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| Berberis sp. |
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| Berberis darwinii |
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| Mahonia aquifolium |
- Ailments such as Gout, Fever, Cancer, Hypertention and more are treated sometimes with barberry
This project will take a series of slabs from sidewalks around a given city and excavate them in an archeological fashion. The process is the most important part, test pits will be made in the sidewalk. I will remove all filler materials and leave exposed the pipes, wires, roots and structure underneath. Then using a material such as plexiglass I will cap off these pit so people can walk across them. For a person coming upon a piece of this art this empty space will be enough of a difference to cause them to asses what’s there.Final Plant Drawing Set This is the pre-final drawing set for the planting part of my construction documents. I created plantings that supported the goal of creating the feeling of a meadow leading into a forest floor. Through careful plant choice and dense planting the spaces created will be a good balance of hardscape and soft scape. The lighting plan I'm creating will support the drama of the space by up lighting the sculptural Japanese Maple trees. Planting Master Page  |
| This is the planting master page, it serves as a master list of all the plants and specific details on how the plants should be planted. Since we are planting a roof garden I will need to adjust the sub layer to concrete. |
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| Finished! This is the main courtyard, the plants are all sun loving meadow plants. |
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| In the Southern Courtyard the transition from sun to shade is blended together. In the furthest south part of the courtyard deep shade plants provide bright foliage and blooms to light up the space. |
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| The North Courtyard is similar to the Southern, it has more japanese maples bringing the space out to the North-South axis. This courtyard exemplifies my planting design program of creating an Urban Forest Floor. |
This plant is easy to find in nurseries, the other day I found them in a home improvement store. Growing them means you only need to kick back and enjoy them. 
Luckily, as it happens a set of dunes were right along the road heading back from the beach. I pulled over to an atv staging area. A little nervous that I might get run over by one of these ATV's flying over the dune I set out for my first real Dune experience. Standing at the bottom of twenty feet of solid sand I decided to try and scale the steepest part. The sand slides freely every time I dig my cowboy boots in to take a step up. I'm reminded of those stair exercise machines where you're staying in place but supposedly climbing flights of stairs. Pausing half way up I look at the tracks in the sand and marvel at the fact an ATV made it up this without tipping backwards.
I finally crest the top of the dune, after a lot of concentration and balance. The view is a little surprising, it flattens out in front of me and is strewn with ATV tracks all over. I turn around to admire the distance covered in climbing up then glance to the West where the ocean is still churning. Finally after tromping through the sand I slide very carefully down the back to my truck. As far as adventures go this has been amazing! |
| This is a detail of a fountain I've designed. It will be made of a sandy concrete and glass tiles, the water will spill over the rim in four directions. This ties it into a more elaborate 4 directional fountain in the ceremonial west courtyard. |
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| A first attempt at dimensioning, it's amazing how easy it can be once in AutoCAD! My next task will be adding in some base lines and text to further explain the dimensions. |
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| I am creating a forest floor in these smaller Courtyards. This is done through more random planting arrangements. The next step is to go back in and add a master list and flagging specific plants. |
The weather was forecasted to be thunderstorms, possible cold funnels (tornado looking clouds) and high surf and winds. A little nervous and completely stubborn to get to the ocean I set out in my truck heading West. First stop, an all weather jacket just incase and maybe a compass for good measure. As a California transplant to the pacific northwest I have survived 9 years without a rain jacket. Today I finally gave in and got one, better to be happy and dry on this adventure. Fully prepared now I start to head west, rain and sunshine pour down on me as I go through the mountains on windy roads. 
Finally, the trees give way and a river appears next to the highway! I catch my first glimpse of the dunes and take the first right turn towards them. In my haste i failed to note the dunes were across the river and after miles of residential streets retraced my way to the main road and over the river. I then spotted a sign for Dunes National Park. Wow! How perfect a whole park of dunes, I turn down the road and follow it. 
At the first pull off with a trail over the Dunes in the direction of the water I jump out and run up the hill. At reaching the apex i'm knocked back by the wind and the beauty of the world in front of me. I seem to be in the eye of the storm, sunshine and blue sky's above with dark grey clouds as far as the eye can see around me. The waves are pounding down on each other and they are gigantic! I've never seen so many tiers of waves coming in to shore. I pull out my camera and sketchbook to capture the feeling of pure power that is washing over me. I'm reminded of Lawrence Halprins water features like Lovejoy Plaza. Wouldn't if be incredible to bring this stormy surf into an urban setting? 
- 1 Toyota Tacoma with 6" lift and big mud tires.
