Batture

The batture is the area between the Mississippi River and the levee.  As the river level fluctuates, so does the area of the batture.  With regard to Desoto Park, nearly the entire area is batture.  During high water the water rises all the way to the railroad, which acts as the levee.  This type of ecological niche is characterized by being seasonally inundated with water, allowing only vegetation tolerant of wet and dry conditions to exist within it.  As seen during our initial site visits, only one type of vegetation exists at the water’s edge, while there is more diversity further back towards the railroad, where the land is dry more often than not.

The images of the Mississippi River batture are from photographer Darren Clark.  In them you can see the changing nature of the batture, which fluctuates from dry land to becoming the river itself.

The above image is reminiscent of the borrow ponds with Desoto Park.  When the water rises, the ponds are no longer distinguishable from the surrounding environment.  Only when the water level is low is their form visible.

Images of Desoto’s Batture from the west to the east:

Stone :: Typical Applications

Here are images of some typical applications of the stones we have researched.

Paving Detail :: Plan and Section

The following images show details for a typical application of paving stones.

Materials Research :: Stone

Our materials research is focused on stone.  Information about the characteristics, typical application, and benefits of each of the following stones is included below: bluestone, flagstone, granite, limestone, sandstone, and slate.

BLUE STONE

Bluestone is a blue-gray sandstone consisting of a mixture of sand compound and quartz particles. Bluestone is flame treated to create a pebbled uniform surface. Thermal treated bluestone pavers are ideal for non-slip surfaces and are therefore safe for high traffic areas.

Natural cleft bluestone pavers have a non-uniform surface. This creates a more natural look, in regards to the color and texture of the bluestone. Natural cleft is a hard wearing stone and can stand up against the harshest weather. Bluestone can also vary in color from blues and grays, to brown, green, yellow, rust and at times purple. This variance in color shades is dependent on the depth at which the bluestone is quarried. The quality and texture of the bluestone is also directly impacted by the depth of the quarry.  Pennsylvania Bluestone is a common type.

Typical applications: patios, walkways, garden paths and pool decking, fireplaces and steps.

Benefits of Bluestone Pavers

• Bluestone pavers are a very durable and versatile building material, due to its hard and dense composition.
• Bluestone pavers are safe to use around the pool, for they have a non-slip finish to them.
• Bluestone is often called ‘slate’, because it is the flattest stone of all the natural stones, making it very easy to install.
• Bluestone pavers can be purchased in varying thicknesses and dimensions, something suitable for all types of applications.
• Bluestone pavers will add natural beauty to your property, giving it that classical, ‘ancient’ aesthetic appeal.
• Bluestone pavers are available in so many different colors. There is bound to be the right color to match any of your existing materials.

Flagstone

FLAGSTONE

Flagstone is a sedimentary rock that is split into layers along bedding planes. Flagstone is usually a form of a sandstone composed of feldspar and quartz and is arenaceous in grain size (0.16mm – 2mm in diameter). The material that binds flagstone is usually composed of silica, calcite, or iron oxide. The rock color usually comes from these cementing materials. Typical flagstone colors are red, blue, and buff, though exotic colors exist.  Arizona flagstone is a common type.

Typical applications:  patios, walkways, garden paths and pool decking, fireplaces and steps.

GRANITE

By definition, granite is an igneous rock with at least 20% quartz by volume. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. It can be pink to gray in color, depending on their chemistry and mineralogy. Granites sometimes occur in circular depressions surrounded by a range of hills, formed by the metamorphic aureole or hornfels. Granite is usually found in the continental plates of the Earth’s crust. Granite is nearly always massive (lacking internal structures), hard and tough, and therefore it has gained widespread use as a construction stone.

Typical applications: paving hard surfaces, driveways, walkways, patios and pools

Granite paving shapes:

• Fan
• Hexagonal
• Diamond
• Concourse Square
• Half Course Square
• Marquise
• Cobble-lock

Benefits: 

• Granite resists corrosion, scratching, and heat
• Can be used in very high traffic areas
• Not influenced by freeze-thaw cycles in outdoor applications
• Provides a natural acoustical barrier
• Granite is an all natural material and each piece is unique
• More durable than virtually any synthetic flooring surface
• Will not fade
• Easy cleaning and maintenance
• Harder than concrete and steel.

