In the development of land-water holdings, special care is required in the delineation of use areas, in the location of paths of vehicular and pedestrian movement, and in site and building design.
Natural Streams and Water Bodies
Where these exist, they represent the resolution of many dynamic forces at work—precipitation, surface runoff, sedimentation, clarification, cur-rents, wave action, and so forth. It can be seen that to alter a natural stream, pond, or lake will set in motion a whole chain of actions and interactions that must then be restored to equilibrium. It is soon learned, therefore, that a first consideration in the site planning of water-related areas is to leave the natural conditions undisturbed and build up to and around them.
In their existing state, the banks of streams and rivers are lined by a fringe of grasses, shrubs, and trees that stabilize soils and check the sheet inflow of surface storm water drainage. The bank faces are held in place by stones, logs, roots, and trailing plants that resist currents and erosion.
Lakeshores and beaches, armored with wave-resistant rock or protected by their sloped edges of sand or gravel, are ideally shaped to withstand the force and wash of wind-driven waves. Even the quiet pond or lagoon is edged with reeds or lily pads, which serve a similar purpose.
Where a water feature such as a spring, pond, lake, or tidal marsh occurs in nature, it is usually a distillate of the surrounding landscape and a rich contributor to its ecologic workings and the scene. Such superlatives are to be in all ways protected. This is not to preclude their use and enjoy-ment, for the purpose of sensitive planning is to ensure protection while facilitating the highest and best use of the landscape feature.
Canals and Impoundments
Parts of the American landscape are laced and interlaced with a network of canals. Some have been in operation since colonial times. Many have been long abandoned. When “rediscovered” and reactivated in rural or urban settings, these waterways, with hiking or biking trails along-side, become treasured community features. All are to be preserved and protected.
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For safety, a beach should slope to a depth exceeding a swimmer’s height (6 feet plus) before reaching a deep-cut line.
Rectilinear excavation pits can be reshaped by supplementary grading to create free-form lakes.
At a miniscale, a trickling rivulet can be impeded by a few well-placed stones to increase its size and depth. By the construction of a proper dam, larger and deeper pools can be created for fishing, swimming, or boating or as landscape features.
At a greater scale, huge reservoirs or lakes may be impounded for water storage, flood control, or the provision of hydroelectric energy. Provided the drawdowns are not too severe or frequent, such large impoundments offer the opportunity for many forms of water-related recreation and often become the focal attraction for extensive regional development. To ensure their maximum contribution and benefits, all major reservoirs and the contiguous lands around them should be preplanned before construction permits are issued, with dedication provided for necessary rights-of-way and for appropriate public and private uses.
From the smallest dam to the largest, the location must be well selected to ensure its stability, for a failure and surging washout can bring serious problems downstream. Water levels are to be studied in relation to topo-graphical forms so that the edges of the pond or lake may create a pleasing shape well suited to adjacent paths of movement, use areas, and structures.
Where the feeding streams are silt-laden or subject to periodic flooding, upstream settling basins with weirs and a gated bypass channel will be required.
Paths, Bridges, and Decks
People are attracted to water. It is a natural tendency to wish to walk or ride along the edge of a stream or lake, to rest beside it enjoying the sights and sounds, or, in the case of streams, to cross to the other side.
These desires are to be accommodated in site planning. Routes of move-ment will be aligned to provide a variety of views and will in effect com-bine to afford a visual exploration of the lake or waterway. It is fitting that water-edge paths or drives be undulating in their horizontal and vertical curvature and constructed of materials that blend into the natu-ral scene. At points where water-oriented uses are intensified or where the meeting of land and water is to be given more architectural treat-ment, the shapes and materials of the pathways and use areas will become more structural, too.
Overlooks may be as unprepossessing as a bench in the widened bend of a path. Or they may be decked, terraced, or walled, to bring the user into the most favorable relationship to the water for the purpose intended, be it viewing, relaxing, fishing, diving, or entering a boat.
Bridges, too, are designed with regard for much more than basic func-tion. At their best they provide an exhilarating experience of crossing.
Ocean beaches are built and rebuilt by the forces of currents, storms, and tides. They are essentially temporary, since the forces that built them can also alter them beyond recognition—
sometimes during a single great storm. Even the most costly stabilization projects have proven ineffective against. . . . beach evolution.
Albert R. Veri et al.
