Pond, falls and living wall

[shawnintland]

Well, I'm finally getting around to that project we discussed a long time ago. One of my clients had an architect design his house from a few thousand kilometers away...unfortunately the only way the design worked was for the contractor to dig into the hillside and set the back of the house below ground level. They then built a cement retaining wall about 1 1/2 meters behind the house. When it was all finished it seems very odd that there are a long row of windows that only look out onto a cement wall! I was given the task of figuring out some way to make it work and look as if it was 'meant' to be that way! My 'solution' is to try to turn the long row of windows along the back of the living room into a "Giant Screen TV" that is always tuned to the Nature Channel! The result should be that the green of the wall seems to flow right into the house and automatically draws people over to the windows where they can then discover the pond. The surrounding areas of the pond and the living wall will give me a bunch of places to grow some really interesting plants (including a lot of CP's).

The owner had been asking me about a pond somewhere on the property as well as a waterfall. Well, a huge rock that 'used to be' part of the wall the contractor built ''slipped' out of place (see photos) and I decided that the space left by the 'slip' would make a perfect small waterfall which could empty into a small but deep pond that the windows look out onto at just about chest height. The wall itself I plan to use to create a 'living wall' which will be the main visual feature to pull people in to look at the pond. The wall will be a 100% hydroponic system, with all the water being recycled via a gutter along the bottom and a filter/tank/pump recessed into the ground.

Ok, enough talk! Here's a few before pics to give the idea of the area in question;








And here's a few of the process getting started;













Ok guys, more pics when it gets further along!