Spring 2008
A Natural Choice
The Jasper quartzite on the first two stories of Cherapa Place in Sioux Falls, S.D., is repeated in formal landscaping elements such as a riverside patio and bollards for signage.
Photo courtesy of Koch Hazard Architects
By Jennifer Maciejewski
For many landscape architects, natural stone remains the obvious choice when they are selecting materials for their site designs. Locally quarried stones complement the area's ecological colors and textures, while imported varieties offer architects an array of eye-catching options in every shade and style.
Although a developer's budget constraints can require architects to limit the use of natural stones to high-profile areas, such as portals and pergolas, other developers, especially those hoping to achieve Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification, often embrace the widespread use of locally available natural stone. An extremely long material life cycle and the minimal maintenance requirement for stone can contribute substantially to the sustainability of a project.
Designers for Indiana's Eiteljorg Museum used a color and stone palette that hearkens back to the Southwest.
Photo courtesy of Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians & Western Art
Going Green
Due in large part to LEED building requirements, landscape architects across the country now scour quarries within 500 miles of the site to find local, sustainable materials for their projects.
"The intent there is to reduce the cost of transportation and consumption of fossil fuels," says Barth Hendrickson, associate partner and director of landscape architecture and planning for Browning Day Mullins Dierdorf Architects (BDMD) in Indianapolis, Ind., "and the money stays within a local region, which boosts business for local stone suppliers. That's not to say that you're not going to choose at some point to get stone from overseas, for example, which we've done also. But there's an overriding trend to explore what local materials would be available, and even the reuse of materials and stone."
A granite water feature in San Ramon, Calif.
Photo courtesy of Gates & Associates
The Indianapolis Museum of Art relied heavily on Indiana's native limestone and brownstone in both its building construction and landscaping. "It really helped us create a seamless connection between the building and the site," Hendrickson says. "We used the brownstone for a retaining wall for a very large sugar maple tree and for seat walls on the natural side of the property, which is across the ravine from Oldfields Lilly House and Gardens, and that transitions into a more formal area of the museum proper where we used limestone."
In South Dakota, the four stones most prevalent in the native landscape include quartzite, fieldstone, limestone and granite, and their presence is often found in both the buildings and the formal landscaping alike.
The Indianapolis Museum of Art relied heavily on Indiana's native brownstone in its landscaping.
Photo courtesy of the Indianapolis Museum of Art
For example, not only are the first two stories of Cherapa Place in Sioux Falls, S.D., built out of Jasper quartzite, but the stone occurs naturally along the river near the property, as well as in the waterfalls located a mile north. To tie everything together the landscape architects at Brian Clark & Associates in Sioux Falls incorporated the quartzite into the formal landscaping to make seat walls to enclose a patio that overlooks the river, create bollards for monument signage and serve as the bases for three sculptures.
"We like to use natural materials because we feel that they blend in with the native materials and what's been used historically," notes Chad Kucker, landscape architect for Brian Clark & Associates. "A lot of our historic buildings in town are made out of quartzite, and even the brick ones have quartzite foundations. It really ties in with the heritage of the area."
Veteran's Memorial Park in Sioux Falls features this ceremonial pergola made out of recycled native quartzite.
Photo courtesy of Craig Dewitt/Brian Clark & Associates
Instead of drawing inspiration from the native materials on the site, Kucker incorporated the city of Sioux Falls' stockpile of salvaged stones into the design of Veteran's Memorial Park, which features a ring of bollards, a detention pond surrounded by stone outcroppings, a ceremonial pergola made out of recycled native quartzite, and a plaza and memorial pier.
"All of the stone on that project was salvaged from curb sections or old cobbles from old roads," Kucker says. "The city has been saving it for years, and they provided that at no cost; we just had to pay for the labor. We did a lot of thinking of how we could make those materials have a high impact without spending a lot of money on it."
Veined pink Minnesota stone and brown russet German sandstone complement the burnt orange hues used in much of the art at the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians & Western Art.
Photo courtesy of Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians & Western Art
Outside Influences
While LEED's project requirements led to a rise in the use of locally available stones in recent years, landscape architects continue to tap the vast resources found in quarries worldwide as projects call for it.
