Just monochrome wild grasses as landscape design

 

Seattle Waterfront is being renovated and this year, apart from completing public buildings, new landscape and hardscape design has been added. I've been following up the renovation since the demolition of the old freeway in 2019.

This landscape design seems very interesting to me, in its Minimalism and the use of just monochrome wild grasses at the entrance of a building which I presume it's a restaurant. 

I am sharing these pictures to show the beauty of even the minimum use of species. The pictures belong to my personal archives, June 2024.

Gas Works Park, Seattle

Entering Gas Works Park, Seattle. All photos in this post belong to my personal archives. June 2024.

I had read about Gas Works Park in a Theory of Landscape book. And since then, it was on my "visit list". I finally could get there this month, on a hot, not so sunny day.

Architectural ruins as part of the landscape was an important subject during the Romanticism of SXIX, and it was described in literature and arts:

https://myriammahiques.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-beauty-of-hubert-roberts-ruins.html

There is an aesthetics of ruins which I have described a few years ago in this article, published on Arqa:

https://myriammahiques.blogspot.com/2009/11/acerca-de-la-estetica-de-las-ruinas.html

Needless to say how much I enjoyed the visit to the park that was a real example to my article about ruins.

The view across the Lake Union is Downtown Seattle and this view is enhanced by going up a hill, which I do not know if it is natural or artificially created. This hill gave me the possibility to take full pictures of the abandoned building which has become a sort of monument. 

From Wikipedia: 

"Gas Works Park is a park located in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is a 19.1-acre (77,000 m2) public park on the site of the former Seattle Gas Light Company gasification plant, located on the north shore of Lake Union at the south end of the Wallingford neighborhood. The park was added to the National Register of Historic Places on January 2, 2013, over a decade after being nominated. Gas Works Park contains remnants of the sole remaining coal gasification plant in the United States. The plant operated from 1906 to 1956 and was bought by the city of Seattle for use as a park in 1962. The park opened to the public in 1975. It was designed by Seattle landscape architect Richard Haag, who won the American Society of Landscape Architects Presidents Award of Design Excellence for the project. The plant's conversion into a park was completed by Daviscourt Construction Company of Seattle."..... 

 "Gas Works Park incorporates numerous pieces of the old plant. Some stand as ruins, while others have been reconditioned, painted, and incorporated into a children's "play barn" structure, constructed in part from what was the plant's exhauster-compressor building. A web site affiliated with the Seattle Times newspaper said, "Gas Works Park is easily the strangest park in Seattle and may rank among the strangest in the world."

Ascending the kite hill.

At the top of the kite hill there is this organic art work on the ground. This is the only ornament in the literal sense of the word.

The main Gas Works building as seen from the kite hill.

Side view to the bridge and marina.

Side view from the hill, inland. The path leads to the children's playground.

Getting closer to the main building.

Downtown Seattle at the end of the perspective. On the right, a man enjoying the peace.

A closer view of the building which is surrounded by a wire fence. There are some graffiti and dry vines branches that climbed on the ruins long ago.

Walking to the children's playground and barn.

Downtown Seattle at the end of the perspective.

Getting closer to the barn. The industrial structures are painted and the gain color at the children's area.

The structures in front of the barn.

The barn and the playground with the industrial remnants incorporated as part of the play ground.

Inside the barn, the remnants of the old Gas Works building have been painted in bright colors. One can walk around but not climb the remnants. 

Inside the barn, like a vibrant colors museum. 

A view to the lake from the playground.

A look to the main building from the playground.

The work of a genius in this playground!

Approaching the playground.

Remnants of a block fence, covered in vines at the entry of the park. A great conceptual idea of the dignity of ruins.

 

The beauty of Button Weeds or Golden Buttons "weed"

 

Button Weeds (Cotula Coronopifolia) also known as Golden Buttons. Personal archives, June 2024.

