This small park relates to the urban retail and residential areas adjacent.  Within the larger park are smaller human scale spaces, integral to the whole. This design responds to the drought that the Front Range of Colorado had been in for some years, with water as the main design driver.  Far more water is evoked than is actually present.  The water features are designed to be completely interactive, and reduce water loss.  Hopefully this place facilitates an appreciation for water as a precious commodity, without moralising or being overly instructive.

This outdoor place has been a success with people of all ages, from professionals taking a lunch or coffeee break, to families with children playing in the water, and running between the canyon walls.

In 2005 this project won the Presidents Award, top honours from the Colorado Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects.

Bruno undertook this project in collaboration with Christian Muller.

The distance and very open space between the house and creek side patio created a connection challenge.  How to move between the two, and conceptually connect them, without the usual path connection?  The solution was to use a gradation of square stones, suggesting a broad grassy avenue, with low ground washing lights.  Rather than a solid path, which would divide the lawn area in two, this is more of a dotted visual link between the thouse and patio.  The stones are larger and further apart near the house, smaller and closer together near the patio.  The two lines of stones converge as the approach the patio. This forces the perpective, making the patio seem further away from the house, and the house seem closer from the patio.  The slope away from the house adds to the effect.

This idea came directly from being on site, rather than at the drawing board.  Getting the stones correctly spaced along the lines, and the convergance of the lines working, meant running inside to the upstairs balcony, eyeballing it, and then running down again and jumping back in the Bobcat.

See ‘Design’ and ‘Build’ for more on this project.

Bruno did extensive design development, detailed design,construction documentation and construction observation on this project, while working for Boffa Miskell LTD, in Wellington New Zealand.  The finished project won an award from the NZILA in 2008.