The artist’s studio and koi pond that make up this Moraga, Calif., project are inextricably intertwined. “The inspiration for my work comes from the pond,” says the client, a painter who lives with her husband in a house on the same piece of property. The pond goes right up to the edge of the studio, and the two structures share a concrete foundation wall. Project manager Satya Palani used sustainable concrete with a high content of fly ash, a by-product of coal-fueled electric power plants. The pond is landscaped with artificial rocks of lightweight cement, as well as vegetation like ogon, a Japanese grass, and equisetum, a horsetail plant. Its mechanical filtration system includes a UV filter to kill harmful bacteria. “We scoop the bottom of the pond once or twice a week,” says the client. About 30 lucky fish inhabit the 16,000-gallon pond—enough to inspire galleries full of paintings.
Builder: Canyon Construction, Moraga, Calif.; Architect: Ittsei Nakagawa, El Cerrito, Calif.; Landscape designer: Lawrence Bennett Landscape Design, Moraga; Photographer: Indivar Sivanathan.