Though Button Weeds (also known as Golden Buttons, Water Buttons, Brass buttons) are consider  weed, they look so pretty next to the lake or ponds edges, in a low mat formation in a naturalistic landscape (garden). I have taken my pictures at the Huntington Beach Central Park, where they bloom next to the local lake under full sun.

This perennial plant is native from South Africa and it is also found in North America, South America and Asia. It reproduces through seeds. The appearance is of button-like tiny flowers, yellow or white, with lance-shaped leaves. The tiny flowers form a cluster that cannot be appreciated from afar. I have taken some of these photos with a 300 mm macro lens, which helped me understand their morphology.

The seeds are hard and can persist in the ground for long years. Hence the plant's duration as a weed or better said, as a lush ground cover.

Such a nice field of Button Weeds, Golden Buttons during Springtime. Personal archives, April 2024.

The Button Weeds (Cotula Coronopifolia) is growing among marshes at the edge of the Huntington Beach Central Park lake. Here, they appear as the yellow "line" in the middle, adding texture and color. Personal archives, June 2024.

Button Weeds, Golden Buttons, seen as part of the landscape. They are a great addition of texture and color. Personal archives, April 2024.

Button Weeds (Cotula Coronopifolia) is growing next to dry branches here. I enjoyed the green tones as seen through the sunlight. Personal archives, June 2024.

Cactus garden at the South Coast Botanic Garden

 

It has been a real pleasure for me to visit the South Coast Botanic Garden again. There is the all over exhibition of "Bloom" which is all the splendid Spring flowers blooming in the garden, being the roses the most beautiful of them. But the cactus garden is fantastic as well. 

I am sharing here some of pictures in such a splendid day of last April. All pictures from my personal archives, 2024.

It is very interesting to walk among the cactus and succulents of diverse scale, arranged with rocks in a desert landscape.

This picture (above) shows a more colorful combination and I like how the perspective closes with taller species and finally there is the trees background. The palm trees species on the left.

See how the trees and the palm trees of the background break the lower scale monotony.

A play of textures, light and shadow.

White rocks here while in some areas (see below) the rocks are darker and next to a red flowering bush.

The palm trees in the background, see the different scales.

Maybe the only critical part is that looking at the cactus garden from the road curve, we perceive it as isolated and not part of a "desert". 

Adding meaning to trees, humanizing trees

A gas mask on top of a dead tree. Photo credit Anadolu/Getty Images. Downloaded from The Guardian.com

 I was reading the article "Must landscapes mean? (by Marc Treib-1995, Theory of Landscape architecture) when I came across with this photo (above) on the Guardian.co, that impacted me so much.  In my understanding, we may have a free interpretation of its meaning, who knows, maybe it was just a casual idea, but who can take away the explicit (at least for me) horror of the war from this dead tree with the deadly mask on top? Doesn't it look like a humanized tree that has become an anonymous soldier?

From the article  by Geoff Dyer: ‘A gas mask on a tree stopped me in my tracks – it shows the air itself can be toxic’

"In its uncanny way the gas mask humanises this tree in Ukraine, lending it an identity that is contrary to what happens whenever a human is obliged to wear one. Everyone, man or woman, attractive or unattractive, ends up looking the same. What we have here, then, is a highly individualised form of anonymity that is in keeping with one of the most solemnly familiar species of war memorialisation: the unknown warrior. This was instituted in Britain in 1920 in the stunned aftermath of the first world war during which time the experience of the warrior had begun to acquire a quality of passivity. By the end of the second world war combatants and civilians alike shared the helpless experience of enduring bombardment, either from the air, by planes or by land from artillery. So the unknown figure of the wars of the 20th century and, of course, those now under way in Ukraine and Gaza, might well be the unknown non-combatant. Through no fault of their own, men, women and children become caught up in something dreadful, as might happen to a tree. A further layer of anonymity or unknown-ness is provided by the caption which identifies the agency but not the photographer who actually took this remarkable picture."

