DOWNSPROUT A BIOMIMETIC
S O L U T I O N T O S T O R M W AT E R
1
DOWNSPROUT A BIOMIMETIC
S O L U T I O N T O S T O R M W AT E R
Taylor Drake
is a dual-degree candidate for a BFA in Product Design from Parsons The New School for Design and a BA in Environmental Studies from Eugene Lang The New School for Liberal Arts with a certificate BS in Environmental Science.
+ Chris Hepner
is a candidate for a BS in Urban Design from Parsons The New School for Design.
= DownSprout
is a collaborative thesis project combining the resources and skill- sets Taylor and Chris have attained throughout their studies at The New School, as a part of their respective senior capstone studios.
4
Thanks To Rama Chorpash Associate Professor of Product Design, Parsons The New School for Design Nevin Cohen Associate Professor of Health and Food Policy, CUNY Public Health Erika Doering Part-time Assistant Professor, Parsons The New School for Design Robert Glass Project Manager, Hyphae Design Laboratory Collin Jones Landscape Designer, PGA Design Robert Kirkbride Associate Dean, School of Constructed Environments, Parsons The New School for Design Victoria Marshall Assistant Professor in Urban Design, Parsons The New School for Design Brian McGrath Dean of the School of Constructed Environments, Parsons The New School for Design
Lanie McKinnon Senior Associate, SCAPE Landscape Architecture Timon McPhearson Assistant Professor of Ecology, The New School Matt Palmer Senior Lecturer of Ecology, Columbia University Gwen Schantz Chief Operating Officer & Founding Partner, Brooklyn Grange Rooftop Farm Brett Snyder Principal, Cheng+Snyder Experimental Architecture Studio Tucker Viemeister Principal, Viemeister Industries Bhawani Venkataraman Associate Professor of Chemistry, Eugene Lang The New School for Liberal Arts Robb Ziegler Assistant Professor in Product Design, Parsons the New School for Design Parsons’ Internal James Dyson Award Grant Tishman Environment & Design Center Grant 5
Contents
6
Hydrological Context Project Goals Design Feasibility Research
8 10 12 44 76 78 86 92 100 108 Resources 11
Water Ecology Human Health Accessibility Context 7
Snowpack
Ground Water Recharge Water Dam
Agriculture Confined Aquifer Water Filtration Facility
Resevoir Water Tower Bioswale Suburban Home
Stormwater Drainage Urban Pa Green
G
8
Hydrological Context
ark Roofs
Green Walls City Apartment Water Treatment Facility CSO
9
PROJECT BENEFITS & GOALS
• •
A
•
• • •
R TE
EC O
•
LO G
•
Y
W
•
Catchment, absorption, bio-filtration, bioretention and storage Inspiration gathered from the ecological functionality of a bioswale, we will create a device that gathers excess rain water off the top of urban based structures; (elevated highway, bridge structures, buildings, and sheds)
Improve urban air quality for residents Assists in noise reduction within the urban environment Improves the green view-shed of the urban grid Reclaims disregarded urban space by improving aesthetic qualities Improves energy efficiency
T EX
UM AN
CONT
HEALTH
•
Transforming underutilized spaces into ecologically productive land. Providing a micro-urban ecosystem to increase local biodiversity and/or pollinators Urban heat island (UHI) will be decreased, cooling and shade will be increased, as well as urban biomass, photosynthetic area
H
AC CES
SIBILITY
• • •
• •
10
Has supply and demand for this specific project Urban actors are present to help support cause Location is a city thriving interested in being a leading example of sustainability and environmental justice A large Combined Sewer Overflow issue (CSO) is present in this city New York experiences 45 inches of precipitation each year
• • • •
Customizable High tech & low tech capabilities; (From downtown skyscraper alley ways to backyard garden sheds) Economic scalability, from home owner access and city access
Project Benefits and Goals DownSprout is a customizable and modular design solution for the capture and natural treatment of rain water, intended to interface with existing downspouts at scales ranging from residential to municipal. The system functions by redirecting stormwater into a series of units designed to apply the bioremediary functions performed by traditional bioswales and rain gardens. DownSprout modules will become an important and localized solution to stormwater management, requiring less infrastructure than current green roofs and walls, and providing ecosystem services in addition to economic benefits to their hosts.
11
Design The DownSprout system is a biomimetic solution that treats and stores rainwater and runoff in a similar way to a marshland or riparian edge. Through an investigation of these ecological systems in plant species, corresponding root depths, soil types, and hydrologic zones, we have created a system that can be customized to fit into its applied environment while still operating at a optimal level based on its natural systemic inspiration. DownSprout is made up of three different modules that together comprise the intended phytoremediary function. The three modules utilize water from an existing downspout by collecting it higher up on the wall (or other vertical medium), and redirecting it into the DownSprout system. The components are attached to the wall to replace a downspout of varying diameter, and the three units are repeated accross and down the wall, branching and converging in customizable patterns as they utilize and capture stormwater.
12
While the modules vary somewhat in size, they have a consistent entry and exit profile, allowing them to be interfaced easily in an endless number of programmatic opportunities. The components can attach to a given surface by latching onto a grid-like trellis system bolted to the wall, or can be screwed directly onto the vertical surface. With each unit separately attached to the system, DownSprout is customizable in that each box may be replanted or replaced, extending the life of the system. While the units are based on a natural system, the order of installation is primarily based on what the application environment can accomodate, and therefore is not required to follow a specific program. Made from flat patterns of CorTen steel, folded and welded into the three biomimetic forms, the DownSprout system will quickly patina in response to its environment, reacting both aesthetically and functionally to its contextual placement.
The Williamsburg Bridge has over fifty 18-inch diameter downspouts
13
14
Human Interaction with Urban Form It is important to understand the context of vertical urban form and it’s largescale relationship to the residents on the ground. When walking on the streets of any urban environment, it is easily observed that most surfaces- vertical or horizontalare occupied to some degree. Accessible and usable space in a densely built grid like New York City, for functional use or advertisement, is a valued commodity to the urbanite. An examination of those vertical opportunities and the way they are viewed as a form by the people in their environments, in addition to the ways in which they interact with the street, can create a unique channel that DownSprout can tap into as a new feature to these micro urban spaces.
15
16
Total Roof Area Drainage to Concentrated Profile A city in plan view is comprised of a high percentge of roof area. With higher density roof area, there comes a greater opportunity for efficient stormwater capture. Each roof has a gutter system designed to guide water off the roof, and each gutter system leads to a downspout that directs water to the ground, and usually into the sewage system. Because of the nature of stormwater infrastructure as it is, a downspout makes for a perfect point of access to a high concentration of water, collected from a large area of urban land. The DownSprout system taps into existing downspouts, taking advantage of the efficient means for capturing the most amount of water from the smallest area.
17
Design Interface: Rain Gutter + Downspout While the density of roof space is higher in the urban environment, the existence of roofs is universally consistent. Each roof, with little exception, has a means by which it funnels water off it- this usually takes the form of a downspout. During a rain event, the rain that doesn’t fall on the ground is caught by a roof, and directed into gutters by slopes or drains. Diverting water off roofs is important because large quantities of water can become heavy and damage or break roof structures. Rain gutters channel water off the roof into downspouts, where the water is collected and typically channeled along the side of
Common Downspout Misfunction
gutter
a building through the downspout, and dumped into a drainage system near the bottom of the structure. In the case of tall buildings, sometimes the downspout is inside of the building, and its outlet is directly into the sewer system. Downspouts, in varying forms, are as common as roofs, which comprise the majority of surface area that rain reaches, apart from the ground. Because of this commonality, they are an excellent interface to utilize for scalable green infrastructure design.
Potential Design Proposal
gutter water diversion
wall ďŹ xing
downsprout
downspout components cistern outlet wasted water 18
saved water
Vertical Application in the Urban Environment DownSprout is a design intervention that proposes to replace the passage of water down the side of a building in a downspout with a solution that uses biofiltration and phytoremediation techniques typically employed in green roof and bioswale technology. DownSprout is therefore a design that is applied in a vertical program, along the sides of structures. DownSprout is a vertically-based design that is, in some cases, more feasible and accessible than other green infrastructure solutions in an urban environment, because
space is limited, and a vertical orientation requires little acquisition or use of space that is commonly used by urban residents. Exterior walls are generally unused space, and especially in urban environments, can be quite spacious. Given the benefits that green walls are capable of providing to their host buildings, an ecologically functional implementation like DownSprout could augment those triple-bottom-line benefits that vertical green infrastructure provides while also employing stormwater management techniques, with the added potential to offer urban community cohesion.
