L O W L I N E
B E A U T Y & T H E B E A S T
LOW LINE
QUICK NOTES
DESIGNED BY: Waterstreet Studios & Capital Trees
LOCATION: Richmond, VA
YEAR DESIGNED: 2016 (first phase)
NOTABLE DESIGN ELEMENTS: Runs beneath active trestles, naturalistic planting design, historic significance
long story short
The Low Line is a 5.5-acre urban green space that stretches east from Great Shiplock Park, located at Dock and Pear Streets, to the Richmond floodwall at 17th Street, and from Dock Street south to the banks of the James River and Kanawha Canal.
once upon a time
The result of a public/private partnership, landscapes in Great Shiplock Park and the Low Line have been transformed into inviting and exciting public green space. Concerned citizens lead the efforts through a group known as Capital Trees. Most recent efforts have created a linear park along a critically important but neglected stretch of the Kanawha Canal and Virginia Capital Trail. Now dubbed the “Low Line”, with a nod to New York City’s High Line, the site connects a recently enhanced Great Shiplock Park (GSP) with Richmond’s much-loved Canal Walk. The great lock, built between 1850-1854, connected the James River with the Richmond Dock, completing the James River and Kanawha Canal system that bypassed seven miles of falls and continued 197 miles through Virginia’s western mountain ranges. This park is the lowest of historic Kanawha Canal locks with an interpretive display.It also offers great fishing off Chapel Island.
The planting selection throughout the plaza brings about great deal of softness and natural flow to a rather geometric and man-made structure. Whether around the waterfall or along the pathways, the collection of the lily turf, mixture of ornamental grasses, and larger shrubs, including hydrangea, add a powerful element of nature to this otherwise isolated space.
Sources:
https://capitaltrees.org/projects/low-line/
** All photos by author unless otherwise noted.