PROJECT PARNTER(S)
designed and constructed by Nate Cormier of SvR and Patricia Cormier

LOCATION
2716 39th Ave. SW, Seattle, Washington, United States

GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE ELEMENTS
2SG, 2RL

DESCRIPTION
This is a linear garden that replaced a typical West Seattle residential rockery with a terraced gabion wall and ipe benches. The lawn in the planting strip was also replaced with strawberries and espaliered apple and pear trees. The public and private realms are blurred to form a place for residents to sit and enjoy fruit and conversation with neighbors and passers by. Originally, the garden was built to experiment with the aesthetic and ecological benefits of gabions so that they could be used in an upcoming public project, the Mercer Slough Environmental Education Center.

PHOTOS AND DRAWINGS


LESSONS LEARNED
1. Gabion walls don't need any kind of drains because they are porous throughout.
2. Gabions can be customized to make them more useful in public spaces.
3. Gabions can be filled with any heavy material--diverse stones, metal artifacts, obtanium, etc.