In my previous entry about Mather Point, I was ambivalent about some of the features of the upgrade: the wide, black asphalt, straight, walk-ways in particular. Today, Mrill Ingram showed me some photos of a project that shared some of the goals, but is a step up in environmental consciousness. It is called WaterWash. Designed by Lillian Ball (she has a website), it is a recycling feature nurturing a wetland with a green infrastructure. I offer a few photos to compare with those of the Park Service's project at Mather.
A walk-way, narrower, not so straight:
Here it winds along a slope:
Some close-ups; the surface is permeable to water, made of recycled glass; a bit more restful to the eyes:
Up close:
And a water feature, aiming at restoring a wetland.
Revegetation is easier in New York, but even at Mather, the interface of land, path, and greenery could be greater.
There are a lot of ideas and experiments and projects to do with restoration and human-scale green infrastructure. This paraticular example emphasizes how Mather went away from that toward the geometic, the grandiose.
as the artist said to me, a lot of this isn't rocket science, but you have to be a magician to get people to think differently about pipes and pathways! There are lots of good green infrastructure ideas out there. Public places like Mather point can be educational for visitors in a number of ways.
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