19
Green roofs are a highly absorptive surface, providing an effective area for bioinfiltration and evapotranspiration. They often require intense structural support and can be costly to install, however can provide major ecosystem services and even habitat.
Bioswales provide remediation and absorbtion for the last stage of stormwater treatment, addressing nonpoint source pollution and urban runoff immediately before water enters the combined sewage system.
20
Project Context Green walls often times function by adding aesthetic value to an exterior or interior area, however occasionally serve as a part of a rain garden or vertical landscape extension. They can also increase habitat for native fauna especially when indigenous plant species are used.
DownSprout aims to provide a green infrastructure solution for vertical space, tapping into downspouts connected to gutters along the top edges of buildings. In the context of applied stormwater, rain catchment, and bioinfiltration green infrastructure solutions, it fits into the underutilized space of exterior walls.
The context of DownSprout lies between the initial infiltration of a green roof and the final remediation of a bioswale. It additionally aims to provide a combination of those environmental services along a vertical medium.
21
Water Velocity Changes Through Channel Width
Wide River
Narrow Stream
Low Velocity
High Velocity
The velocity of water in a given channel depends on several factors including slope and geology. Additionally, one of the main ways that water movement is sped up is dependent upon the width of the channel. A wide river bed provides a greater surface area for water to occupy, and the width of the resulting flow means higher friction along the banks and bottom channel. The greater the friction, the slower the velocity of a river. In contrast, a narrow river channel has relatively less friction, and therefore water moves more quickly through it. This concept can be applied to the functioning of a roof or green roof and its system of rain gutters leading to the downspout. During a rain event, the roof acts as a large, wide surface with relatively high rates of frictional resistance. A green roof slows water down as it infiltrates the
22
soil, however after enough time, the soil reaches its saturation point and the outlet of water is almost just as fast as a standard roof. As the rain collects in the gutters it picks up velocity, and upon reaching the downspout, where the volume of water is most concentrated in the narrow channel, the rate of water flow is the highest. Because the process of bioremediation takes an extended period of time, it is necessary to slow the rate of water down to its original rate, requiring an increase in surface area of soil. The DownSprout accomodates for this through a modular system of planters that divide the outflow of rain water from a downspout into smaller units that together comprise an increased surface area, where the plants and soils in the individual modules have a greater time to absorb and filter the water.
Standard Roof Medium Velocity
Green Roof Low Velocity
Rain Gutter High Velocity
Downspout High Velocity
DownSprout
Infiltration Time: Soils and Species Bioremediation and absorbtion of rainwater doesn’t happen instantaneously. Similar to when a potted plant is watered, some time passes before the water is entirely absorbed and the saturated soil begins dripping through the outlet at the bottom of the pot. The infiltration time is dependent upon the composition of the soil, however even if a soil is very sandy, the process of phytoremediation occurs over an extended period of time.
Low Velocity
23
Hydrologic Zones of a Marshland
24
Root Depths of Example Species The root depth of a given plant species can vary drastically from plant to plant, and does not specifically correlate with the hydrologic zone in which it is located. Additionally, the size of the plant above ground has no bearing on that species’ typical root depth. We have identified specific species whose roots generally grow to lengths that accomodate our design intention, and furthermore have allowed those plant species to dictate our design parameters, in combination with the physical characteristics of the xeric, mesic, and hydric zones of a riparian ecosystem.
25
Analogous System Component Parts
Xeric
The Xeric unit is designed to function like its analogous zone in a marshland, quickly absorbing the initial rainfall and allowing light and fast infiltration. The sloped upper profile is designed to accomodate for this quick flushing action, guiding water quickly along the surface as it soaks into the soil. The unit is shallow, guiding water quickly out the base and into the next unit. This will accomodate for short roots.
26
Mesic
Water is captured in the flat top of the Mesic unit, allowing a more gradual infiltration. The unit is deeper than the Xeric unit, allowing for a slower absorption rate. Because of the depth, it has a narrower profile to ensure equal water distribution. The sloped bottom guides water out of the unit more rapidly, ensuring that the medium-length mesic species’ roots do not sit in standing water or overly saturated soil.
Hydric
The Hydric unit is the deepest and narrowest planter unit, accomodating the deepest roots, slowest infiltration, and therefore the longest absorption time. The top and the bottom profiles are flat, to allow for consistently distributed water entry, and slow water exit. This creates ideal conditions for hydric plant species.
Inlet
Functional Unit
Outlet
27
Unit Interface Programs
+
28
180ยบ
90ยบ
Flush against exterior medium
Wrap along exterior meduim corner
29
30
The DownSprout system not only offers stormwater management solutions, but also has the secondary benefit of acting as an aesthetic billboard for the greater purpose of water conservation and applied green infrastructure. Downspouts come off buildings at varying points along the gutter, sometimes at corners and sometimes in the center of structures. The modularity of the DownSprout system allows for the programming to adjust for differing inputs along the gutter. The trellis support system would also be customized, cut to the fit shape of the DownSprout program while anchoring it to the vertical medium. The final application of excess water would change depending on the location and context of the system, with the potential for connection to a cistern, rain garden, bioswale, or rain barrel for watering an on-site garden.
31
Component Dimensions and Features 12”
12” 48” 12” 12” 12”
12”
24”
12”
Distributed Water Entry Mesh material holds soil within functional unit, allowing water to pass through it into the planting medium. Water enters the planting unit across the entire mesh profile, reaching both the top and the bottom of the soil simultaneously. This allows consistent water infiltration laterally throughout the functional unit, saturating the entire soil profile at once, and employing the entire planter’s absorptive capacity.
32
Overflow Mechanism: Bypass Tubes
Water has two paths through the functional units from the inlet area to the outlet area, depending on the rate of water entering the system. Water passes through the mesh material more slowly, saturating the soil behind. If, however, the rate of water into the system is high during heavy rain, the bypass tubes are activated, allowing water to flow directly from the inlet to the outlet. This means that during heavy rain, the first several units will recieve water at once, with several bypass tubes activated simultaneously.
33
Splitting Unit Flow: Doubling Absorbtion In order for the DownSprout system to have the intended fractal-like function and parasitic aesthetic, the system must be able to split into a non-linear pattern, occupying a larger and larger area as it moves down its vertical medium. By creating split-parts for the inlet or outlet areas, it allows two modules to branch from the outlet of a single preceding module. Similarly, the split-parts may be used for the outlet area of two modules that recombine water flow by converging above a single inlet part of the subsequent module. The design of the split-parts is such that the profile of the part is half of the normal square profile, allowing two to fit together, and dividing incoming water evenly. The profile of the split-part where it meets the mesh that precedes the functional unit of the module is the consistent square square profile.
Split Inlet Parts
34
35
Planting Medium and Inlet Gravel Gravel is an important part of natural riparian soil hydrology, and therefore a critical part to landscaping, especially in areas with heavy water flow. As water passes through gravel, it is distributed evenly, minimizing erosion of the soil- the soil is also held in place by the heavy gravel pieces. Similarly, gravel at the bottom of a planter allows water to exit evenly, and reduces mud build-up. It is therefore important to have gravel in both inlet part, and the base of the functional unit, as plant roots are still able to grow in gravel. Additionally, for times when rain occurs less frequently, certain absorptive layers typically used for green roofs can be applied to retain water for extended periods of time.
Gravel in Inlet Part
Extensive Medium
Semi-Intensive Medium Intensive Medium 36
Component Flat Patterns Each component will be plasma cut from a pattern to be pressbrake bent into the final form. 1/4� CorTen steel is thick enough not to deform when filled with soil, but thin enough to minimize weight. The CorTen steel will patina over time, responding to its environmental conditions with visible change.
37
Connecting to Vertical Surfaces
38
39
1 ft
Mounting the DownSprout System to Vertical Media Given that the profile of the modules were designed proporionally to a grid, it is easy to attach them into a system on a trellis grid. This allows many modules to attach to a single part that will have fewer connections to the vertical medium. The boxes connect to unit of a trellis that can also be subsequently cut to the shape of the system after installation, removing any unused grid area. The flat cut patterns for each module have two sets of holes on each side, so that they can attach to the grid in two places per module. U-bolts clamping from the back of the trellis not only hold each module in place, but also protrude into the box to straddle the mesh material insert, holding it in place within the box.
