The site of this concept proposal is in Cowen Park, a primarily large
meadow with a forested edge. The meadow was built over Ravenna Creek,
which once ran from Green Lake through Cowen Park into Ravenna Park and
on into Portage Bay. This design aims at reclaiming Ravenna Creek at
Cowen Park.
Uses include providing habitat for the Rufous Hummingbird and the
Brown Bat - as well as conveying a teachable moment of natural processes
to park visitors.
The concept is based on reclaiming Ravenna creek with an emphasis on
showing the inter-relationship of time and human intervention on the
landscape.
Two mechanical elements, consisting of steel walls above a turf
trench are skived into the meadow to reclaim the creek. The steel walls,
canted similar to stadium bleachers, are planted with a monoculture of
red azaleas - which provide habitat for the Rufous Hummingbird. Over
time, however, without maintenance, the steel walls begin to develop
other forms of vegetation, such as Himalayan Blackberry, Red Alder and
Douglas Fir. The biomass accumulation adds weight on the hinged and
pressure-loaded walls - which then begin to collapse and seat into
water-sheathed niches in the ground. To provide habitat for the Brown
Bat; bat boxes are placed under the pedestrian bridges that cross the
creek.
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