Coming back to Marc Treib's article, he explains how professionals from different fields of expertise, imbue meaning to landscape: "Cultural geographers, calling a collective body of study (...) interpret ordinary landscapes by first looking at the world around them; in their eyes, meaning congeals in setting, dwelling and use- and not alone from the designer's intention. Historians of gardens and landscape architecture tell us of those makers of places past who tried earnestly to create landscapes in which meaning would be apparent and understood (....) to convey to the visitor a message as well as a sensuous impression".

But this is all on the basis of users and designers sharing a similar cultural and social background. Hence, the communication (and significance) is achieved. He then explains that when people do not understand the meaning given by the maker (designer, architect) then there is no meaning because of lack of communication. In consequence "a plastic or metal plaque normally provides its meaning to the residents with credits to the designer (...)"

The Anadolu's photo obviously does not need further explanation, and it deeply moves me like a piece of art.

A tree "intervention". Photo by Myriam Mahiques, personal archives, 2024.

Among the different styles that Treib mentions as forms of giving meaning to landscape, there is the vernacular arrangement (I'm avoiding the word design) which typical example would be the concrete frogs, gnomes, that we must have seen in many houses. Taken away from their context, in Treib's words "multiplied by the hundreds and painted gold, they are not longer the common vernacular element they once were, but fodder for High Style designers". 

I am sharing here an example of vernacular "landscape ornaments" on a tree branch. This is very close to where I live and I'm following up the minor changes. I am assuming this tree branch appropriation is done by a child, but again, who can tell? Should I intellectualize the arrangement? I could, but I prefer to enjoy this fresh, innocent intervention, that gives me food for thought every time I walk along this building. And repeating Treib's question, do we need to have a meaning for this? I suppose not, I am just happy with the feeling it produces in me, the surprise, the fun, the curiosity..... 

The following pictures were taken in April 2024 and are part of my personal archives.

In time, this "intervention" is being modified. There's a bag a toy a the bottom branches intersection now. It is still picking up my interest. Personal archives, June 2024.
 

The Rainbow Bridge in Long Beach CA

A view of the Rainbow Bridge from the front plaza of the Convention Center in Long Beach, California. Personal archives, February 2024.

Back in February 2024 I had to make a consultation for some plans at the Planning Department of the City of Long Beach, CA, and I decided to take some time off to walk around the shoreline and take interesting pictures of the bridges, including the Brutalist structure at the end of the old bridge.

It was a great decision, since it allowed me to "discover" the Rainbow Bridge -designed by SPF Architects- at the Long Beach Convention Center, in which I've noticed all the lighting inside the organic structure but I did not have the pleasure to see them turned on. 

The link below has some videos and pictures of how it looks (so colorful) at night.

https://www.longbeachcc.com/turnkey-spaces/the-wave/

For technical information please read from Archdaily.com:

https://www.archdaily.com/889521/the-rainbow-bridge-spf-architects#:~:text=SPF%3Aa%20worked%20closely%20with,of%20installation%20and%20replacement%20flexibility.

So, I was focused on the landscape design on the side and along the bridge. It is a beautiful landscape, full of native species and roses as well, which were not in bloom yet, as it was late Winter. 

See there are some "benches" of rounded stones. 

I'm sharing here some photos of my walk through, all of them from my personal archives, February 2024.

The front facade of the Long Beach Convention Center on the left.

A "bench" on my way.

The organic structure and the multiple lighting.

The Organicism of the Rainbow Bridge as seen from below.

On the right side, there are some restaurants.

The end of the bridge while arriving at the Terrace Plaza. Except for the fountain, the landscape at the Terrace Plaza looks old and without any improvement. The square planters look pretty dull. It's like the great design of the bridge has not been fully integrated to the plaza.

I took this picture at the edge of the Terrace Plaza, after going out of the Rainbow Bridge. You can tell the difference of landscape design and care. Definitely the Terrace Plaza needs and improvement.