Project Portfolio

Natural History, Sustainably

Nature, architecture, art and education meet in this sustainably designed, rainwater capturing project in the Prescott National Forest.

Walker, Arizona

Skywater’s Strategy

Barnabas worked with the project’s architects during the earliest planning stages to help influence the final building design, a “butterfly” roofline profile that streamlines collected rainwater toward a single drainage point. Without the need for gutters, the design forces water into an up-gradient direction to passively irrigate the landscape and to recharge Lynx Creek. The butterfly roof also inspired Barnabas’s design of a gorgeous custom sculpture that doubles as a rainwater capturing funnel and diverter. As the weathered steel catches and re-directs the falling rain, it reduces its erosive energy. Fabricated by local sculptor Royce Carlson, it uses human artistry to celebrate and honor each natural rain storm. The project was one of the first in Arizona to earn the US Green Building Council’s LEED Gold certification.

Specifications

Project: Highlands Center for Natural History Lynx Creek Campus

Roof: 4,500 sq. ft. metal roof

Hardscape: concrete and decomposed granite

Filtration: landscape, soil

Storage and system: tankless

Noteworthy: LEED Gold

Team

Designer, construction observation: Barnabas Kane for Skywater and T. Barnabas Kane & Assoc.

Architect: Catalyst Architecture

Rainwater funnel fabricator: Royce Carlson

Contractor: Landcraft Engineering & Design

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