community, engaging opinions and suggestions from the local residents. ?EUR??,,????'??In addition to being a really good listener, Tidwell has the ability to hear and translate that into a theme people would gravitate towards,?EUR??,,????'?? says Bruning. After gathering concepts from focus groups Tidwell and Abe began meeting and collaborating with the building architects and managers. ?EUR??,,????'??The plan?EUR??,,????'??, says Bruning, ?EUR??,,????'??is for the art design to evolve as the building design evolves.?EUR??,,????'?? The collaborative result of architect, artist and community is ?EUR??,,????'??Floating World,?EUR??,,????'?? a work of public art that transitions visitors from the weight and substance of desert, to the weightless refuge of open sky and water.

Inside the pool house lobby, the serpentine curves of the river run underneath 18 pillow-like fiberglass sculptures floating overhead, imitating a welcome formation of rain clouds. Each fiberglass sculpture was handcrafted to generate a sense of light and sparkle in the ceiling: Each cloud is different; each has a hollow center and weighs less than 15 pounds.

The ?EUR??,,????'??Floating World?EUR??,,????'?? design used clouds and river stones to create a miniature recreation of the desert. Glass, beads, tiles and other small materials form a path-like collage in the design of a flowing river that runs through the entire pool facility?EUR??,,????'??+much like the original greenbelt pathway would flood with rainwater and wash across the desert in this very same location. In this way, the design mimics nature, says Tidwell, by ?EUR??,,????'??bringing people into an awareness of their relationship to the original topography.?EUR??,,????'??

?EUR??,,????'??Floating World?EUR??,,????'?? begins as visitors step from the parking lot onto the concrete pool house entry deck. Flanked on both sides by locally quarried, Arizona jade boulders, three-dimensional reminders of the desert terrain outside, the rushing Technicolor river seems to pour out of the pool house doors, welcoming visitors into a water world. Embedded with hundreds of thousands of glass marbles, recycled crushed glass, seashells, pebbles, Mexican glass tiles, tumbled beads and pyrite (fools gold), the river glistens and shimmers, reflecting shades of purple, blue, aqua, green, white and gold. The river begins as a trickle at the rear of the pool just outside the perimeter fence; it rushes downstream under the fence, spreads widely across the pool deck and flows through the lobby wall into the pool house with serpentine curves that stretch out the front door toward the parking lot.

Inside the pool house, a cloud formation, made of 18 individual fiberglass sculptures, seems to hang effortlessly from the ceiling. The glistening, semitransparent cloud sculpture represents the welcome sight of a cumulo-cirrus cloud formation, often appearing in the desert sky just before a rainstorm.

Creative Design Process

The unflappable T.B. Penick & Sons crew placing each inclusion by hand in wet Lithocrete. Working in small cross sections of the river, placing the maximum amount of inclusions possible, contractors seat the materials, pushing them down with a concrete float until they disappear into the Lithocrete. With a team of 10 to 12 workers placing two sections a day, the river took three weeks to complete.

Abe and Tidwell were hired on the reputation and promise of their past work. The Scottsdale Public Art Program knew they wanted a beautiful art design that that would reflect the community?EUR??,,????'???s vision, but at that time the ?EUR??,,????'??vision?EUR??,,????'?? had not been defined. ?EUR??,,????'??We went in not knowing exactly what design we were going to do,?EUR??,,????'?? recalls Abe. ?EUR??,,????'??The art could have been a mural, or really anything.?EUR??,,????'?? The final idea for ?EUR??,,????'??Floating World?EUR??,,????'?? emerged out of the planning process, through brainstorming with community members in workshop meetings. Many community members participating in the workshops had lived in Scottsdale for decades; they had grown up with the original park and pool, built in 1967, and had a nostalgic investment in its renewal. These residents generated ideas and expressed community goals, concerns and their vision of what the pool facility meant and could mean to them.