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Often, and particularly in large parks and nature preserves, the migratory aspect of beaches and shores is acknowledged, and they are allowed full freedom to assume and constantly adjust their natural
conformation. This eminently sound approach deserves far wider application.
The water in many city reservoirs is hidden from public view. In its storage and processing it could be used to refresh and beautify urban surroundings.
Seen from many directions and angles, they are to be given sculptural form. Every bridge is to be designed with utmost simplicity as a clear expression of its materials, structure, and use. Each will derive distinc-tive character from the locality and the nature of the site.
Water Edges
The meeting of land and water presents a line of special planning significance.
It has been noted that where the uses are mild and where the banks or shores are attractive, they are best left essentially undisturbed. As water-related uses are intensified and the need for space increased, the degree of edge treatment is correspondingly increased until in some instances it may become entirely architectural.
In the shaping of water bodies it is desirable that the outline be curvilinear, rather than angular, to reflect the undulating nature of water.
Often, to provide more efficient use of the bordering land, the pond or lake is first excavated along straight lines, which are often softened by curvature and by rounding intersections.
Since in most methods of excavation, as by dragline or pans, straight, deep cuts are more economical, the central body of a lake is often a rectangle or a polyhedron in shape, with a widened perimeter shelf sloped to the deeper excavation pit and trimmed to more natural form.
From no point along the shore should the expanse of the water surface be seen in its entirety. If possible, the shoreline should be made to dip out of sight at several points to add interest and to set free the observer’s imagination. By this design device not only is the water body made more appealing, but its apparent size is increased.
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Urban water’s edge.
Carol R. Johnson Associates, Inc.
In water-edge detailing these are some of the fundamentals to be kept in mind:
• Minimize disruption. Where the banks or shores are stable, the less treatment, the better.
• Maintain smooth flows. Avoid the use of elements that obstruct currents or block wave action.
• Slope and armor the banks, if necessary, to absorb energy where flows are swift or wave impacts are destructive.
• Provide boat access to water of desired depth by the use of docks, piers, or floats with self-adjusting ramps.
• Avoid the indiscriminate use of jetties and groins or the diverting of strong currents. The effects are often unpredictable and sometimes calamitous.
• Design to the worst conditions. Consider recorded water levels and the height of wind-driven surf.
• Preclude flooding. Hold the floor level of habitable structures above the 50-year-flood stage as a minimum.
• Promote safety by the use of handrails, nonslip pavement, buoys, mark-ers, and lights.
• Use weather- and water-resistant materials, fastenings, and equipment.
Corrosion and deterioration are constant problems along the water-front.
• Prevent the flow of polluted surface runoff into receiving waters. Such runoff should be intercepted and treated, or filtered by the use of detention swales.
Pools, Fountains, and Cascades
It is hard to imagine any planned landscape area—patio, garden, or pub-lic square—that would not benefit by the introduction of water in nat-ural or architectnat-ural form. Its sound, motion, and cooling effects give it universal appeal.
The qualities of water are infinite in their variety.
In depth, water may range from deep to no more than a film of surface moisture.
In motion, from rush to gush, plummet, spurt, spout, spill, spray, or seep.
In sound, from tumultuous roar to murmur.
Each attribute suggests a particular use and application in landscape design.
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Barry W. Starke, EDA Landscape Architect M. Paul Friedberg and Partners
Inside the cascade.
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Belt Collins C. Bruce Forster, Mayer-ReedEDAW, Inc.
Barry W. Starke, EDA
Belt CollinsKongjian Yu/Turenscape
Fountains add interest and refreshment.
Water has become symbolic. It connotes and promotes refreshment and stimulates verdant growth. Its presence can convert seeming desert into seeming oasis.
Where water is plentiful and its use is to be featured, as in urban courts, malls, or plazas, its treatment is often carried to an exhilarating scale and high degree of refinement. Many a city is remembered for the delight of its exuberant fountains and rushing cascades.
In even the smallest garden also, water has its essential place. Wherever plants are used, for example, irrigation is needed and is to be considered in the design. A trickling spout or well-placed spray can moisten and cool a patch of gravel mulch, a bed of ivy, or a square of sunlit paving.
The simplest container of water placed out for the birds adds interest and refreshment, as does a quiet pool, a dripping ledge, or a splashing fountain. Such water features, easy to devise and construct, can yield long hours of watching and listening pleasure.
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