For instance, when BDMD designed the landscape for the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians & Western Art in Indianapolis, they had one goal in mind: bringing the look and feel of the Southwest to Midwest. Eiteljorg is one of only two museums east of the Mississippi that showcases both Native American and Western art, culture and history. Harrison Eiteljorg, the museum's founder, wanted the museum to capture the unusual aesthetic and diversity of the West, both inside and out.
Not only does the Plaza at Gale Ranch bring a sense of nature to the bustling San Ramon corner, but the granite fountain uses a tenth of the water and energy of a comparable water-jet fountain, making it more economical and sustainable to operate over the long term.
Photo courtesy of Gates & Associates
Since the color tones found in the brownstone and limestone native to Indiana don't create the desired effect, Jonathan Hess of BDMD needed to explore other quarries to find natural stones in shades that complement the burnt orange used in much of the art. Ultimately, Hess selected veined pink Minnesota stone, supplied by the Vetter Stone Company, and brown russet German sandstone, supplied by Carl Schilling Stoneworks. While neither was mined in the Southwest, the pinkish-orange hues of the dolomitic limestone and the brownish-purple tones of the sandstone combine to evoke the feeling of the region.
"That rich orange tone is something very different than you experience in the Midwest," Hendrickson says. "We focused on creating a landscape and building that really worked together using the color and the stone palette to hearken back to the Southwest. When you go in this place, it feels like you just walked into an Anasazi piece of architecture."
Due to its durability, granite continues to reign supreme as the primary material used in urban areas such as San Ramon, Calif.
Photo courtesy of Gates & Associates
Just as BDMD brought the essence of the Southwest to Indianapolis, David Gates, landscape architect and founder of Gates & Associates in San Ramon, Calif., works to bring natural influences into urban environments. For instance, Gates will cut an egg-shaped rock that's four-foot in diameter in half to create two rocks with flat bottoms and then cut off the top. "We call them turtles, and we place them randomly in retail centers or in plazas, and they're benches," Gates says. "We group them so that four or five people can sit, but it's natural. It looks soft, not horribly manmade or overly rigid.
"We're not just trying to replicate natural systems," Gates continues. "We're taking a natural element and sculpting it. It's a good way to bring nature into the urban environment but still make it usable. As opposed to pure nature and pure manmade, it's half and half, and I think that's a trend you're going to see a lot more of."
The Plaza at Gale Ranch in San Ramon, Calif., proved ideal for a 150-foot-long fountain, which uses a million pounds of granite to create a series of broken waterfalls.
Photo courtesy of Gates & Associates
Whatever the project, granite continues to reign supreme as the primary material used in urban areas due to its durability. If a vandal tags it with graffiti, an acetylene torch will cause the paint to come right off. Plus, it is virtually bullet proof.
In addition to the turtles, Gates uses natural stone to create community icons at key intersections, whether it's an engraved monolith in the median that alerts motorists that they're entering the city limits or a sculpted boulder used as a portal into a local park. A busy intersection, the Plaza at Gale Ranch in San Ramon, proved ideal for a 150-foot-long fountain, which uses a million pounds of granite to create a series of broken waterfalls. Not only does it bring a sense of nature to the bustling downtown corner, but the granite fountain uses a tenth of the water and energy of a comparable water-jet fountain, making it more economical and sustainable to operate over the long term.
Natural stones remain popular materials to use in landscape design because they stand the test of time.
Photo courtesy of Gates & Associates
A Timeless Look
While the granite structures bring a natural feel to an urban environment, other stones continue to prove popular as developers attempt to give their projects a timeless feel. "A lot of what we're doing now is reinventing the past," Gates says. "Instead of putting in a big shopping center with a parking lot, we're recreating Main Streets. We're recreating town squares and village greens, and in the planning and landscape architectural process, there's a look to the past. We're trying to design them historically... using the same local materials that were in the original village green."
For instance, the white granite mined in Cape Ann permeates New England's historic towns, roads and curbs. Dave Rinas, sales manager for K2 Stone Quarries on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, notes that he's seen an increase in the sale of stone cobbles, as more designers are using the material to give a project's walkways a European feel.
