BACKSTORY

“What we landed on was a topographic resolution that was exaggerated vertically so that you could see the morphologies and typologies of our region but was also a working water fountain.”—AARON SHUGART-BROWN, ASLA When a client requested a fountain feature that represented the topography of the Tennessee River Valley watershed, Aaron Shugart-Brown, ASLA, a project manager at Ross/Fowler and the lead designer, had to think creatively. In ArcGIS, the team consolidated topographic maps of 650 miles of the watershed, including rivers and dams, into a 13-foot radius. The fountain required intense collaboration between the designer, plumbing engineer, utility engineer, granite provider, and fabricator. Material was a challenge during the design process since the 13-foot-diameter fountain was made from a single piece of granite that weighed roughly 20 tons. Ross/Fowler could…