?EUR??,,????'??A lot of the users had been going there for over 30 years, and some of them were quite old by now and had arthritis and other physical losses that made water play and floating and swimming attractive because it was a relief to them?EUR??,,????'??+like stepping into another world where they are lighter and freer,?EUR??,,????'?? recalls Tidwell. ?EUR??,,????'??One woman spoke about lying on her back and looking up at the sky and being aware of her relationship to the earth and the water?EUR??,,????'??+she didn?EUR??,,????'???t put it that precisely, but we got it.?EUR??,,????'??

The summary of what emerged from those community meetings was that people wanted shade, a sense of community, calm and peace. This translated into built-in benches with umbrellas, suspended clouds and a sparkling 190-foot-long technicolor river washing through an aqua-oasis.

The Lithocrete Process

Actualizing the artistic vision required solid technology and enduringly hard work. ?EUR??,,????'??To embed the glass, tile and other materials into the river we used a Lithocrete process,?EUR??,,????'?? says Abe. ?EUR??,,????'??But this pushes that technology to its limits?EUR??,,????'??+in terms of pavement, it?EUR??,,????'???s unprecedented.?EUR??,,????'?? The concrete holding the ?EUR??,,????'??river?EUR??,,????'?? was pressed to its utmost holding capacity; ?EUR??,,????'??The maximum amount of decorative inclusions that could be pushed into the concrete, were pushed,?EUR??,,????'?? states Tidwell.

T.B. Penick and Sons, Inc., of San Diego, a concrete contractor specializing in decorative work, took the radical project on. They set the framework for the meandering river by building a 5-by-5 foot grid, staking it out in the field for reference points, so that the curves made in the field related to the curves on the drawing. The contours of the river?EUR??,,????'???s edge were framed to isolate each small Lithocrete pour. Survey markers and guidewires were used to delineate the sections. Using CADD drawings Abe and Tidwell had blown up for reference, the contours of the five to 11 separate color streams of the river were etched in freehand with a thin blade. These etched grooves worked as sightlines and were the only real guides separating one stream of color from the next.

This close up shows the color variation in three streams of the river.

Working in small cross-sections of the river, a team of 10 to 12 contractors worked on hands and knees, placing the inclusions one piece at a time onto the wet Lithocrete. ?EUR??,,????'??It was a huge challenge,?EUR??,,????'?? says Tidwell. ?EUR??,,????'??Because the concrete was firming up fast?EUR??,,????'??+especially out in the desert.?EUR??,,????'??

Tidwell and Abe laid out the first display of inclusions, creating a guide for contractors to follow. The crew replicated this design by laying inclusions out across the river crosswise, while slowly working their way down the river lengthwise. In each one foot cross-sectional slice of river, there are as many as 11 streams of color. In each stream of color, there are up to seven different inclusions used. ?EUR??,,????'??We were using 52 different materials,?EUR??,,????'?? says Chris Klemaske, project developer for T.B. Penick & Sons. ?EUR??,,????'??Trying to make sure each section refleced Sylvia?EUR??,,????'???s vision?EUR??,,????'??+it was a challenge.?EUR??,,????'??

T.B. Penick and Sons Inc. set the river framework by building a 5-by-5-foot grid, staking out reference points so that the curves in the field related to the curves on Abe and Tidwell?EUR??,,????'???s CADD drawing. The contours of the five to 11 seperate color streams of the river were etched in freehand with a thin blade. These etched grooves worked as sightlines and were the only real guides separating one stream of color from the next.

To ensure that the execution reflected Tidwell and Abe?EUR??,,????'???s artistic vision, the installation was approached much like one would cook a complex stew. After experimenting with the creation of around 30 different Lithocrete samples, with different color variations and placements of inclusions, Tidwell and Abe agreed on the final designs, which became the ?EUR??,,????'??recipe?EUR??,,????'?? for the river. Following that recipe, contractors placed the appropriate amount of each element into small sections of Lithocrete until each small creation closely reflected the original sample. ?EUR??,,????'??It was interesting, the way an artist?EUR??,,????'???s eye looks at things,?EUR??,,????'?? says Klemaske. ?EUR??,,????'??The slightest shift in coloration made a huge difference in the way the design looked.?EUR??,,????'??

