Lightness By Design | Yosemite Falls

I stepped out of my tent into the quiet darkness of Yosemite Valley. The beam of my headlamp guided me to the nearby trailhead. As I started my hike, light snow began to fall. Three and a half miles later, I found myself standing in several inches of snow at the top of Yosemite Falls, 3,254 feet above my camp. As snowflakes swirled around me, I looked out over the scenery that inspired the renowned landscape architect, Lawrence Halprin. I was reminded of his quote:

 “When you get up on the high country and you see a piece of landscape falling down, for example, then you start to learn what nature is really about.”

View from the trail as I approached the summit of Yosemite Falls.

As I made my decent towards Yosemite Valley, I caught glimpses of Yosemite Falls Corridor far below.

For the first time, I truly understood what he meant. Standing there, I felt the landscape in a new way. It was not just scenery – it was motion, story, and music. Halprin’s design of the Yosemite Falls Corridor captures that feeling with remarkable sensitivity. He didn’t merely decorate the landscape; he orchestrated an experience, that subtlety guides visitors to the base of Yosemite Falls. My project, Natural Energies, seeks to document that experience through film – not simply as a record of place, but as a channel through which viewers can feel the impact of Halprin’s design.

The project began long before I set foot in Yosemite, with research. A central part of that research was studying Lawrence Halprin’s sketches. These drawings were not just design tools, they were expressive visual narratives that revealed his thought process and sensitivity to place. Through them, I began to understand what makes his Yosemite Falls Corridor so impactful. One sketch captured the trailhead, marking the moment visitors first glimpse of Yosemite Falls through the trees. Another, labeled “pounding stone,” illustrated how Halprin integrated existing boulders into the design – using the natural terrain to shape the path rather than impose upon it. These moments were not incidental, rather they were carefully designed to seem as though they had always been there. To tell the story of Halprin’s design, I had to capture these subtle details in my own design.

Halprin’s sketch of Yosemite Falls Corridor, highlighting the view of the falls from the Pounding Stone. Source: The Cultural Landscape Foundation

However, documenting the design alone would leave the film incomplete. What gives the Yosemite Falls Corridor its profound impact isn’t just the design, it’s how the design lives within Yosemite. Capturing the spirit of the place – the water, the trees, the light, the rhythm of people moving through the space – was equally as important as documenting the design elements themselves.

Once my research was complete, I traveled to Yosemite and pitched my tent at Camp 4, just a short hike from the Yosemite Falls Corridor. With a sense of anticipation, I set out to experience Halprin’s design firsthand. I left my camera behind. Instead, I focused on immersing myself in the landscape, observing through notes and sketches without the filter of a lens. After a few hours of quiet observation, I returned to camp feeling attuned to the landscape.

The next morning, I began the filming process. I started by revisiting the main trails and the key locations I had identified during my research. Over the course of several days, I returned to the trailhead, the “pounding stone,” and the base of the falls, capturing each at different times of day.

A map of my route through Yosemite Falls Corridor and several key shots that were inspired by Halprin’s sketches.

Once I felt I had documented the essential elements of Halprin’s design, I allowed myself to stray from my original route, focusing on the transitional spaces between the natural and the designed. This intuitive, unscripted approach led to some of the most meaningful footage in the film. A young girl, for example, running freely down the trail toward the falls, or a puddle in a dry creek bed, mirroring the towering cascade above. These quiet, unplanned encounters begin to portray the spirit of Yosemite as Halprin saw it.

A map of my exploration in the landscape around the Corridor and several moment shots that were inspired by Halprin’s sketches.

I left Yosemite with a story to tell.

Natural Energies unfolds in three chapters: The Essence of Design, The Heart of Yosemite, and A Symphony Trail.

The Essence of Design opens the film at the top of Yosemite Falls, highlighting the sheer scale of the natural environment that shaped Halprin’s vision and giving context for the design itself.

The Heart of Yosemite focuses on Yosemite Falls itself – the natural centerpiece of Halprin’s design. The sound of falling water takes over the soundtrack, building from the delicate drip of snow melting off tree leaves to the thunderous crash of water pounding against boulders at the base of the falls.

Finally, A Symphony Trail follows the visitor’s journey through Halprin’s design, capturing the harmony between design and environment.

The final film is a layered visual essay that documents the Yosemite Falls Corridor through both an analytical and emotional lens. Drawing inspiration from Halprin’s sketches and design philosophy, it strives to convey the essence of Yosemite – not just as a place, but as an experience.

My short film brings its viewers on a journey into the heart of Yosemite, starting high above the valley and culminating at the base of Yosemite Falls.

Design That Listens: A Cool Schools Case Study

In our work as Landscape Architects, we cherish opportunities to engage directly with communities and stakeholders, collaborating to build meaningful landscapes that respond to their needs and aspirations. Everyone brings valuable perspectives and knowledge that can inform design decisions and foster a sense of collective ownership. In partnership with Texas Trees Foundation, Studio Outside conducted two rounds of engagement workshops in the spring and fall semesters in 2024 for nine Cool Schools campuses in Yolo County, California. The central goals of the Cool Schools Program are to bring nature back into children’s daily lives, treat schoolyards as a learning landscape, and transform campuses into spaces that cool cities, transform communities, and nurture childhood development. These goals are accomplished through a similar scope of work at each school – including loop trails, play spaces, micro forests, and outdoor learning areas among other pieces of the Cool Schools Toolkit. However, every design was tailored to the preferences of each school’s community.

Workshop participants rank which pieces of the Cool Schools Toolkit they’d like to see at their campus.

In the spring workshops, we sought to discover what overall goals each campus’ community had for its landscape that could be addressed by our scope of work. To accomplish this, we developed group activities in which faculty and teachers, neighbors, students, and their caretakers all participated in. First, they ranked the Cool Schools Toolkit items they wanted to see – such as pollinator gardens, sensory paths, or respite spaces. Second, participants marked on maps where they wanted those improvements to be built. Meanwhile, younger students had a blast drawing their ideal playground. For those who didn’t have a full 30 minutes to participate, boards were posted on the walls prompting sticky note comments, with questions like “What do you like and dislike about being outdoors on campus.” After each group shared their goals, we discussed the similarities and differences, reaching a consensus of which programmatic elements should be prioritized.

In the fall, we returned to each campus and presented the top goals and program bubble diagrams to verify that we were accurately incorporating the feedback we received in the spring. This led to some adjustments, but overall, each design was well received. 

Example of one campus’ program bubble diagram.

Example of one campus’ top goals.

After receiving confirmation from stakeholders at each campus, we progressed into construction documentation. It can be challenging to include everything that stakeholders suggest, but the campus goals we established served as a critical guide in determining which design aspects were essential and which could be removed, if necessary to stay in budget.

It is gratifying to see ideas that arose from each school’s community translated into the final designs. While we presented them with a toolkit of options, it was only a starting point - unique concepts emerged from that foundation. At one school, teachers wanted to highlight the agricultural character of the community by planting a citrus grove. At another, students had been petitioning for years to have more swing sets, so their playground will feature extra swings with greater variety. One campus had a small area of trees, berms, and stumps that students already loved for the sense of wonder it offered. A student proposed turning it into a ‘magical forest’, so we are planting a grove of trees, hopefully enhancing the space’s natural appeal. These trees will be planted by student volunteers who will get to watch them grow over the years.

Students drawing their dream playground provided us with abundant inspiration. One request for a ‘Unity Sculpture’ led to a custom Otter playground piece (the Otter is that campus’ mascot).

As these community-focused designs begin to be built later this year, it will be exciting to see all their ideas come to fruition!