Moving Boulders on Site

Altgelt & Associates was recently hired by a client in the Lyons area to transform a one time cattle detention pond into something resembling more of a wildlife sanctuary.  The property is located on 120 acres with views that span from Loveland south towards Boulder.  It attracts all sorts of wildlife throughout the year. Most recently of note have been a black bear and mountain lion. The premise behind the design was a broken overflow pipe that had been installed when a proper driveway was installed nearly twenty years ago.  The clients had tried numerous times to repair the pipe but were limited because the break was in an area of the detention pond where a large number of salamander had taken refuge and any disturbance to be done was in a very limited area and with no direct ground poisons to be introduced.  This was a very difficult task seeing how most colaguants use a number of man made chemicals.  The one option best suited for this type of situation was to try and utilize a Bentonite slury to effectively seal the leak.

Placing Boulders

Bentonite is a type of clay that absorbs more moisture than its dry weight while providing a cement like effect when it becomes wet. After talking through the various ways of repairing the overflow pipe, it was made clear that the detention pond was needing a facelift if it was going to hold water once again. It was a rare opportunity for designers Tom Altgelt and David Robinson to utilize their creative skills outside the normal paper to construction process and move in a direction resembling what it must have been like prior to the invention of AutoCAD and other design programs that limit the amount of on-site direction the land inspires. By being on site and listening to the land and the clients desires, we are able to quickly sketch through sections, perspectives, and overall plans that quickly and easily communicated the ideas being bounced around.  The best part of the co-creative process with the client and other construction personnel is that it allows all parties involved to have an opinion and a personnel sense of responsibility to the project.  Without this involvement and respect for the land, projects would lack the identity they deserve.  This has truly been a unique design opportunity to for all parties involved from the design process through construction.  We at Altgelt & Associates have been very pleased with the direction this project has taken us as a firm and look forward to sharing more photos in the spring as the plant life begins to shape the project in another direction.  For now, we welcome you to take a look through the photos from the beginning through construction.

My name is Hattie Johnson. I am a student at the University of Georgia in their Landscape Architecture program. I am currently working this summer as an intern here with Altgelt & Associates, and will return to Georgia in August to finish up my 5th year. Thankfully, (and only recently have I begun to use that term in this instance) the intelligent people at the College of Environment and Design at UGA made an internship a requirement for graduation. This internship has been the perfect bridge between college and career. Heading out here, I was prepared to get coffee, make copies, and run errands. Instead the boss makes the coffee (actually an exquisite tea mixture much better than coffee) , I am copying drawings I have produced, and going out to client meetings instead of off buying office supplies. I have felt pushed and challenged, but never over my head.

I am well aware that it is not a conventional firm I have gotten to be a part of. I have been impressed at the beautiful and intricate gardens that have been built from pencil sketches on trace paper (if only those were accepted as final projects). At school, I am much more used to producing finished and polished drawings. It has not only been fun, but eye-opening to work out designs in this sketchy way.   I have learned to design with meaning and soul. Being a steward and enlivener of the land is what drew me to the profession. Working here, I have experienced what that truly means.  School projects have not been successful in replicating the feeling of connection to a site that I have discovered this summer. The whole design process has much more meaning to me now. It is the co-creation between the land, client, and designer that produce beautiful spaces that are harmonious with the people who use them.

Tom's conceptual sketch of a meditative garden

An AutoCad refinement of the water and stepper spiral feature in the meditative garden

I can pick out the moment this all ‘clicked’. Tom and I were at an on-site client meeting. I had spent many hours looking at the plans of this particular site working out paving and grading issues.  The foundation of the home had been poured, the clients, architects, and contractor were all present. They were going over drawings on the back of a flatbed truck, walking around discussing issues with the entrance (the vital link between the landscape and the architecture). At first I kept my mouth shut, enjoying observing the creative process in the hands of some brilliant minds. It was amazing to watch each of them listen and respect each other’s ideas and then present their own. They so beautifully and seamlessly worked through and collaborated to create a beautiful solution. While it was amazing to simply take in the process it was exhilarating when I spoke up with my own ideas. They were given just as much consideration as the master architect’s. It was such a reassurance. I left with great confidence. I still have much to learn, but working here has made what before seemed daunting and unattainable, seem possible.

A rough grading sketch of a sunken lawn area

A section elevation view of the above plan showing the sunken lawn area