Construction of Cascada in the nearby Alberta Arts District has been going on for quite some time now. So long actually that I’d kind of forgotten all about it, until a couple photos showed up in a friend’s Instagram feed. That spurred me to check it out for myself…
“Welcome to CASCADA, our immersive wellness sanctuary built to be as healthy for humans as it is sustainable for the earth. Here you will find a community of people looking to connect with each other, who are dedicated to daily wellness activities, who are passionate about art, music, and adventure, and who value the opportunity to eat and rest in sustainable luxury”
I first heard about Cascada from Sean Hogan (Cistus Nursery), as he did the planting design and supplied the plants. Among them are aspidistra…
Choice mahonia…
Schefflera delavayi
Eryngium pandanifolium (I think?), Yucca rostrata and palms…
This next photo makes it painfully obvious that Cistus Nursery folks were not the ones who did the actual planting, those poor agaves!
Seriously sad.
The building. Somewhere along the line the units themselves flipped from being built out as apartments to being a hotel.
The front entrance…
Instead of heading inside I kept on walking to check out the plantings on the other (west) side of the building.
As well as the artwork, by .
More palms! (yes there are (oddly) deciduous trees too, but I was focused on the palms)
Back around front and time to head indoors…
Sweet!
Oh ya! That’s a green wall of Rhipsalis…
Looking up…
And to the side…
I climbed those stairs to see the installation from above.
This will be interesting to watch. Rhipsalis are such easy going plants the maintenance requirements should be pretty low. But if there aren’t plant people taking care of it who knows what might happen?
Looking down…
Cascada’s claim to fame are the pools: “With 5 Pools of different temperatures, Dry Sauna, Steam Room, Ice Fountain and HaloTherapy (Salt), the Cascada HydroThermal Circuit is second to none and packed with healing and rejuvenating benefits for your body and mind.” This tillandsia wall hangs at the end of a large pool…
The staff was kind enough to let me into the area to photograph the plants, as soon as the door opened a blast of warm humid air hit me. As long as they get a little misting now and then I think the tillandsia will be very happy here.
At the other end of the pool…
It looks like this area might be in need of a little TLC, some of the plants are already dried up.
Looking down…
And back across the pool. There were people enjoying the space but I was asked to not get any of them in my photos, a request I was happy to honor. I felt lucky to be allowed into the space to photograph.
The neighborhood around Cascada is a little rough around the edges, not that “sustainable luxury” vibe they’re promoting. An incongruity that was visible through the large windows.
Back down in the lobby area (also home to a coffee shop), I noticed this work that has to be by the same artist——that did the local Attitude of Gratitude mural (I wrote about it here), although I couldn’t find a signature.
There’s lots to love here, I’m glad I stopped by!