40
41
42
The effect of a DownSprout system applied in any given area is intended to ititiate a greater societal change over time than just stormwater absortion. The objective is that through providing an environment that brings water systems into an aestheic and noticeable light while offering the chance for community engagement, the system brings more to an area than functional ecology. Bike lanes, plazas, and parklets with transportation oriented development might become integral parts of the urban environment in areas where the DownSprout system initiated environmental ideals.
43
Feasibility Garment District
N
Midtown
Murray Hill
Chelsea
In addition to taking a broader look at the costs, benefits, and incentives for green infrastructure and stormwater management solutions, it is important Greenwich VIllage West to also apply those on a tangible scale, VIllage in order to materialize those findings and understand their applicability. Selecting an accessible area within SoHo New York City makes it possible to conduct site-based research, assessing the ground conditions Tribeca Battery and seasonal changes of a specific Park China area, and observing a spectrum City of Town precedents from existing green walls/ roofs, greenways, and bioswales, to areas with the potential for suchFinancial development. In order to develop District a design solution that will ultimately Dumbo be productive at a larger scale, a narrower observation of conditions within a sample site will best allow the Brooklyn construction of design parameters to Heights dictate a contextualized design. Cobble Hill
Kips Bay Long Island City Gramercy
Stuyvesant Town East Village
Greenpoint
Alphabet City
Lower East Side
Williamsburg
Navy Yard Downtown Brooklyn
Fort Greene
Clinton Hill Bedford Stuyvesant
Boerum Hill
Carroll Gardens Prospect Heights
Red Hook
44
Gowanus
Park Slope
Crown Heights
A view of several Lower East Side NYCHA buildings from beneath the Williamsburg Bridge
45
Levels of Important Urban Actors
State State
ARUP - involved within multiple projects across the entire water cycle, including projects in NYC. West 8 - international office for urban design and landscape architecture, including projects in NYC. OMA - leading international partnership practicing architecture, and urbanism.
Interboro Partners - architecture, urban design, and urban planning office. Specializes in park-lets and public plaza spaces. Scape Landscape Architecture landscape architecture design firm focusing on parks, urban design within greening the city, as well as waterfronts.
City City
Grow NYC - non-profit which improves New York City’s quality of life through environmental programs that transform communities block by block. Keap Fourth Community Garden North Brooklyn Farms - transforming vacant lots into urban farms. Havemeyer Park
46
El Puente Green Light District Initiative working to transform the Southside of Williamsburg into a vibrant community by focusing on quality of life. Berry Street Garden Devocion USA - Williamsburg cafe with large green wall infrastructure.
Army Corp of New York wate movement of providing recr the rivers.
WXY Studio - multi-discip specializing in the realizat design, planning and arch solutions in challenging c BIG - architects, designers thinkers operating within architecture, urbanism, re development.
Brooklyn Gran consulting, des company for gr walls. NYCEDC New Development DEP Departme Protection - co
Eco Brooklyn Inc. - innovati building company focused o New York green through low material usage and energy e construction. Sprout Home - garden cent flowers, plants & planters, wi terrace.
f Engineers - dredging erways to support the critical commodities and reation enjoyment along
US Department of Transportation: Federal Highway Administration manages the East River Bridges in New York City, including the Williamsburg Bridge.
EPA Environmental Protection Agency- Research agency producing current reports on grenn infrastructure in relation to the urban ecosystem and climate change.
Re-
plinary practice tion of urban hitectural contexts. s, builders and the fields of esearch and
nge Rooftop Farm sign and installation reen roofs and green
w York City Economic Corporation. ent of Environmental ontrol CSO and produce
Regional
reports and money for green infrastructure change throughout the city. Brooklyn Greenway Initiative Promoting 14 mile recreation/storm surge plan. We Design / We Build - landscape and green infrastructural design firm.
NYC Parks Department - manages most of the parks in the neighborhood. Grand Ferry Park Continental Army Plaza Ascenzi Square Marcy Park South Cohn Triangle
Local
ive green on turning w resource efficient
ter selling ith outdoor
Local
47
Relation to Important Urban Actors Properly understanding the selected site includes an observation of the roles the local urban actors play, and can contextualize the neighborhood by placing it in a broader frame of green infrastructural initiatives in the New York area. This is done by researching all possible connections and finding a cohesive interest in a particular typology of green infrastructure. A second layer upon that initial research, is to understand the motives of those related companies, organizations, and urban actors, in addition to what scale of power they may have in shaping their urban environment. Establishing a relationship to these urban actors is crucial when moving forward with a project that will eventually take on the scale of the city streets. Keeping Williamsburg, Brooklyn in mind, one understands how power, scale, and types of governances all have a specific relation to the project.
48
At a large scale for example, the NYC Parks Department plays a clear role in contributing space, playgrounds and upkeep to a number of medium-sized green spaces in the neighborhood; Grand Ferry Park, Continental Army Plaza, Ascenzi Square, Marcy Park South, and Cohn Triangle. Brooklyn Greenway Initiative is a medium-sized NGO prompting a 14-mile recreation and storm surge plan, using social media and public benefits like a half marathon to raise money, awareness, and social capital to the waterfront as a means to promote change. It is equally beneficial to examine and contextualize the work of for-profit actors at a local scale, such as Eco. Brooklyn Inc., an innovative green building company focused on greening New York through low-impact material use and energy-efficient construction. Comprehensive insight comes from the observation of precedents at each scale of urban actors.
Relation to Urban Actors
ARUP
US Department of Transportation: Federal Highway Administration
BIG NYCEDC: New York City Economic Development Corporation.
WXY Studio
Interboro Partners
OMA
EPA: Environmental Protection Agency
NYC Parks Department Brooklyn Greenway Initiative Scape Landscape Architecture We Design/ We Build
Army Corp of Engineers
North Brooklyn Farms
Brooklyn Grange Rooftop Farm
NGO For-Profit Government Agencies
Eco Brooklyn Inc.
DEP: Department of Environmental Protection
El Puente Green Light District Grow NYC
49 Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Initial Feasibility Study 52’
N
26’
19’ 2’
Devocion USA
Oulu
Sprout Home
55 4
1
3
22
FDR runs along the water, curving around the edges of Manhattan. Housing Projects create unique grid structures. Dead-end roads.
50
Grid-shifts. No waterfront parks on the Brooklyn side of the East River. Smaller, more uniform grid
Bridges/Freeways empty shapes wi and allow oportun spaces to be easily
3 4
Anthropological site-based research of possible locationbased installation potential. The multiple sites include scale, displaying how the infrastructure could be implemented onto an array of surfaces and prototype into customizable sizes.
55
6 1
Highway was constructed in-land.
6 22
s (BQE) create ithin the gird nities for green y implemented.
51
Voices of The Neighborhood
69 Grand St, Brookly
Will, a mid-thirty year old barista has been working at Devocion USA since it’s open, the coffee shop just being over a year and half old. The entire area, “within a 5 block radius has exploded over the past 3 to 4 years”, he mentions. This is where new businesses are taking place, creative minds are coming together and with that comes new business practices, which means smarter and greener. “I think the younger generations are ahead on this one”, referring to green infrastructures around the city and the new mindset of the urban ecosystem.
An Increase of
50%
50
Ridership
On the
L
train
The ladies that work within this small, up-scale plant store were very eager to talk about the changing neighborhood in regards to young green movements. An offshoot of a Chicago based garden center. “We are more than ‘merchandise of ferns’, we collaborate with outdoor garden designers and provide installations in the neighborhood... the professions are much more interconnected than one would think.” Given the fact that the shop is 2 blocks from the waterfront, the young women made comments about parks and open spaces being great places for foot traffic, referring to their pleasure in the location of their store front. 103A North 3rd St, Brooklyn, NY
3.783 Million
2000
5.776 2007
52
Million
“It’s like Portland, except without the affordable rent.”