Sedges and fescues that grow around rocks at Alhambra Creek help to hold the soil.
Photo courtesy of Gates & Associates
"Stone has been there for hundreds of years," Gates continues. "If we look at the economics of the stock market and wars overseas, it's a little frightening today. We want to be comfortable; we want to feel secure and permanent. Stone hearkens to the past, and it brings us the sense of the good times from way back when. It's timeless."
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At Alhambra Creek in Martinez, Calif., cobbles and river rock work to minimize erosion as rain water drains into a detention basin. Boulders with cut bottoms and tops placed along the edge of the sidewalk give joggers and dog walkers a place to sit and enjoy the natural scenery.
Photo courtesy of Gates & Associates
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Due to its timeless quality, stone remains the ideal material for giving new construction an established feel, especially when the project involves a park. "We recently got an inquiry from an artist who is using large slabs to imitate natural outcroppings of rock on three sites in and around the city of Vancouver," Rinas says. "They're trying to make new parks look old."
And since more and more communities now require developers to incorporate additional green space into their projects in order to address water quality and conservation concerns, the trend is likely to continue. Instead of allowing the rainwater to flow straight from a home or business' downspout and into a storm drain that leads to a creek, the developers must find a way to slow the water down, whether by steering it to flow into a retention pond or by running it over water-loving grasses and shrubs before it reaches the creek.
As a result, the development's landscape architects are using stone in order to make the space both functional and usable, much like what David Gates & Associates did with the Alhambra Creek project in Martinez, Calif. Cobbles and river rock placed at the base of the swale work to minimize erosion as the rain water drains into a detention basin, the sedges and fescues that grow around the rocks also help to hold the soil, and boulders with cut bottoms and tops placed along the edge of the sidewalk give joggers and dog walkers a place to sit and enjoy the natural scenery.
Natural stone provides a recurring theme throughout the Cañada College campus.
Photo courtesy of Gates & Associates
But its timeless look is only part of the equation. Natural stones, especially durable ones such as granite, remain popular materials to use in landscape design because they stand the test of time. While a concrete fountain poured in the 1960s would definitely show its age today, a stepped stone fountain would still look as attractive as it did on the day it was installed, and the same is true with other high-visibility features in a project.
With Cañada College in Redwood City, Calif., the landscape architects at Gates & Associates designed an updated look for campus that maintains a timeless appeal while remaining durable enough to withstand the test of time. Since the college was once a ranch, the architect relied heavily on natural materials in the landscape's design in order to incorporate a bit of the property's history and character into the campus.
At Cañada College in Redwood City, Calif., the landscape architects at Gates & Associates designed an updated look for campus that includes this 200-foot-long, five-foot-high wall built out of stacked flagstone, the end of which features a fountain created with stepped stone boulders.
Photo courtesy of Gates & Associates
A 200-foot-long, five-foot-high wall built out of stacked flagstone serves as the college's entrance, the end of which features a fountain made of stepped stone boulders. Although they're different colors, the natural stone provides a recurring theme throughout the campus. Not only is it used as bollards to provide natural barriers along roadways to prevent students from driving their vehicles off the road and across the landscaping, but a large slab serves as both a retaining wall on the side of a hill and a sign for the name of the college, and a polished granite slab houses the campus directory.
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Designers chose natural stone for Cañada College's landscape because of its timeless quality; it simply won't go out of style.
Photo courtesy of Gates & Associates
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"The [college] brand is all out of stone, and for all the same reasons," Gates says. "It's timeless, it's a natural material, it's vandal-proof, and it won't go out of style."
A true generalist, freelance writer Jennifer Maciejewski writes about anything that piques her curiosity. She can be reached at jm@jenmacie.com.
Resources
Brian Clark & Associates
Chad Kucker
Sioux Falls, S.D.
605-339-1205
www.bcadesign.com
Browning Day Mullins
Dierdorf Architects
Barth Hendrickson
Indianapolis, Ind.
317-635-5030
www.bdmd.com
Gates & Associates
David Gates
San Ramon, Calif.
925-736-8176
www.dgates.com
K2 Stone Quarries
Dave Rinas
Vancouver Island, British Columbia
604-598-3611
www.k2stonequarries.com
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