|
07 - Wateredges, art and nature in Dallas, Texas, USA |
|
Project name
|
Wateredges,
art and nature
|
Keywords
|
To
control bank erosion, to create microhabitats, to improve water quality and becoming an area for visiting
and observing plant and animal life a special concrete sculpture has been
designed by Patriacia Johanson
|
| |
 |
Start of the project
|
Realized in 1981
|
End of the project
|
Still existing
|
Contact person
|
Patricia
Johanson, environmental artist
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
www.patriciajohanson.com
|
Short project description/ project function
|
Fair Park
Lagoon in Dallas (Texas, USA) needed restoration as it had eroding shorelines
and the water was eutrophic due to washing of fertilizers from the lawns which surrounds the lagoon.
Patricia Johanson designed a
concrete sculpture at the wateredge as a functioning ecosystem for plants and
animals as well as controlling the erosion.
She chose the leaves of native
plants, Saggitaria platyphylla and Pteris multifida, as form for the
sculptures, on which people can walk, enjoy themselves and study wildlife.
|
Summary of experiences
|
The
lagoon with eroding banks and bad water quality has been developed into a healthy
environment for plants, birds, fishes, ducks and turtles. The water quality
has improved and erosion has stopped.
|
Project
benefits
|
The area
has become a living environment important for wildlife but also for humans
who can easily observe the plants and animals from the concrete leaves on
which people are allowed to walk.
|
Project
level
|
Mature technology
|
Financial scale
|
Construction
costs: unknown
Maintenance
costs: unknown
|
Environmental conditions
|
Fair Park
Lagoon is situated in Dallas, Texas in the warm temperate/subtropical climate with permanently humid
hot summers.
|
Altitude
|
50 m
|
Description of special local conditions
|
-
|
Why this is ecological engineering
|
Here a
sculpture has been created which gives possibilities for the development of
microhabitats, forming part of a larger ecosystem, playing a role in the
cleaning of the waterbody, catching the fertilized water washing from the
lawns, has stopped bank erosion, is aesthetically nice and can be used by
people in order to observe plants and animals.
|
|
|
Last Updated ( Tuesday, 18 December 2007 )
|