44 Grand
S
yn, NY
232 Metropolitan Ave, “We’d really like to get a green roof or garden up there...if we have the space and the light, it’d be perfect. That is what is attracting the young kids nowadays ... the local produce.” -Torie
d St, Brooklyn, NY
tion truc
GQ
Arti Dev e l Eve opm cles ryw e her nt e
The Plai Pen c d
Hig
Gra
hE
Pro fe
ssio
nd
Hip d ster u Poo a tes Jac l kH Cha ngi am Pie ng Nei m ghb Art o rho ers S h od Hip ow No e Uni
nal
ous
We ar H
Ne
Tatt o Stre os & et M Live usic
ma Com ll mu nity
s
es
row
d
on
Len rs, Fak s Bea es & e n S ies.
wC
Wit
You th
Hot els Cal m Vib es
y
Hig hR ent
N Con ois s
truc tion
Eas t Ort ern h Jew odox s
s
nes
The
Pac Sub ked wa y H
Ne g Avo ativty id
le
hM one
e
Cra
Ret ail
G
Frie BT n Blu e B dly ott
ino
Gla s Do s Tow m
e Sug rs ar F act
ory
Veg il Fa ans Com Shirt bat s & Stu cto ry mp Boo tow L ts n
an Bik dmad es e
Art is Foo en d
Des
$$$
Say
Art i Fle sts & a Em marke pty ts
Bea Me rded n
SPROUT HOME
Lot s
53
1
4
ve
r
3
Ri
9
st
Williamsburg, Brooklyn
2
Ea
Urban Water Systems Mapping
10
13
13
12 11 12
6
9 15
54
2
7
10
14 3 6 8
8
4
5 7
L
1
4 15
5 14
11
3.3 mi
DISTANCE
51:04 TIME
15:16/mi AVG PACE
When arriving at the site, we expected receive I expected to to receive information on native species and spontaneous growth of the neighborhood, hoping to follow those pieces of nature throughout our walk. my walk. Heavy snow fall followed by 45 degree temperatures the next day virtually flooded out major roadways in Williamsburg, creating an inconvenient land of ice and slush for any traveler. Surrounded by the flushes of water on the street, it very quickly became our new initiativetotofollow followthe thesounds soundsofofthe thethe thedripping drippingofof my initiative melting snow out of gutters and running down the river of the streets into sewer catchment systems. These highly important infrastructures were only noticeable to the passer by resident based on their loud sound of water drainage, however invisible to the naked eye from snow cover and garbage build up.
55
3 Scales of Implementation Lower East Side, Manhattan
56
There aremany many infrastructures the There are infrastructures withinwithin the cross se the East River. Through a combination of three this geographical site. By combining thed with three corresponding governance systems governance behind with which they are bo maintained, one gets an interesting mix of site-b one gets an interesting mix of site-based sides of the river, in interplay with one another. sides of the river and interplay with one a
Williamsburg, Brooklyn
eection crosscut section cut of site of geographical different physical physical formbuilding with theforms by which they are owned, run, and owned, run and maintained, based locations that exist on both d locations that exist on both another.
Williamsburg Bridge
#1
Travels across the East River, providing a connection between the Lower East Side of Manhattan and Williamsburg, Brooklyn. (Federal Highway owned)
NYCHA Public Housing
#2
Tall, public infrastructures exist in plentiful amounts along the East River Park, providing large scale, planned housing communities. (City run properties)
Brownstone Townhouses
#3
Independent properties belonging to the higher income families of Williamsburg. (Privately owned)
57
NYC Departmen
A US Depa
El Puen
Brooklyn
58
N Ho ew Y usi o ng rk C i Au th o ty rity
NY Restoration Project
nt of Parks & Recreation
3 Scales of Property Owners Understanding property owners over specific land area or infrastructures provides a deeper study into the urban actors. The question remaining, who owns the space we are tapping into? For the large scale, ‘towers in the park’ gutter system, of public housing on the Lower East Side, NYCHA is the cooperation the owns the rights to those city run buildings.
Fed
era Ad l Hig h mi nis way tra tio n
Army Corps of Engineering artment of Transportation
In regards to the Williamsburg Bridge the property owners are large urban actor organizations. Army Corps of Engineering being a great example to display scale, taking full responsibility over the shipping, travel and cleanliness of the East River.
nte Green Light District
Pri v
ate ly
n Greenway Initiative
Tow Owne d nh ou se
Grow NYC North Brooklyn Farms
The smaller scale, independently owned private land exists within the the brownstones of Williamsburg, possibly creating the most complex coordination with a land owner. Being in correspondence with the many micro-urban private gardens and parks in the neighborhood will help us learn more about an intimate scaled collaboration. 59
60
61
62
NYCHA LES Downspout Study
Plan View Downspout Schematic Diagram 63
64
Williamsburg Bridge Downspout Study
Plan View Downspout Schematic Diagram
65
Townhouse Downspout Study
66
Plan View Downspout Schematic Diagram
67
3 NYCHA Intensification Study The physical form of NYCHA’s towers in the park create an interesting mix of vertical and horizontal space. The downspouts that these tall buildings use are all interior, given the height of the tower and the need for maintenance. This means that the moment the DownSprout would be able to connect and catch this stormwater is very low on the building, capturing the water not as early as most urban downspout examples. The land that NYCHA is built on is set aside to remain as open yards of grass, providing a unique typology for the life of the water, post-DownSprout. Since each physical form the DownSprout would wrap around is different, so is the story and use of the water that filters through, in addition to how the residents and urbanites access the water after. In a potential ‘scenario 1’, centered around a lower budget and less time of impact, DownSprout would capture rain water and store it in barrel-benches that the community could interact with and rest on. In addition, the individual modules could be used as planters and modular gardening beds for vegetables and herbs. In a ‘scenario 2’, given more money and a longer timeline of green impact, the harsh barrier of fencing around NYCHA property would be removed to welcome urbanites into new, lush rain gardens. These natural water collectors would be constructed to capture the water, absorb it , reinvigorate biodiversity, creating a retreat for the NYCHA residents and fellow New Yorkers alike.
68
2
1
69
Williamsburg Bridge Intensification Study Out of the three different physical urban forms that were studied for the installation of DownSprout, the Williamsburg Bridge is the most dynamic, both in its location and relationship with water use. The bridge stretches across the East River, connecting NYCHA properties on the Lower East Side to townhouses of the Williamsburg neighborhood. The bridge is also the largest structure of the studied typologies, and redirects the most water, creating an opportunity for DownSprout as well as the use for excess captured water. Bridges within urban environment have an interesting way of dividing space and creating a new urban area that feels secluded and unsafe to pass under. The Williamsburg Bridge has been using the space under the structure for storage of vehicles by the Department of Transportation and Citibike. DownSprout would be able to create a sculptural art form around the legs of the bridge, attracting individuals towards the shape, in an effort to associate life under the bridge in a positive way. Given a multiple scenario opportunity of installation, the less intensive story would be able to invite residents to cross under the bridge and understand more about the water of the city around them, whereas an amplified implementation could be more imaginary. ‘Scenario 2’ could be a larger experience, with topography used for picnic and play, while also redirecting ambient light under the bridge.
2
70
1
1
3
71
1
72
2
Townhouse Intensification Study By examining townhouse and brownstone building types, one gets a very expansive range of owners from private, to condos, to co-ops, as well as an access point into New York City’s micro urban spaces. Given these unique structures, their history, and multiple ownerships create roofs at different heights and buildings at varying depths. These open spaces are treasured by cultural communities in neighborhoods for gardens, pocket parks, murals and art. DownSprout could be draped across many surfaces that would then interweave multiple actors in ownership and power, uniting individuals with a common goal. The sharing of these spaces would create a communication between neighbors and spread the awareness surrounding the benefits of the rain catchment system, furthering the behavioral change across neighborhoods and the greater city area. The dynamic way in which the exit to the Williamsburg Bridge fractures the grid of Brooklyn makes for an archipelago of curbs and street islands that create opportunities for the DownSprout to change the horizontal urban landscape, in addition to its primary vertical application. Pocket grass mounds could emerge around intersections, Citibike could initiate a greener bike rack along these streets, cafÊs could create parklets & picnic areas around the aesthetic and functional modularity of the DownSprout components themselves.
3 73
There is a dip in the environmental volume of the city after the bridge traffic trickles away and begins to disperse north and south throughout the urban gird. The F train that crosses the Williamsburg Bridge east to west, descending under ground once it reaches the island of Manhattan, creating a moment amongst the large NYCHA developments of silence and peace.