The challenge of executing this intensity and precision could be met with nothing less than extreme organization. ?EUR??,,????'??We had to have the colors and materials lined up,?EUR??,,????'?? says Tidwell. ?EUR??,,????'??Each color was in a separate bin placed within hands reach.?EUR??,,????'?? In addition to the contractors, Tidwell and Abe recruited a crew of three to four interns to help organize the myriad elements, and an artist crew of five to six people to manage and motivate workers and oversee the correct placement of the inclusions. ?EUR??,,????'??We provided the organizational context and they [contractors] laid the materials down,?EUR??,,????'?? says Tidwell.

After placing the inclusions, contractors seated the aggregate materials with a concrete float pushing them down until they disappeared into the Lithocrete. After the materials were seated, workers swirled the float over the surface, bringing the cream of the concrete up over the materials, just as if they were finishing normal exposed aggregate concrete. A concrete retardant is sprayed over the finished surface, which prevents the Lithocrete from attaching to the very top surface of the inclusions. Three to four hours later the surface area is washed with water and then with muriatic acid to expose the glass. Fourteen to 28 days after the concrete has cured, a Lithocrete sealer (all part of the patented Lithocrete process) is sprayed onto the concrete. The sealer fulfills three functions, says Klemaske. ?EUR??,,????'??It goes in and fills all the voids, removing air pockets so water doesn?EUR??,,????'???t get in: It stops the silica-alkaline reaction that would ordinarily cause the materials to pop out, and it hardens the surface of concrete.?EUR??,,????'??

The 190-foot-long river begins as a trickle at the rear of the pool just outside the perimeter fence. It rushes downstream under the fence, spreading widely across the deck at the shallow end of the pool. The curves and contrasting colors of the river give it a dynamic flowing effect, mimicking a real beach. In the shallow splashdown area, an interactive water playground with two waterslides offers additional entertainment for energetic kids.

Pulling It Off?EUR??,,????'??+Execution Challenges

The entire river was achieved through many pours over three weeks of blazing-hot days. Maintaining the crew?EUR??,,????'???s enthusiasm and intensity was essential to the proper execution of the design. The marbles, beads and tiles had to be placed densely to be congruent, but ?EUR??,,????'??if they start stacking or overlapping the integrity of concrete diminishes,?EUR??,,????'?? says Abe.

?EUR??,,????'??We asked the crew, under this enormous time pressure, to give us the greatest number of inclusions possible,?EUR??,,????'?? reflects Tidwell. ?EUR??,,????'??All while the temperature was climbing from 103 to 107 degrees?EUR??,,????'??+it was pretty intense.?EUR??,,????'?? To keep team members engaged, Tidwell and Abe had to stay involved with the crew. ?EUR??,,????'??From a landscape architects point of view, it?EUR??,,????'???s not impossible but takes an artful energy,?EUR??,,????'?? muses Abe. ?EUR??,,????'??It?EUR??,,????'???s not something you can just draw and have somebody build?EUR??,,????'??+there is a hands-on process involved.?EUR??,,????'??

Working with materials like glass in radical applications like a pool deck posed another challenge. ?EUR??,,????'??There was a strong concern over the materials being safe,?EUR??,,????'?? says Tidwell. ?EUR??,,????'??Lithocrete hasn?EUR??,,????'???t been used in pool settings much, especially public pool settings?EUR??,,????'??+because of cost.?EUR??,,????'?? Private pools with larger budgets, like the Disneyland Hotel pool in California, have demonstrated the Lithocrete process is safe. But the thought of young barefoot swimmers running across the river still made some uneasy.

There were also concerns over how hot the materials would get after several hours under the relentless, Arizona sun. To assure the safety of the materials and be attentive to the concerns of the community, heat testing was required by the city and performed. All the materials used passed those temperature ratings tests. To address any concerns over walking on the embedded materials, Tidwell created sample boards of embedded materials that demonstrated the tumbled glass and other materials were smooth and safe to sit, walk and lay on.

