Working Water: Reinventing the Storm Drain
- Award Year: 2022
- Award Category: Research and Communication
- Award Designation: Merit Award
- Client: Firm Marketing
- Location: N/A
"Reinventing the Storm Drain" is a metaphor for expanding, down to the basic details, the components of stormwater systems to invent new strategies for effective stormwater controls, and to promote the restoration of the natural functions of urban waterways.
The Author who established his practice in Denver, is inspired by land and water, and the West’s harsh landscape of the extremes. Traveling in the Sahara, he was also inspired by the extraordinary survival of oases in desert environments.
The Author illustrates the Hydrologic Cycle differences on undisturbed land versus disturbed land and describes how intense urbanization presents widespread negative effects on the ability of the water cycle to cleanse water through natural processes.
Series of illustrations demonstrating the difference between: 1) traditional agricultural irrigation systems that “collect—convey—store—disperse”; 2) conventional stormwater systems that “collect— convey—dispose” of water as waste; and 3) contemporary integrated stormwater systems that “collect—convey—disperse.”
Bad vs. Good Stormwater Infrastructure – The photos on the demonstrate “bad” conventional stormwater infrastructure, while the examples on the right suggest alternative solutions using green technologies that disperse and infiltrate rather than discharge and dispose of contaminated stormwater.
Examples of the Firm’s work over four decades demonstrate how the design of stormwater infrastructure can support natural systems and make communities more livable. The projects range in complexity and scale, and fall into three categories—site, district, corridor.
Project stories are told through a combination of narratives, sketches, plans, water diagrams, and sections with photos of completed projects.
Shop Creek, a 35-year-old, national award-winning project, demonstrates how natural forms, materials, and processes can inspire the redesign of standardized engineering structures to integrate stream channel reconstruction into a visually and naturally sensitive prairie landscape.
Shop Creek drop structure typical plan and section and stream channel planting section give readers insight on how the project was built.
River North Park and Promenade – Project plans and water diagrams illustrate water conveyance and infrastructure used for each project. The integration of green infrastructure into traditional park spaces supports plantings that reflect the natural qualities of the adjacent river.
Taxi Mixed-Use Development – Covered surface channels, grass swales, and stormwater infiltration gardens convey and treat runoff from adjacent buildings and parking areas, eliminating the need for costly subsurface storm pipes and curb and gutter.
Stormwater outfall at Lowry’s Great Lawn, Denver – The project demonstrates how restoring a buried creek and repurposing stormwater infrastructure to make the site more multifunctional can create important open space assets for a new community development.
Menomonee Valley Redevelopment, Milwaukee, Wisconsin – A district stormwater system manages, treats, and infiltrates stormwater from seventy acres of infill development.
Menomonee Valley Redevelopment, Milwaukee, Wisconsin – Park stormwater treatment areas thirteen years after construction and a four-inch rainstorm.
The Future River Mile Urban District, Denver – A district/corridor example that represents the culmination of the Firm’s thinking, experimenting, and skill in addressing working water. A summation of years of work where everything about water, at every scale, is integrated.
What We’ve Learned – Critical factors that have contributed to the success of the Firm’s built works, as well as lessons learned about legal, financial, and other challenges involved in designing and constructing landscapes to better manage water resources.