74
The relative quiet atmosphere of walking through the Lower East Side is interrupted once one reaches the FDR highway. In order to cross the busy road full of speeding cars, honking taxis and large trucks bustling north and south along the edge of the city, one must walk over the traffic, using a small pedestrian bridge that rises over the freeway and empties into the East River Park recreation area.
Site Section Study Across the site section, a marked clustering can be observed both in the location of downspouts on developed areas, and also sound levels of ambient and localized noise. Because of the materiality and function of the DownSprout system, it calls attention to rain by creating sounds as water passes through it. Because of this, an observation of the existing sound environment was included to make note of the conditions in-site. The intsances where downspout opportunity is clustered with sound levels (highlow, or low-high) are also able to indicate where the most noticeable areas of installation might be.
The sound level remains abrasive through most of the Williamsburg commuting experience. The F subway train follows the cars of the bridge, remaining above ground for most of it’s journey, creating loud, screeching sounds to Brooklyn residence every 5 minutes. In addition, newly constructed condo buildings and renovated warehouses are on every block with construction noises banging from every direction.
The Williamsburg Bridge joins the land and begins to connect with the rest of the Brooklyn streets, dispersing traffic in every direction with most automobiles connecting to the BQE. The many streets, intersections and lights not only create mobility congestion, but an excess of noise.
75
Research We have identified five themes with which our project is intertwined in its response to the recognized challenges with benefits that also fall within those five themes. The research section aims to address a host of topics that are encompassed within the five themes of Water, Ecology, Human Health, Accessibility, and Context. The five themes lay a foundation that frames the project within its environmental and cultural context. The thematic sections each lie within a rapidly changing societal environment: new studies and design proposals are constantly being produced, making each of the five themes extremely dynamic. The production of new information and terminology is frequent, making it very important to establish a strong basis of research in order to be properly equipped to address these challenges. While we have covered an array of topics within the five thematic sections, it is impossible to address them all in a single project. However, by recognizing as many factors as possible, we have been able to formulate a project around a more guided access point, with impactful and relevant outcomes.
76
Water Intensifying Urban Population Stresses and Combined Sewage Overflows Nonpoint Source Water Pollution The Proliferation and Effect of Impervious Surfaces Stormwater as a Resource, Not a Waste
Ecology Biologically Productive Plant Species and Soil Types The Importance of Maintaining Biodiversity in the Urban Realm
Human Health Tackling the Urban Heat Island Effect Carbon Sequestration Through Increased Biomass Social Benefits Through Community Cohesion and Educational Opportunity Aesthetic Enhancement and Noise Reduction from Green Infrastructure Plants’ Capacity to Remove Air Pollution from Vehicle and Industrial Sources
Accessibility Public Versus Private Funding for Stormwater Management Green Infrastructure Project Scalability: Market Niche Phased Small-Scale Project Implementation Green Roofs and Walls: Energy Efficiency for Buildings Seasonal and Climatic Variation
Context Multiscalar Resiliency Solutions Expanding the Market for Green Infrastructure Storm Severity Increase and Loss of Snowpack: Climate Uncertainties Rain Catchment and Storage: Residential Application The Growing Need for Innovative Solutions 77
Water 78
UM AN
T EX CONT
HEALTH
W
ECO LO G Y
ER T A
H
AC CESSIBILITY
79
Intensifying Urban Population Stresses and Combined Sewage Overflows Because of the way wastewater infrastructure was organized during the era when New York’s sewage system was established, the city has what is called a Combined Sewage System. This means that rainwater is collected using the same infrastructure that collects the city’s sewage. The problem that occurs with this system is due to the fact that the volume of sewage alone is already near capacity, a result of urban population intensification. New York’s combined sewage system is overloaded with only a quarter inch of rain. The result? A Combined Sewage Overflow (CSO). During a CSO event, the only way to relieve the system is to release its contents (raw, untreated sewage) into local waterways, those being the Hudson River, East River, and Gowanus Canal to name a few.
80
It can be expected that almost every time it rains, there will be raw sewage dumping into the river. Over the course of one year, 377 million gallons of untreated sewage is dumped into the Gowanus Canal alone. The environmental and human impacts of a CSO are not very hard to imagine. As New York continues to develop, stress on the combined sewage system will increase. In addition, with climate change producing more frequent and more intense storm events, the volume of stormwater entering the system will also increase. While reinforcing the sewage infrastructure will be important, the creation of a separated sewage system, called a Sanitary Sewage System, is impossible. The best way to alleviate stormwater stress on the system will be to intervene before the water enters the system at all.
Garment District
N
Midtown
Murray Hill
Chelsea
Kips Bay Long Island City Gramercy
Greenwich VIllage
West VIllage
Stuyvesant Town East Village
SoHo
Battery Park City
Greenpoint
Alphabet City
Tribeca China Town
Lower East Side
Williamsburg
Financial District Dumbo Navy Yard
CSO Downtown Brooklyn
Brooklyn Heights
Cobble Hill
Fort Greene
Clinton Hill Bedford Stuyvesant
Boerum Hill
Carroll Gardens Prospect Heights
Red Hook Gowanus
Park Slope
Crown Heights
81
Nonpoint Source Water Pollution Precipitation in and around cities tends to contain acidic compounds like sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides that are by-products of the incineration of fossil fuels and other industrial processes. Their presence in water makes for a lower pH, or acidity. The term “acid rain� has been used to define the acid-forming compounds that make rain acidic. Acid rain is higher in urban areas, or locations with high industrial activity, but that is only the beginning of the process through which water becomes polluted in the urban setting. Once rain falls onto the network of impervious surfaces covering the urban environment, it begins to pick up the pollutants that have accumulated since the last rain event. It picks up oil, grease, and other toxic compounds from cars and residences when it falls
82
on the road, and picks up heavy metals like zinc, lead, chromium, and arsenic, in addition to polyaromatic hydrocarbons, that are all present in common roofing materials. Along with these toxins, the salt compounds and cleaning chemicals spread over sidewalks are all washed away, joining the 10 trillion gallons of polluted water per year that the USA releases into its surrounding waterways. Water pollution in the form of acid rain and accumulation of toxins off impermable surfaces is called nonpoint source pollution. Nonpoint source pollution implies that the source of the pollution present in water is not specifically identifiable, and is due to the general accumulation of many toxins from a variety of sources. It is therefore much harder to address at its origin, requiring generalized treatment.
The Proliferation and Effect of Impervious Surfaces New development is generally accompanied by an enormous blanketing of concrete or other impermeable material. Roofing, sidewalks, and roads are all necessary infrastructural installations for connectivity and shelter, and by nature, redirect water flow off of the land and into sewage pipes that funnel the water directly into water bodies. This has major impacts on the natural hydrology of urban land, diverting water from the soil, and disabling groundwater recharge. This results in the gradual decrease of groundwater availability in aquifers, and in urban soil health, rendering it useless in the future. Compared with low density residential areas, that have on average 12% impervious ground coverage, urban areas generally have between 85% to 100% impervious ground coverage, excluding urban parkland. Natural areas, with an
average of 99% permeability, allow for 25% of precipitation to deeply infiltrate the ground, recharging aquifers, whereas suburban areas only allow about 5% of precipitation to enter the groundwater. New technologies in pavement material are increasing the ability for water to enter the soil beneath urban areas, however these are generally limited to sustainable new developement. While permeable pavers are ultimately beneficial to the hydrological health of urban areas, increasing the abundance of plants and soils that can retain and transpire precipitation in the urban area can not only help to naturally capture rainwater through biomass evapotranspiration, but also relieve stormwater systems by capturing and utilizing rainwater before it enters the system.
83
Stormwater as a Resource, Not a Waste Stormwater is expensive to treat, especially in New York and many other cities with a combined sewage system (CSS). As a city, New York must treat its rainwater with the same facilities as its sewage, due to the CSS. The Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Water Act stipulates that the quality of water that exits treatment plants around the country are as clean as (and sometimes cleaner than) the natural water body into which it is released. The toxins present within the sewage itself are very difficult to treat, especially considering contaminants like bacteria, viruses, detergent, birth-control hormones, drugs and complex organic compounds from fertilizers, in addition to the human waste and sanitary materials associated with it. The expense of treating these sewage-related contaminants is compounded when the nonpoint source
84
pollution is added to the system. Treating stormwater as a resource, through green infrastructural improvements and collection techniques, can not only relieve the costs of treatment, but also allocate those savings to the associated human and environmental health improvements. A triple-bottom-line assessment of a city-wide innitiative in Philadelphia, to treat 50% of runoff from impervious surfaces through green infrastructure, such as bioinfiltration and bio-remediation swales, was estimated to save the city over $2.8 billion in water treatment. Similarly, Seattle’s Street Edge Alternative (SEA) plan was estimated to save the city $100,000 per block in water treatment, and also result in traffic-calming benefits, and aesthetic value-added.
