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My pleasure! I will add that the walking excursion around the city today was an improvement over my last visit. The Monument Square area was clean and pretty much free of the homeless and drug users that were prevalent a few months ago. In addition, there also appeared to be less graffiti at street level which is a positive sign. The renovations to the Time & Temperature and Fidelity Buildings are absolutely vital to the survival and improved appearance of that stretch of Congress Street. The Old Port and Commercial Street districts were vibrant and still full of tourists even without a cruise ship in port.
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Can anyone with some urban landscaping knowledge tell me the purpose of this black wall? I got up close to it and noticed some odd objects attached to it with no rhyme or reason. Thought it was going to be a water feature originally?
Then you should also hope that the people who have no where to simply exist have somewhere to safely exist then
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Could put this in the Bayside thread but the Casco just looked too good!
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As someone with over 40 years experience in the design of outdoor spaces, I can tell you that this one fails to meet it's potential. The black wall is meaningless unless water is added to it and the incorrect species of trees was selected for this highly shaded area. It also appears that the species they did select which appears to be Gleditsia {Honeylocust) have not received proper care. I would be happy to advise on revisions to the space if anyone is interested as one of my specialty fields is Urban Forestry.
Not to mention, that looks like a graffiti magnet….
It definitely is and it won't be long before it gets tagged. Such projects are often not thought through enough to predict such events. Before I completed my degree I ran lanscape installation crews. I was working on bidding a very large retirement home project that had a dedicated Alzheimers wing with gardens that were enclosed with high fencing. The landscape architect had specified that the "mulch" to be used in the planting beds was to be 2"-3" smooth river stone. I told him that this was not a good idea but he insisted that I bid on and eventually install it exactly as designed which I did. You can see what's coming .... Less thnn a month after completing the project I was asked to return by the owners of the facility, remove all of the stone and replace it with bark mulch. The residents had been pelting passing cars with the stones.
You can reach out to Seth Kimball at Aceto Landscape Architects. We relied Aceto to make all the selections based on their expertise. I’m well aware I am no expert in plants. Also the wall has an art installation by Christina Watka that I personally love that ties into the pavers and water feature. ~C
Unfortunately too often landscape architects fail to be properly trained in horticulture as well as design and engineering. Seems that's the issue here.