Columbia River Watershed, Larry Kirkland, 2019
SERVICES PROVIDED: Design coordination, Materials research, Budget management, Engineering coordination and oversight, Fabricator bid process, Fabrication oversight, Lighting design coordination, Shipping, Installation services, Scheduling, Project close-out.
Columbia River Watershed is an interactive water feature that is both a place to play as well as learn and contemplate the Columbia River, its tributaries, and the vast land area that makes up its watershed. The Headwaters serves as the starting point of the water feature where water flows over the etched granite surface depicting the Columbia watershed into the pool symbolizing its many tributaries. Each line was hand-cut into the granite surface between rounds of sandblasting to achieve the desired depth and dimension. On the other side of the Headwaters is a bronze casting of a topographic map that displays the source of the Columbia at Lake Columbia in British Columbia and is mounted to a Coast Green Granite slab from Brazil. Encompassing this bronze casting is an essay written by award-winning author Teresa Jordan who Kirkland partnered with to try and capture the importance of the Columbia River both to its natural environment and the people who have been sustained by it. The water feature officially opened to the public Friday, August 9th, 2019.
Larry Kirkland’s design for the Grant Street Pier located beside the Columbia River Watershed was completed in 2018.
Check out the video embedded below for an aerial view of the Columbia River Watershed.
Digital modeling and presentation graphics by Mowry Studio. Select images courtesy of Craig Collins and Lioneye Aerials.