85
Ecology 86
UM AN
T EX CONT
HEALTH
W
ECO LO G Y
ER T A
H
AC CESSIBILITY
87
Biologically Productive Plant Species and Soil Types Municipal filtration of water is an effective but expensive way to remove pollutants and contaminants in water, however it is not the only way to clean it. There are simple natural systems that have the ability to remove many of the pollutants that occur from urban runoff. Soils, biological organisms present in those soils, and certain plant species are capable of performing similar tasks as the municiple filtration systems in a natural and costeffective way. The employment of these natural systems has become a precedent in urban and suburban renewal and revitalization, taking the form of a biofilter: constructed wetlands, bioswales, and rain gardens, to name a few methodologies. They are applicable to most soil types, however their implementation does require establishing conditions most suited to effective bioremediation and infiltration.
88
This means setting up the proper soil conditions to foster not only the growth of efficient plant filtration, but also to promote the proliferation of the microorganisms that effectuate biofiltration. The use of plants to filter stormwater provides the ability to reintroduce original species to the area. There are detailed case studies and precedents as to which plant species are best suited to remediate certain types of pollutants, and which species are best suited for defined layers of a bioinfiltration swale, which are generally stratified by the amount of water that reaches each layer of the infrastructure, differing in volume as it attenuates. Much of the research around bioswales comes from Portland, one of the the largest urban investors in bioswale green infrastructure.
New York City Environmental Protection: NYC Water
There are a series of procedural criteria involved in the utilization of plants and soils to filter toxins from water in order to maintain both the health of the bioswale but also the efficacy of its ability to operate successfully. The plants must be dense enough that their square-unit-area capacity to remediate water remains consistently effective throughout the installation. The grading of the installation must be such that it allows enough time for the plants and soil to operate as designed. In addition, the plant species must be able to withstand both flood conditions during a storm, and also be able to dry out during the interval time periods. Typically, grasses have the best ability to perform within all of these parameters; they are generally resilient and able to tolerate a wide range of environmental
conditions, and also able to spread evenly across a given area. The species selection of bioswales should also take into account the seasonal changes that occur in species operative capacities. Bioswales and other green infrastructure solutions deal with the largest amount of pollutant influx at the beginning of a storm event. This is because the majority of the pollution is washed off the imperveable surfaces as soon as the first precipitation occurs. Finally, bio-infiltration swales should always be designed with the expectation that they will occasionally be overloaded. A variety of backup systems can be designed, involving temporary holding or diversion of water, however the design should incorporate overflow solutions.
89
90
The Importance of Maintaining Biodiversity in the Urban Realm Urban environments are dynamic and extreme, proving to be very difficult habitats for most plant and animal species to survive, due to the implications of human population intensity and impact. Plant species that are most adapted to survive in the urban ecosystem, a set of conditions that tend to be relatively standard accross the globe, are small in number, and often times, novel to a given urban area. Without careful planning, urban areas can become extremely homogenous, which has certain environmental implications. Conversely, allowing a transformation to better-adapted novel species can require much less maintenance investment. Often times, novel plant species, better adapted to urban conditions, are not able to support or contribute to the same
ecological demands that their original counterparts provided. This can create a cascading effect in the original ecological structure of a given urban environment. Plants original to a given area are also adapted to be resilient against greater and less frequent disturbances. Species diversity is important in an ecosystem’s resilience against disturbance by providing a more adaptive network of protection, rather than one single method of defense. Green infrastructure installations provide an opportunity to increase the diversity of species, that as a system, increase resiliency, perpetuate mutual benefits, and provide ecosystem services to other original species from the community, such as habitat for local pollinator species that may be crucial to other species’ needs.
91
Human Health 92
UM AN
T EX CONT
HEALTH
W
ECO LO G Y
ER T A
H
AC CESSIBILITY
93
Tackling the Urban Heat Island Effect The Urban Heat Island effect (UHI) is a result of the built environment. The construction of dense urban landscapes, using impervious and heat-absorbing materials, creates a heat-trap, especially in the summer. Surfaces like pavement, brick, concrete, and roofing materials absorb heat from the sun and retain it far longer than natural landscpaes do. This urban heat island effect, in addition to the heat produced by general industry and activity in cities, can make for a difference as large as 22째F! While this may seem like a benefit in the winter, when the areas surrounding the urban core seem far colder, the summer months can prove to be a huge problem for many people- a problem that is only predicted to intensify based on current climate change predictions regarding heat waves. Not only do hotter temperatures mean more expenditures on energy-
94
intensive systems like air conditioning, they also can have the greatest impact on vulnerable and socially disconnected demographics, such as the elderly. Many green infrastructure projects aim to reduce the UHI effect by introducing natural elements back into the urban environment. Trees and vegetation in parks, greenways, and green infrastructure developments can greatly alleviate extreme heat by providing shade, and also deflecting heat and light in the form of solar radiation. In doing this, their evapotranspirational process not only reflects radiation, but releases moisture into the air, which has the dual function of reflecting and absorbing additional radiation, providing cooler surrounding temperatures. This can greatly reduce high temperatures associated with UHI.
Aurora Photos: Urban Heat Island Phoenix
Carbon Sequestration Through Increased Biomass The process of photosynthesis that occurs in plants, driven by energy from the sun, involves plants’ uptake of carbon dioxide (CO2) and in combination with water, synthesis of simple sugars used for energy. The output is oxygen (O2). In terms of the carbon cycle, this simple process is known as carbon sequestration. Multiplied by the biomass of a given area of plants, plants can sequester (or remove from the air) an enormous amount of carbon. In an urban setting, carbon dioxide is in higher concentration due to increased industry, transportation, and human density. Plants in an urban setting are therefore tasked with the sequestration of carbon at an intensified scale, and act as an important sink for carbon dioxide, a major driver in global warming and climate change. Some
plants also have the ability to reduce ozone and nitrous oxide concentrations in the air. Through its absorbtion and sequestration, these reductions in carbon dioxide can have even larger human health impacts. Given that carbon dioxide has been identified as one of the major drivers of global warming, an increase in carbonsequestering biomass in areas of higher CO2 concentrations can have an indirect but important net effect on global warming and climate change, which ultimately has a critical effect on the entire global population. Given that the urban systems are the largest contributors of CO2, cities will increasingly become responsible for the offset of those impacts, one primary means of this being through its sequestration in plant biomass.
95
Social Benefits Through Community Cohesion and Educational Opportunity Often times, the installation of a green infrastructure system within a community promotes interaction and participation, both through installation and maintenance. While at first these may seem like costs, they actually provide beneficial ways to bring a community together in the planning and decision making that goes into the realization and programming of the project. Ultimately, projects can raise awareness about the importance of green infrastructure, and provide assets to a community or neighborhood in their environmental and social benefits, and improvement of aesthetic value. The increases in liveability and health in a neighborhood, in addition to community cohesion, provide a mutually beneficial cycle that can create stronger social networks within a range of socioeconomic layers.
96
Jamaica Bay Ecowatchers
Aesthetic Enhancement and Noise Reduction from Green Infrastructure The aesthetic appeal of increased vegetation in a neighborhood can significantly increase human health, even on the qualitative level of psychological wellbeing. Greenery can provide more opportunity for recreation and has the effect of drawing more of the community outside for leisure. In addition, it can provide a property value increase for communities of homeowners, making neighborhoods more liveable. Noise reduction is a noted benefit that comes with urban greenery. Noise pollution is worst in urban areas where dense urban activity generally takes place over longer hours throughout the day (and sometimes night) than in more rural areas. Noise, which is amplified by the hard surfaces in a city, can be reduced by the sound-dampening effect of vegetation.
