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