The 'Colony Park Water Court', located in Anaheim, CA, next to Disneyland, opened on November 9th. The Water Court design was a collaboration between site artists Laura Haddad and Tom Drugan (Tom is a former GGLO-er) of HaddadDrugan and GGLO Landscape Architect Marieke Lacasse.
Image courtesy of HaddadDrugan
The design team was inspired by on-site orange groves as well as by the historic town plat of Anaheim. Laura and Tom found references to historic irrigation maps of the town, and reinterpreted them to create the design for the plaza.
The Water Court is a portion of the one acre park, located within a newly developed area of Anaheim. Though not a spray park, the Water Court showcases water and encourages interaction with the various water elements of the park. Colony Park has two play areas with water runnel, a large grass area and shelters designed by HaddadDrugan.
Historic Irrigation Map
Illustration Courtesy of The Collaborative West
On design inspiration, Marieke says, "The map of Anaheim is represented by the main streets, in dark charcoal concrete, green concrete and plantings are for fields, blue bands and actual water runnels symbolize the irrigation lines of Anaheim, coming from the Santa Ana river.” Historically, she says, “Each farmer was given a plot of land to farm, and a town lot block to develop – these 'city blocks' are represented by precast concrete blocks of various heights, which make a fun feature.” For variety, the team also added a shallow pool of water at the end of a runnel.
Image courtesy of HaddadDrugan
Marieke Lacasse of GGLO, the Landscape Architect of Record for this project, collaborated with Artists HaddadDrugan during Construction documents and Construction Observation. Other Watercourt collaborators include HoldenWater, Shaw & Sons, Atomic Fabrications, and Western Metal Arts. Colony Park was built by Brookfield Homes, working with the City of Anaheim. See the project on HaddadDrugan website.