97
Plants’ Capacity to Remove Air Pollution from Vehicle and Industrial Sources It is a globally acknowledged fact that there are higher concentrations of pollution and toxins in the air in urban areas compared to rural counterparts. The kinds of industrial processes, transportation, and other fossil-fuel or chemical-based operations, compounded by the density of these facilities in an urban and periurban area, create higher air pollution concentrations. As a part of the Clean Air Act, the EPA regulates the concentrations of certain air pollutants with monitors that show that particulate matter is highest in cities. Not only are these pollutants harmful to human health, they also can cause property damage. An example of a human reaction to the high concentrations of particulate matter in urban areas is the extremely unequal distribution of asthma rates in children who
98
grow up in rural versus dense urban areas. Children exposed to these pollutants, particularly during the first few years of life, are more likely to suffer, and be affected more seriously from asthma. Trees and other vegetation are able to remove particulate matter and pollutants from the air, improving air quality. Urban areas with higher tree density were found to have reduced childhood asthma rates. Finally, trees absorb the higher concentrations of carbon dioxide associated with urban areas. CO2 is not one of the EPA-regulated contaminants to air quality because it is a natural and safe component of air in appropriate levels. However, exessive concentrations of CO2 can disrupt the climatic regulation of temperature, making trees a global investment.
Landschaftspark, Germany: Alloy Pittsburgh 99
Accessibility 100
UM AN
T EX CONT
HEALTH
W
ECO LO G Y
ER T A
H
AC CESSIBILITY
101
Public Versus Private Funding for Stormwater Management According to the federal “Clean Water Needs Survey�, over $100 billion in infrastructural retrofitting would be required to attend to the nation’s water quality and pollution problems. While billions of dollars are already being spent on green infrastructure at the federal, state, and city levels, private interest and incentive is necessary financially, as well as in terms of land use and productive capacity. New York City publicly funds a grant program incentivizing stormwater management on private land in combined sewer areas, and additionally spends millions of dollars in green infrastructure and water management. Private investment in green infrastructure usually takes the form of aggregated venture capital funding. Additionally, private development of commercial or residential space is
102
incentivized by zoning ordinances allowing the construction of extra floorspace, provided that public space or green infrastructure is additionally created. Additionally, private property owners can be incentivized or decentivized based on stormwater managment in the form of stormwater fees. Property owners can reduce stormwater fees by reducing their own runoff, the runoff from an offsite location, or by allowing another organization to operate stormwater management practices on their property. Finally, private landowners who may find interest in the management and remediation of their own stormwater must have access to a scalable green infrastructure plan that could operate on a smaller footprint, taking a municipallyscaled product, and scaling it down to a residentially-applicable level.
Brooklyn Grange Rooftop Farm
Green Infrastructure Project Scalability: Market Niche In conjunction with the Department of Environmenatal Protection (DEP), the New York City Green Infrastructure Program will be installing two thousand bioswales throughout Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx that will have the capacity to absorb 4 million gallons of stormwater during a rain event. This will alleviate a huge amount of stress on the Combined Sewage System, and add a network of permeability throughout the three boroughs. The project will ultimately increase the health of the nearby waterways, as well as the aesthetic value of the neighborhoods into which they are being installed. While this is an excellent step in the right direction for green infrastructure initiatives, it came at an initial cost of $46 million. Many times, public or private investors cannot afford the up-front costs of green
infrastructure or stormwater management systems, and while they ultimately prove to be excellent long term investments, the initial costs can be prohibitive. Green infrastructure projects can most certainly be scaled down to residential, periurban, or micro-urban levels, such as green roofs, green walls, or rain gardens, however many times they still involve serious infrastructural analysis, intense load-bearing support systems, or detailed knowledge of landscaping techniques that can ultimately be deterring to prospective investors, despite grants like New York’s Green Infrastructure Grant Program. There is a market opportunity in stormwater management and green infrastructure product development that is applicable and effective at both a city and a microscale.
103
Phased Small-Scale Project Implementation The Brooklyn Greenway Initiative is a long term city-scale plan to create a 14-mile greenway with bike paths, parkland, storm surge protection, and rainwater catchment along the waterfront in Brooklyn. Started over 10 years go, there are currently five miles of the greenway already in use, as the project is being implemented over the course of 23 phases. This serves as an excellent example, illustrating the process of planning, permitting, and implementation that large-scale plans like this entail. Often times, step-wise implementation is a neccesary course of action for financial and construction management reasons. This creates an opportunity for smaller-scale green infrastructure interventions to serve as intermediary steps in a larger scheme. These steps can additionally serve as success-markers in the process.
104
San Francisco Academy of Sciences
Green Roofs and Walls: Energy Efficiency for Buildings With a recent surge in the design and installation of green roofs and walls, many studies have concurrently demonstrated the benefit these infrastructures provide for their hosts. An increase in vegetation can have an alleviating outcome on the urban heat island (UHI) effect, and increased evapotranspiration of plants in a given area has ambient cooling effects. This can cut temperature flucutation rates in half, not only by reflecting solar radiation in the summer for cooling, but also by providing a layer of insulation in the winter, holding heat in. The decrease in temperature fluctuation in a building can also increase the lifespan of the building itself, as seasonal temperature changes can damage organic construction materials. For these reasons, green roofs and walls can provide major savings in energy efficiency and building lifespan.
105
Seasonal and Climatic Variation Green infrastructure involving the use of plants for remediation of water rely on the plants’ ability to filter the water, breaking down toxins and pollutants. Bio-infiltration swales are a good example of the reliance upon the ecological productivity of the unit, a means of controlled ecosystem services. The functionality of the unit is therefore greatly dependent on the health of the vegetation within it. This creates parameters of operation both for regions that experience harsh winters and also for temperate climates that undergo long periods without rain. Planting species original to the area of installation often is a baseline best management practice, however also ensures the species’ ability to maintain functionality throughout seasonal changes in the area.
106
107
Context 108
UM AN
T EX CONT
HEALTH
W
ECO LO G Y
ER T A
H
AC CESSIBILITY
109
Multiscalar Resiliency Solutions The scale to which green infrastructure solutions are currently implemented ranges enormously, and to varying degrees is affected by govermental water policy in the area. For example in Oakland, the “Greywater Guerrillas� install systems for home greywater systems that do not comply with code, as plumbing codes in the state of California are complicated and hard to comply with. Hard to count due to their illegal status, it is estimated there are about 2,000 in the Bay Area alone. Smallscale initiatives like the greywater guerillas can have a big impact when multiplied by the number of people interested in conserving water. Further along the spectrum, New York City offers a grant program for private property owners within the combined sewage area to cover the costs
110
of implementing a green infrastructure solution to manage stormwater. While the grant is open to the public, larger-impact areas tend to be the ones that take up larger tracts of land, and are therefore more readily funded. Examples of previous winners range from the Brooklyn Navy Yard to Queens College, the prior costing almost $600,000. Finally, New York’s Rebuild By Design program awarded $930 million to competition winners proposing large-scale green infrastructural schemes to promote urban environmental resiliency. Design firms like Interboro, Bjarke Ingels, and SCAPE are funded to complete these largescale design innovations benefitting local communities, habitats, and ecosystems by creating future resiliency against climate change.
SF Curbed Parklet
Expanding the Market for Green Infrastructure Designers, developers, and engineers are beginning to recognize the long term economic and environmental benefits that green infrastructure projects can provide. There are, however, some perceived impediments around the installation that can deter planners from making it a part of their own project. In addition to the sometimes higher up-front cost of the projects, there are also fears that compliance with building codes and standards will not be met in applying these projects to an existing scheme. Because these projects tend to be novel and have fewer precedents, they often involve a perceived risk, both in their long-term function and maintenance. While these hesitations are justified, there is also an increasing amount of research demonstrating the cost-efficacy
of green infrastructure projects, ranging from environmental impact to social health and economic profitability. In addition, these projects (which are more adaptable than standard approaches) address more of these triple-bottom-line benefits simultaneously than do their counterparts, and therefore inherently have a broader positive impact than many other development strategies. Green instrastructure plans have many avoided costs that conventional practices do not address. Often, only direct costs (materials, construction, maintenance) are applied to cost analyses of these projects. However, when water quality, air quality, energy savings, habitat and ecosystem services, and community benefits are accounted for, green infrastructure projects often prove to save money.
