This garden is a celebration of sustainable urban landscape design. It is a unique and multi-dimensional response to an intensive city lot, an extensive client program and the desire to do good work.
This project, in the heart of San Francisco’s Mission District, includes a southern garden, two roof gardens and two green roofs. It acted as a test case for the emerging LEED for Homes accreditation, so we focused on making the sustainable aspects as visible and as comprehensible as possible.
The movement and use of water can be followed throughout the garden. Planted roofs absorb rainwater, reducing the volume of flow. Below ground lie two cisterns for rainwater collection. These cisterns supply the fountain, creating an urban habitat for birds and fish. A water catchment tower demonstrates how to capture water and use it to irrigate a vertical planting.
Defined by bold colors, striking patterns and geometric shapes, this lively garden exemplifies of a new way of living in an urban environment.
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