Landscape Architect Articles

Waters that Fountain, Stream and Pool07-11-16 | News

Waters that Fountain, Stream and Pool
Editor Steve Kelly

Last year when LASN presented its Water Features issue, California's largest reservoir Lake Shasta had a water level of 968 feet"?ustark evidence of the continuing drought.

Then came the El Niño rains: some in Southern California, but mostly in the northern part of the state. From Dec. 9, 2015 to March 23, 2016, the water level in Lake Shasta rose from 912 feet to 1,045 feet, a 133-foot rise! Full capacity is 1,067 feet. That tripled the amount of water in the lake. As of this writing, June 29, the level is still at 1,045.

Of course, no one is saying the drought out West is over, or that we should stop conserving water. As the L.A. Times editorial board recently stated, the wet winter in the north "moved the southern part of the state back from the brink of crisis, but only by a half a step."

Still, that makes us feel a bit better about presenting the fountains, streams, ponds and pools featured herein, which of course are all closed systems that recycle the water.

In this Water Features issue we journey to a central Asia former Soviet republic on the southeast shores of the Caspian Sea to view the astonishing fountains of Russian Pavel Pashkovskiy, built 300 meters out into the sea! Peter Micha, president of PEM Fountain Co., who supplied the project's major water feature components, introduced us to this amazing spectacle set within the largest "enclosed inland body of water on Earth."

If that local is not exotic enough for you, consider the revival of the Singing Fountain in the Tsar Simeon Garden in Plovdiv Park, Bulgaria. Plovdiv holds the title of oldest living city in Europe. Plovdiv, like Rome, was built on seven hills. It's steeped in history and culture that dates back to 5000 B.C. Swiss landscape architect Lucien Chevalas (1840-1921) designed the Tsar Simeon's Garden for the 1892 Bulgarian Agricultural Exhibition.

Norman, Oklahoma may not have the depth of Plovdiv's historic roots, but the area was part of the 1803 Louisiana Purchase from France, became the sorry resettlement lands for the Five Civilized Tribes, and earned notoriety for the 1889 land rush of "unassigned lands." Norman's Legacy Park project was put on hold by the Great Recession, but was revived in 2012. At its heart is a nearly one-acre lake with a colorfully lit crescent of "air cannon" fountains and cascading water scuppers built into masonry columns.

At the Research Forest Lakeside office complex in The Woodlands, Texas, the water design imagines a raised fountain flowing into a cascading stream that cuts through ledges of granite, then, its waters ebbing, becomes a dry creek bed of river rock bordered by native plantings.

The Kentucky Children's Garden in Lexington, at the Arboretum, State Botanical Garden, encourages children to explore ponds, cascading and disappearing streams, waterfalls, a wetlands and play on a quilt patterned splash pad.

From fountains and streams we transition to the designs of the Palisade Pool at Gateway Canyons Resort, set within the backdrop of the rugged red sandstone beauty of Colorado's Unaweep Canyon.

Finally, with a nod to interesting sculptural elements involving water, we view the 1,500-pound cast bronze sculpture of Jesus walking on water, flanked by a "chorus" of fountains behind at the Tower of Hope at Christ Cathedral, and admire a fire and water public art piece in San Diego.

As seen in LASN magazine, July 2016.