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The
transformation of nature through urban development has resulted in a
thwarted hydrologic cycle. Urban infrastructure built to contain and
overpower natural processes has been particularly harmful. Among the many
consequences of a disturbed hydrologic cycle are polluted waterways because
of sewer overflows and urban runoff, subsiding land due to a diminished
water table, and city dwellers that are deprived of experiencing the
fundamental life force of water.
This
has not always been so. The Romans and the Moors celebrated water and
harnessed its qualities in functional and artistic ways through aqueducts,
fountains and gardens. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Frederick
Law Olmsted devised strategies that both solved complicated drainage problems
and provided cherished public open space as in the Back Bay Fens.
In
recent years, some ecologically- and culturally-conscious design
practitioners have once again sought to harness the processes of nature and
the aesthetic qualities of water to create urban spaces that bring people
together in embracing the nature and culture of a place. These types of
projects are called "waterscapes." (Dreiseitl)
How do
waterscape projects combine landscape design and natural processes to
create, "dialogues that engage both culture and nature."? (Spirn
1988)
This
study will focus on projects by two contemporary design firms - Atelier Dreiseitl and Gustafson Guthrie Nichol - that
create urban spaces that both re-establish the urban hydrologic cycle and
harness the aesthetic qualities of water.
The
case study waterscape projects are:
These
projects prioritize the role of water in our urban systems and allow people
to experience water in numerous ways, thus resulting in unique, sustainable
and expressive urban spaces.
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image captions and credits
top: photograph by Francisca Rojas
middle: Olmsted's Back Bay Fens in 1901. The Fens primarily served to control flooding and
pollution, with open space as an incidental benefit (Spirn 1984, 147).
Image from Library of
Congress Prints and Photographs Division, Washington D.C.
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