The cloud formation that seems to hang effortlessly from the lobby ceiling posed its own unique challenges in design and fabrication. Each separate cloud sculpture was individually sculpted in a clay model. To see how the clouds related to each other in a group formation, the separate clay clouds were connected by impaling them into formation with wooden cooking skewers. The next step was to build a scaled, foam-core model of the pool house lobby, placing the clouds within the model, to get a sense of how the clouds would relate spatially within their surroundings.

Once the final clay cloud formation was reached, the easily mutable clay model had to be replicated in a more sturdy material that would resist handling damage. Tidwell used Fema, a craft store material that can be sculpted and then baked to harden, to recreate each cloud. These Fema models were copied by Los Angeles-based sculptor Jim Day (the inventor of the fiberglass process) who carved a replication of the cloud designs into large pieces of Styrofoam. After several modifications were made, the Styrofoam clouds were ready to fabricate.

The fabricating process involved coating layers of fiberglass resin over the Styrofoam models. The idea being that the semitransparent resin hardens and becomes the final sculpture. The fiberglass resin would normally stick to the Styrofoam model and dissolve it, so Day coats the models with wax to keep the resin out of direct contact.

After they have hardened, Day cuts the clouds in half and slowly removes the interior Styrofoam model with a solvent to dissolve it, scraping out any remaining foam. This destroys the original model but leaves the two resin hemispheres of the clouds intact. The luminescent hemispheres are cleaned with kerosene and then he cemented back together.

A small stainless steel bar was embedded into the resin to attach the sculptures to the ceiling. In total, the clouds took four to five months to create.

Public response

Hoards of bikini-ready visitors arrive from the desert passing over the sparkling, serpentine river as they enter into the pool house lobby, walking under light reflecting fiberglass clouds. But do they really get it?EUR??,,????'??+the transformative feeling of entering another world, one of water and lightness?

?EUR??,,????'??People love it,?EUR??,,????'?? says Bruning. ?EUR??,,????'??They see the river clouds as features that really define the place and make it their own, as a unique part of Scottsdale.?EUR??,,????'?? The packed opening reception in October 2003 echoed with enthusiasm. ?EUR??,,????'??People mobbed the place. Even people who weren?EUR??,,????'???t art lovers were engaged and very supportive of the art,?EUR??,,????'?? says Tidwell.

Art vs. Architecture

The distinction between artist and architect is often very subtle. ?EUR??,,????'??We were hired as artists here?EUR??,,????'??+but what we did was just an extension of what Calvin does as a landscape architect,?EUR??,,????'?? says Tidwell. ?EUR??,,????'??There is a continuum between landscape architecture and art. Its not another activity?EUR??,,????'??+just an intensification of what landscape architects already do.?EUR??,,????'??

There is also a distinction in the sense of total creative freedom allowed, more commonly in art than in landscape architecture. With art, the worth of a project is harder to define. Budgets are based on more than utility or aesthetics, and value is seen within a discerning awareness of the way art will affect people. ?EUR??,,????'??The city looks at these [public art] projects differently?EUR??,,????'??+with more value,?EUR??,,????'?? states Abe. ?EUR??,,????'??The art council wanted something wonderful and ambitious. We designed it; they saw it, loved it and approved it.?EUR??,,????'??

This project, which came in around $200,000, is the largest investment of public funds in a public pool in the nation. ?EUR??,,????'??Pools are perceived as utilitarian, but this concept as a haven and public meeting place to enjoy being outdoors and being around water?EUR??,,????'??+this just doesn?EUR??,,????'???t exist in public art,?EUR??,,????'?? urges Abe. ?EUR??,,????'??My goal was to create new possibilities for landscape architecture. We have demonstrated the effort and the process so that other landscape architects and clients can be aware of the possibilities-so they can achieve something extraordinary.?EUR??,,????'??

From the time visitors enter the parking lot they are immersed in imagery that heightens their experience of water. Visitors approaching the pool house are literally "walking on water" as they tread on the technicolor river flowing out of the pool house. The luminescent materials include thousands of glass marbles, recycled crushed glass, seashells, pebbles, Mexican glass tiles, tumbled beads and pyrite (fools gold).