111
Storm Severity Increase and Loss of Snowpack: Climate Uncertainties There is a marked increase in storm frequency and intensity around the globe, much of which is due to human activity. It is also predicted that the severity of storms will only continue to increase throughout the coming century. In addition, The National Climate Assessment report has also stated that in some areas, particularly the Western United States, more precipitation is falling as rain instead of snow. This has an effect on the level of snowpack stored in higher altitudes over the course of winter and early spring. Snowpack serves as an important means of slow-release water supply, recharging aquifers and rivers as it melts throughout the Spring. With higher rates of rainfall, water is not stored as snow, instead running off into the ocean.
112
On the Eastern Sea Board, where recent Atlantic storms have shown particularly heightened activity and intensity, there has been a sharp increase in investment in coastal resiliency planning. While the severe weather events on the East seem unrelated to the climatic changes occurring in the West, they show the same clear message: stormwater management is a necessary investment, particularly for coastal urban areas of high density and impact. There lies a need for a more effective way of managing stormwater, however many times the most effective way is a multitude of strategies implemented at different scales and in different means. Similar to a biodiverse ecosystem, they can work simultaneously to respond to disturbances as a functional unit.
Rain Catchment and Storage: Residential Application Rainwater catchment is becoming increasingly recognized as an effective means for DIY ‘do it yourself’ and residential-scale water catchment, and in some cases is being promoted by municipalities as a successful mode for private water storage. Rainwater harvesting usually takes the form of a series of pipes, tanks, or containers to capture rainwater from existing gutters and downspouts, diverting what would normally enter a municipal stormwater infrastructure system into a long-term storage container for filtration, or grey-water use. These systems can not only help to reduce water pollution by relieving water volume pouring into municipal systems during a storm event, but can also help conserve water by providing a storage opportunity for future water recycling outputs.
Beginning in 1993, Portland has run the Downspout Disconnection Program, a program that encourages the use of infrastructure like rain barrels and cisterns to capture rainwater and divert it from their combined sewage system. Per year, it has saved an average of 1.3 billion gallons from entering the sewage system. In some cases, collected water is diverted into rain gardens, which act as small bio-infiltration swales that don’t store water in tanks, but allow it to recharge groundwater. In other cases, water is filtered by natural processes and stored onsite. In residential areas, up to 60% of water consumption is actually used outside the house, in irrigation, car washing, or other modes of cleaning. Collected rainwater has the potential to be purposed for those activities, creating enormous savings.
113
The Growing Need for Innovative Solutions Global changes in climate are creating new challenges, many of which humanity has never undergone. As a result, there is an increasing need to address these sitautions with equally novel solutions in order to create resilient environments for the future. The United States, particulary due to its geographic size, is undergoing a series of diverse changes, as its residents live in a variety of climatic conditions. The EPA predicts that property damage due to flooding is expected to increase by 30% over the next century, and the 50% percent of Americans who live on or near the coasts will be threatened by the predicted sea level rise. Heat waves are predicted to increase in severity and frequency, and 33% of the United States will experience significant drought by 2050. As discussed, many of these effects are a result of human activity, however there are increasing green
114
infrastructural innovations to address these challenges. Green infrastructure, in its many forms, can mitigate carbon pollution, can provide ground permeability and therefore manage flooding, and can reduce costs associated with these problems. Incorporating vegetation in urban areas can reduce overall heat in cities, and its implementation along coastlines and riparian areas can reduce water pollution and protect against storm surges and coastal flooding. By capturing rain, saving it for grey-water use, or filtering it for consumption, areas that are already experiencing drought and areas predicted to experience water shortage could take enormous steps in water conservation. Innovative green infrastructure solutions are effective in addressing these challenges.
Garment District
N
Midtown
Murray Hill
Chelsea
Kips Bay Long Island City Gramercy
Greenwich VIllage
West VIllage
Stuyvesant Town East Village
SoHo
Battery Park City
Greenpoint
Alphabet City
Tribeca China Town
Lower East Side
Williamsburg
Financial District Dumbo Navy Yard Downtown Brooklyn
Brooklyn Heights
Cobble Hill
Fort Greene
Clinton Hill Bedford Stuyvesant
Boerum Hill
Carroll Gardens Prospect Heights
Red Hook Gowanus
Park Slope
Crown Heights
115
Resources ARUP, Design with Water, 2014 Bainbridge, David A. Stormwater: Waste or Resource? Triple Pundit RSS, 24 Aug. 2010 Belson, Ken. The Rooftop Garden Climbs Down a Wall The New York Times. 18 Nov. 2009 Brooklyn Greenway Initiative, Stormwater Management Plan, 9 January, 2015 Bulletin of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, White Oak Conference on Regional Water Resources. Apr. 2007 Center for Watershed Protection, Impervious Surfaces and Water Quality, 1998 City of Chicago, Green Stormwater Infrastructure Strategy, Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Apr. 2014 City of Portland, Oregon, Downspout Disconnection Program, 2015 City Of Ventura, Rainwater Harvesting, 2010 Dearborn, Donald C. Motivations for Conserving Urban Biodiversity, Conservation Biology. 4 June 2009 Dicum, Gregory. The Dirty Water Underground, The New York Times. 30 May 2007 Great Lakes Protection Fund, A Business Model Framework for Market-Based Private Green Roofs for Healthy Cities, Green Walls Benefits, Dec. 2014 Groves, William W., et al. Analysis of Bioswale Efficiency for Treating Surface Runoff. 1999 Hengeveld, Henry, 2006. The Value of Green Infrastructure. Center for Neighborhood Technology, 2010 Hickman, Matt. Meet the Bioswale, New York’s New Weapon in the War against Water Pollution. Mother Nature Network. 13 Nov. 2014 Leung, Julia. Rainwater Harvesting 101, Rainwater Harvesting, Grow NYC, Aug. 2008 Lancaster, Brad. Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond, Rainwater Harvesting. 2015 Landscape Architecture Magazine, The Amphibious Edge, Feb. 2014 Mckeough, Tim. Room to Improve, The New York Times, 20 Feb. 2008 Minnesota Department of Health, Safety of Rooftop / Rain Barrel Collected Water, 2006 Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, Plants for Stormwater Design National Atmospheric Deposition Program, Acid Rain, 2014
116
National Climate Assessment, Changes in Storms, U.S Global Change Research Program, 2014. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Future Flood Zones for New York City, 18 Mar. 2014 National Resource Defense Council, Creating Private Markets for Green Stormwater Infrastructure, 17 Feb. 2015 National Resources Defense Council, The Green Edge: How Commercial Property, Dec. 2013 New York City Department of City Planning, Privately Owned Public Space, 2014 New York City Department of Environmental Protection, City Announces Major Expansion of Nationally Recognized Green Infrastructure Program to Further Improve the Health of Local Waterways, Dec. 2014 New York Department of Environmental Conservation, Trees: The Carbon Storage Experts. 2015 New York City Department of Environmental Protection, Types of Green Infrastructure, Oct 2013 Phoenix Process Equipment Company, Water Recycling Greywater System & Greywater Recycling, Water Recycling, 2015 River Partners, Physical River Processes, 2015 Schlanger, Zoe. If It’s Raining, NYC’s Raw Sewage Is Probably Pouring Into the Waterways, Newsweek, 23 July, 2014 Sheen, Julie. Bioswale Reference Guide, The Learning Garden 1-28. Lane Community College, 2011 University of Maryland Center for Environmental Studies, Integration & Application Network. 19 Jan. 2010 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, How Can I Overcome the Barriers to Green Infrastructure?, 13 June 2014 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, What Are the Six Common Air Pollutants?, 4 Dec. 2011 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, What Is Nonpoint Source Pollution?, 27 Aug. 2012 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Stormwater Management Best Practices, 05 Nov. 2012 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Trees and Vegetation | Heat Island Effect, 29 Aug. 2013 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office Of Water. Managing Wet Weather with Green Infrastructure, Municipal Handbook: Harvesting, Dec. 2008 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Reduce Urban Heat Island Effect. 16 July 2014 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Reducing Urban Heat Islands: Compendium of Strategies. Washington, DC: Climate Protection Partnership Division, 2008  U.S. National Library of Medicine, The Urban Environment and Childhood Asthma Study, National Center for Biotechnology Information, Mar. 2010 The Wetlands Initiative, What Is a Wetland?
117
118
119
TAYLOR DRAKE & CHRIS HEPNER PARSONS THE NEW SCHOOL FOR DESIGN 120