LIMESTONE

Limestone comes in a variety of types and colors.  It also has different finishes.  It can be hammered, polished, honed, grooved, tumbled, and fine picked.  Limestone cut into blocks and slabs of varying dimensions (dimension stone) and used as: curbstone, paving stone, treads, coping, pool corners, sinks, and in fountains.

Limestone is also commonly crushed and used as a construction material in road base and railroad ballast, as an aggregate in concrete, and mixed with shale to make cement.  It is also crushed and laid down for pathways.

Limestone is formed from calcium carbonate to create the mineral known as calcite.  Some of the commonly used types of limestone include: chalk, coquina, fossiliferous, lithographic, oolitic, travertine, and tufa.  Calcite is vulnerable to acid, and therefore limestone degrades from rainwater over time, which is slightly acidic.

Typical Applications

• walkway, courtyard, stepping stones, and pool area

Benefits

• beautiful material

SANDSTONE

Sandstone is a sedimentary rock made up of small bits of sand sized sediment, usually containing quartz, feldspar, and lithic fragments.  Bluestone and flagstone are types of sandstone.  Sandstone comes in a variety of colors including: tan, brown, yellow, pink.  It is often striped and swirled, evident of layers of sand compacted into the stone.  Sandstone is porous, allowing water to percolate through and even be stored within it.  Sandstone is a common paving material and has been used since ancient times as a building material.  Sandstone is cut into blocks and slabs to be used for paving and building.

Typical Applications

• walkways, patio flooring, walls and wall features

Benefits

• durable
• versatile
• very long lasting
• easy to install
• slip resistant

SLATE

Slate is shale that has undergone metamorphism.   It is made up of silt and clay sized particles and includes quartz, feldspar, and other minerals such as pyrite and hematite.  It is laminated- made up of many thin layers- and fissile- easily splits along the lamination lines.  Slate comes in many colors, mostly light to dark grey but also includes: purple, green, red, and brown.  The color is determined by small amounts of materials being present in the shale.  For example, shale would be red because of the presence of iron oxide.  Slate is cut into blocks and slabs to be used for paving, cladding, and roofing tiles.

Typical Applications

• pathways, patios

Benefits

• strong material, strength of concrete with more appealing surface
• easily cut with straight edges and uniform thicknesses
• unaffected by acid, can be placed directly into the soil
• slip resistant

RESOURCES:

Geology.com, http://www.tulane.edu/~sanelson/geol212/sandst&cong.htm, http://www.paversearch.com/bluestone-pavers-menu.htm,  http://www.paversearch.com/bluestone-pavers-introduction.htm, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flagstone, http://www.amlinkmarble.com/paver.htm, http://www.paversearch.com

 

The Arpent: A Settlement Pattern

Google Earth image of the Mississippi River and False River, just north of Baton Rouge. Notice the land use pattern of the arpent, particularly visible in the river bends. Baton Rouge is east of the river, at the bottom of the image where the river straightens for a bit.

Arpent Bend, buy Leah Evans. She's into maps and quilting. To see more of her work, visit http://blog.pawlingprintstudio.com/2010/11/leah-evans.html

Another quilt-map merger: Ian Hundley.

For more images of Leah Evans’ work:

http://www.cartype.com/pages/3134/textile_designs_by_leah_evans

Water Level Flux

Water level in the north borrow pond on February 3rd.

Water level at same spot on February 12.

These two photos were taken about a week apart from each other, and show a noticeable change in water level.  As the river rises, water seeps through the soil into the borrow pits, causing their levels to rise as well.  The water has not yet flowed over the land that separates the borrow ponds from the river, rather the exchange happens underground.

As landscape architecture students, we understand that landscapes are constantly in a state of flux.  Located on the bank of the Mississippi River, Desoto Park is a site quite clearly in flux.  The river undergoes various cycles of change, which transform the appearance and usability of adjacent parcels of land on small and large scales.  The arpent system was created by French settlers along the Mississippi as a way for everyone to have access to the river, for its benefits as a means of transportation, but also because it was a system that allowed everyone to absorb some of the floodwater without being completely overcome by seasonal deluges.  Desoto Park absorbs the rising levels of the river during the flood season, which changes the site dramatically over the course of a year.  Today the edge is, for example, 485 feet west of the railroad tracks, but next week it could be at 480 feet, and by April and May, the water level will be at the base of the tracks.  The ground is not static, rather it a layered system in a constate state of flux.

