Waters Community Boat House

Montgomery, Alabama

We designed the Waters Community Boathouse for many reasons: To serve as a functioning boathouse, to provide canoe storage for residents, and to galvanize a sense of civic pride in the Waters Community residents with an iconic, shared community space. We feel the words of photographer Chris Luker sum up all we hoped would be accomplished with this project:

“When looking at a boat dock many people may not think of it as a public space as we would a park or plaza. I had the chance to photograph this amazing boat dock located in The Waters community in Montgomery, Alabama about a month ago and it broadened my horizon on my definition of a public space. I had been fishing on many docks before as a child but until I stepped back and observed this dock, I never realized how important it could be to a community and how a dock could come to life as does a small-town square comes to life in the morning hours.

There was a constant circulation of activity as I saw fisherman, children playing, and a couple getting their engagement pictures made on this dock. I was happy to see the man above in this photo standing still taking in the beauty of the environment which granted great sense of scale to the structure. The dock is composed of all honest materials and its facade is entirely of teak wood which has patinaed nicely and its roof is of cedar shake.

I believe the environment and the structure are responding to each other very romantically here. Both site and structure witnessing the same sun, same weather, feeling the same breeze, and all aging and sharing experiences together as an elderly couple would to the end of life. It’s very important for a structure to complement its site and its does here in extraordinarily fashion.”