The Run Down

Hines Engineers were chosen to serve on a design team of nationally recognized architects & engineers to aid in the renovation of the site.  An extensive re-ordering of the property was envisioned which drastically affected existing lake water quality, water feature mechanical, & irrigation system operations & maintenance. Working on-site for over a year, we were pleased to provide a holistic approach to site water management that saved the Owner over $250,000 in infrastructure costs over the design build projections.

Trout Habitat & Water Quality

Key to the success of this project was assessing lake water quality and providing easily maintainable, natural processes to support wildlife & acquatic habitat.  The property Owner has the goal of restoring a trout spawning bed within the lake system and encouraging sustainable fishing practices.

Integrated Mechanical Systems

Hines Engineers are intuitively creative, out-of-the-box thinkers which enabled us to work closely with the design team to produce a highly efficient mechanical system to move water around the site from a single mechanical system.  Not only does this system supply water to the water quality system, water features, & irrigation system, but we also developed an approach to measure redundancy while eliminating the extraordinary costs & impact to the project site incurred by utilizing multiple mechanical systems.

Site Sustainable Irrigation System Design

Utilizing over 20 years of site weather data, we provided a comprehensive site water balance to aid the design team in developing a landscape concept rooted in a philosophy of water conservation & informed by property water rights.  A reasonably priced site weather station, discreetly located, will provide daily weather-based adjustments to a powerful, 2-wire based control system.

Current Scope of Work

Hines Engineers are working with the project design team considering multiple water sources which might be utilized to establish new plant material within the newly established corridor area.  The feasibility study includes the consideration of a single non-potable water source drawn from the Union Reservoir as compared to the development of multiple, discreet in-channel water sources within the gulch & adjacent irrigation ditches.  Preliminary infrastructure design, water storage & water quality, and high efficiency irrigation system planning will be prepared for future design following approval by the City.

Hines Engineers worked with the project design team to create these exciting urban campus environments.  Utilizing a unique integration of the engineering sciences & urban design principles, Hines collaborated closely with the Landscape Architect to develop a highly efficient irrigation & water feature mechanical system.

ASU College of Nursing & Healthcare Innovation

Taylor Place

Photos courtesy of Leah Manbeck - GBtwo Landscape Architecture

Award Winning LEED Candidate

Chandler City Hall is the recipient of the presitgeous Valley Forward Crescordia Award!

Water Feature Mechanical Engineering

The City Hall site contains seven water features throughout the property.  Hines Engineers successfully designed a single, high quality mechanical & water quality system to serve each feature, eliminating over $300,000 from the water feature construction budget!

Additionally, Hines consulted with Smith Group Architects to create a 10-foot wide water fall, which falls over 20-feet, utilizing recirculated water from the site cooling system.

Site Sustainable Irrigation Design

Working with the project Engineering team, Hines provided design support and plant water use requirements to facilitate the use of alternative water sources harvested from building cooling systems & totally eliminate the use of potable water for site irrigation!  A weather based central control system & highly efficient system design provide additional water conservation credits for this site sustainable LEED Gold candidate.

Award Winning LEED Candidate

Planning & Design Development

Working closely with the Landscape Architect, City, and Owner was essential to the proper management of site water resources on the project.  Hines developed multiple scenarios to consider various lake & water features, types, sizes, and locations, to conserve & recycle on-site water resources, to maintain a high standard of water quality, and to engineer highly efficient mechanical systems.  Each design option included preliminary pricing and impact to daily operation and system maintenance for consideration by the design team.  Project design is an iterative process well complemented by preparation of a detailed overview of available design options.

Water Feature Design

The primary focus for the large main pond was engineering an efficient water quality system that would maintain clear water year round.  A coral reef and sunken city display, located a the bottom of the 15-foot deep pond provide, act as a feature for summer scuba diving for residents and guests.  Water quality systems include aeration, ozone injection, 10 sand filter units, and recirculation pumping.  A smaller pond, located across the site, was designed to serve as habitat for several native fish species and is managed as such through the use of aeration and bacteria injection.  A 450-foot rushing stream feature is routed across the site and falls into the smaller pond via a large water fall.

Irrigation System Design

Utilizing a booster pump to achieve optimum operating pressure, the high efficiency irrigation system utilizes cutting edge product specification to enhance the mix of native and manicured landscape materials.  A combination of sprinklers and point-source drip irrigation was utilized across the site.

Proper upfront planning of water feature mechanical systems & landscape irrigation water use was instrumental in engineering a comprehensive approach to efficient site water use including storm water management.  The benefits include securing long-term water conservation techniques, an engineered approach to system design and sizing leading to extraordinary savings on upfront infrastructure costs, and efficient long-term system operation and reduction of long-term maintenance requirements.

At Hines, every project we do is award winning!

Snake River Landing

Project Highlights

Designing Hines

Re-visioning Hines

For the last eighteen years, Hines has been committed to water resource management and irrigation system design for a wide variety of public & private clients.  Over time we have developed industry leading expertise in a variety of site water use specialties.  As we consider what we do and how we do it - thoughts never far from our minds - it has been a distinct & challenging joy to go through this process.

Expert Design

This year we were incredibly fortunate to work with the talented folks from the mighty Squared Eye!  A boutique web design firm, Squared Eye is a detail oriented firm with an impressive client list, an impeccable reputation, and a deeply creative, utterly enjoyable staff.

Company President and lead designer, Matthew Smith joined us in our Fort Collins, Colorado office for a week of visioning, brainstorming, storyboarding, and copy development.  This was a key time for us to share the goals, hopes, and the history of Hines Inc.  It was truly amazing to watch Squared Eye take this information and craft and reform it so that it could be effectively and beautifully displayed on the web.  Learning about this transformation has been like learning a new language - how to display thought, experience, idea, etc... in a totally new format - this was the job Squared Eye took on and ultimately engaged Hines staff in as well.

We highly recommend you check out Squared Eye!

Ideas & Argument

This has given us an opportunity to be increasely thoughtful, intentional, and aware of Why We Do What We Do.  Although these considerations have never been far from our minds, this process has elicited response and a greater passion to explore the intersection of work, stewardship, and engineering practice.

We can't wait to here from you as we continue on this journey!

Several of the water features are quite old, Denver's City Park Prismatic Feature is over 100 years old and was newly restored in 2008.  Check out the following site for a history and recent renovation of this beautiful water feature.

City Park Prismatic Electric Fountain