 

Yearly Fluctuations

Every spring, the snow melt from the north flows down the Mississippi, flooding points south.  Below are google maps images that show how high the water rises in Desoto during the spring floods.

Desoto Park at high water, probably during the Spring flood of 2011.

 

The borrow ponds on the north end of the site. The water must be about 15 feet higher than it is now. Notice how close to the railroad tracks the water is.

transect walk

Friday afternoon I went to the site to complete an assignment in which we are asked to photograph the visceral and sensory elements of the landscape, beginning in downtown and transecting the site to the river.  The first time I took a walk, I began at the location of the Saturday farmer’s market.  I chose to begin here because I imagined people on the weekends out and about, and that they might enjoy taking a walk to the river after visiting the farmer’s market.  While Baton Rouge’s downtown is quite small and quiet, there was enough going on to give me the feelings of being amongst a great deal of concrete as well as feeling miniature next to tall office buildings.  It was a windy afternoon with sun warm enough to feel on my skin.  Noise from traffic was amplified as it ricocheted off vertical building surfaces.

I was drawn to make a right towards the capitol building, as the sheer verticality of it in comparison to the other buildings grabbed my attention.  This street had several government buildings, which evoked associations with words like dry, boring, tedious, regimented, confined, tight, formal, etc.  I was drawn greens and textures of the capitol gardens.  I was drawn in to feel the grass and roses shedding petals.

 

Turned towards the river and visitor’s center.  Approached the grass oval of young park.  Wind blowing, light layers of clouds slightly eclipse the sun.  The gnarled branches of the live oaks pull me towards them.  I stand under them for a bit, and the green clover in the lawn by the vistor’s center looks so inviting.  Sun shines off the green clover leaves.  Wind blows the flags and ropes slap the flagpoles.

 

Walking again, a wall blocks my way.  My vision is towards the trees across the railroad tracks, the wall seems in the way.  Every time I approach it I want to hop over it, but I have a camera in hand and don’t want to risk damaging it, so I go to the stairs.  Construction on River Road makes a simple street crossing feel dangerous and stressful.  I’m in middle land now, in the triumvirate of River Rd-Parking Lot-Railroad track, the piece that is a barrier between city and Desoto.  I want to cross into the park, but there’s no path, so I walk south down the railroad tracks, eventually find a path, and slip through to find a muddy road with lots of standing water- down in elevation.  My shoes aren’t waterproof, I can’t pass I have to go further south, to the gravel road that goes to the the river’s edge.  Once at the river, the sky opens up, the wind is quicker, and I feel calm.  There is a scene here, things to watch, like boats and cars passing over the i-10 bridge.

Back in the studio, photos seem insufficient.  Have I captured the sensory qualities?  Somewhat.  Do the photos represent a transect through the site?  Not so much, there are pieces missing, important points of transition, like the river side of the railroad tracks, the part where an overflowing river would climb.  I return to the site.  There’s enough time to do another walk from the middle ground of the triumvirate to the river before darkness arrives.  I find an actual path that passes between the borrow pits to the river.

It goes through the woods and offers perspectives to show the connection of city and river, visible because of the lights of downtown buildings and the lights of the I-10 bridge spanning the river.  The path is tunnel-like and brings me to the river’s edge where trees grow out of the water, and dead logs float on the surface.

Because dusk was turning to night, the lights on the buildings, bridge, and opposite shore created a sightline to see the connection from city to river.  I could imagine one day the park being designed in a way that is connected to the city, and it feeling safe to go there.  Passing by the borrow pits, something large in the water was startled and in turn, startled me.  I paused, checked it wasn’t a gator, thought maybe it was a beaver, spoke to it, and leapt over, hoping nothing would maim my leg.  It would be a shame if it did.  I hustled out of the park, it was legitimately dark, and I felt I shouldn’t be there alone.