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PERMEABILITY & Patience
LeAnn Ostheimer Reminiscences on Melding
French Inspiration With Location-Specific Needs
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n 2013, an unreal flash flood hit Boulder, Colorado, damaging properties beyond repair and forever changing public perception of the danger posed by natural disasters across the state. LeAnn Ostheimer, Lifescape Colorado’s revered chief operating officer, remembers watching a correlated downpour from her northern Denver home. Well-versed in landscape design, LeAnn could not help but envision ways strategic land planning might have mitigated the impact of the 100-year rainstorm. A few years later, adhering to the mandates set in response to the event, LeAnn and her team would find themselves in the heart of Boulder, embedding sophistication into the land surrounding this modern château and protecting it from destruction at the hands of rushing water. “As this site resided in the flood path
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running through the neighborhood, we had to create a landscape design that could handle another 100-year flood,” says LeAnn. “We consulted with and worked with a project engineer for a design that would redirect excess water in the event of a flood. In the back third of their property, we designed a 10-foot wide natural stream bed. To make the space look natural and blend with the Boulder environment, we added meandering paths and layers of xeric perennials, shrubs and trees.” Checking off boxes for the romantic, old-world aesthetic requested by the homeowner—while supporting the architect’s objectives and earning green building points—would add another layer of complexity to the project scope. By the end, Lifescape tells us, the 34,000-squarefoot property is an 84 percent permeable landscape with only 18 percent of the lot being irrigated turf.
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