Randy
02-21-2003, 10:24 AM
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"Beckoning Cistern" confirms that suspicion. When it comes to storm water and drainage, the cistern and the planting strip on which it is installed make it very hard to draw the line between work and play. It is the first in a series of water cachement elements along the two-block section of Vine street, beginning with the green strip designed by Giese Architects with landscape architect Peggy Gaynor.
The water in the cistern begins on the rooftop of 81 Vine, where it is gathered into a downspout at the edge of the renovated three-story building. After a short vertical drop at the edge of the roof, the pipe cants toward the street, taking the water away from the building and out to the reaching index finger of the "Beckoning Cistern."
A small trickle of the water coming from the down spout into the cistern is channeled off to the "thumb," which points toward Elliott Bay. From the end of that digit, it falls into a "circular wetland," a round concrete planter to be filled with boggy growth. Two more of these planters cascade down the slope beside the sidewalk, further filtering water as it supports the plants within.
Vine Street
Rendering by Carlson Architects
The Cistern Steps will be an important step in making Vine Street an urban watershed. The project, now awaiting final funding, was designed by Carlson Architects and Greg Waddell, artist Buster Simpson, landscape architect Peggy Gaynor and SvR Engineering. In addition to support from the city’s Department of Neighborhoods, funding for the $500,000 project comes from a King County Waterworks grant, the Committee of 33, Intracorp and Geise Architects.
In the wet months, the 10-foot high, 6-foot-diameter cistern will stay full enough that the owners of the condominiums at 81 Vine and their neighbors can turn on the spigot and get ample water for the plants on their terraces and in their units. But in the heat of summer they will have to go back to the city water system to keep their plants alive
"Beckoning Cistern" confirms that suspicion. When it comes to storm water and drainage, the cistern and the planting strip on which it is installed make it very hard to draw the line between work and play. It is the first in a series of water cachement elements along the two-block section of Vine street, beginning with the green strip designed by Giese Architects with landscape architect Peggy Gaynor.
The water in the cistern begins on the rooftop of 81 Vine, where it is gathered into a downspout at the edge of the renovated three-story building. After a short vertical drop at the edge of the roof, the pipe cants toward the street, taking the water away from the building and out to the reaching index finger of the "Beckoning Cistern."
A small trickle of the water coming from the down spout into the cistern is channeled off to the "thumb," which points toward Elliott Bay. From the end of that digit, it falls into a "circular wetland," a round concrete planter to be filled with boggy growth. Two more of these planters cascade down the slope beside the sidewalk, further filtering water as it supports the plants within.
Vine Street
Rendering by Carlson Architects
The Cistern Steps will be an important step in making Vine Street an urban watershed. The project, now awaiting final funding, was designed by Carlson Architects and Greg Waddell, artist Buster Simpson, landscape architect Peggy Gaynor and SvR Engineering. In addition to support from the city’s Department of Neighborhoods, funding for the $500,000 project comes from a King County Waterworks grant, the Committee of 33, Intracorp and Geise Architects.
In the wet months, the 10-foot high, 6-foot-diameter cistern will stay full enough that the owners of the condominiums at 81 Vine and their neighbors can turn on the spigot and get ample water for the plants on their terraces and in their units. But in the heat of summer they will have to go back to the city water system to keep their plants alive