This delicate project allowed us to blend a reclaimed water feature within its surrounding environment, elaborate English gardens housed at the historic Hollister House in Washington, Connecticut.

A simple trough and runnel water system was designed to grace an otherwise empty courtyard and counterbalance calm and focus with the wild abundance of the rambling gardens.

Reclaimed, organic materials were used throughout: water is diverted from an upper stream and transported - pure and untreated - to fill a reclaimed feed trough. The water then flows through a copper spigot, recycled from an old sink, down into the long runnel made of century-old granite foundation stones. The water then exists the runnel and rejoins the stream below.

The water feature has become an ecosystem, providing home to lily pads and other water plants, as well as several frogs.