Centerra Landscape Projects Receive Statewide Design Awards
LOVELAND, CO. – JANUARY 6, 2010 – Two McWHINNEY landscape projects in Loveland’s Centerra community ‐‐ Chapungu Sculpture Park, which showcases stone sculpture from Zimbabwe, Africa, and the Centerra Natural Area, which uses innovative stormwater guidelines to ensure a rich ecosystem of wetlands and wildlife ‐‐ recently received 2009 Design Awards from the American Society of Landscape Architects – Colorado chapter.
“It truly is an honor for two Centerra projects to be recognized with these prestigious landscape design awards,” said Jay Hardy, Centerra general manager and McWHINNEY vice president.
“McWHINNEY takes special care in ensuring Mother Nature plays a major role in all developments. We’re committed to sustainability and connecting people to nature and each other. Both projects feature design that is imaginative and protects important habitat and wildlife.”
Chapungu Sculpture Park ‐ Merit Award for Design and Land Stewardship Award The beautiful 26‐acre Chapungu Sculpture Park, built in 2007 next to the Promenade Shops at Centerra on land donated by McWHINNEY, received a Merit Award for Design and a Land Stewardship Award.
DTJ DESIGN in Boulder designed the park, which features 82 large and small African handcarved stone sculptures. It is the first location in the Western Hemisphere to offer permanent displays of African stone sculpture and overviews of the artists, their cultures and beliefs.
The ASLA Merit Award for Design recognized the grace with which Chapungu Sculpture Park fits into its surroundings. The park features walking trails, pedestrian bridges, an outdoor performance stage and bandstand with a great lawn area, ponds, wetland areas, seating areas, restrooms, a bus stop and parking lot with interpretative signage.
Informal soft trails are intertwined within the natural features and preserved vegetation. Structured hard trails provide for exercise and connectivity to off‐site uses. Exposed aggregate concrete walks and paving emphasize a rough and natural feeling for the area.
DTJ and McWHINNEY retained cottonwood trees on the property to provide shade, visual buffers and habitat for wildlife.
Centerra Stormwater Detention Ponds Plan – Merit Award for Planning and Land Stewardship Award Centerra, a 3,000‐acre master‐planned community in Loveland, received a Merit Award for Planning and a Land Stewardship Award for its innovative creation of guidelines and long‐term plans to construct stormwater drainage corridors and detention ponds that are beautiful, functional and enhance urban wildlife and the urban ecology.
The long‐term plan to develop detention ponds that are naturally designed, beautiful and functional – not just squared‐off detention boxes covered in turf with a drainpan ‐‐is among the most aggressive in Northern Colorado.
Developed by BHA Design of Fort Collins, in cooperation with McWHINNEY, wildlife biologist Ray Sperger and the High Plains Environmental Center in Centerra, the guidelines combine storm conveyance and water detention with opportunities to create diverse habitat and enhance wildlife, nature viewing, trails and water quality.
The goal is to greatly increase wildlife potential and the human experience. Through appropriate management and education by the High Plains Environmental Center, the guidelines are the perfect opportunity to educate developers, municipalities and the general public about the important role drainage corridors and detention ponds can play in maintaining and building the natural environment.
For more information about Chapungu Sculpture Park and the Centerra Guidelines, contact McWHINNEY at 970‐962‐9990 or visit www.mcwhinney.com.
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About McWHINNEY
Headquartered in Loveland, Colorado, McWHINNEY is a team of talented people who are passionate about creating great places for people and providing fabled experiences to our customers. We develop innovative and sustainable master-planned communities and award-winning vertical commercial and mixed-use projects. Since 1991, McWHINNEY has planned and developed more than 6,000 acres in several master-planned communities and over 3.6 million square feet of vertical commercial and mixed-use properties throughout the Rocky Mountain region and on the West Coast. For additional information, visit www.mcwhinney.com.
