The Constructed Wetland

Area of Concern: Puddle Dock Central Lawn - Localized Flooding

Proposed Solution: Constructed Wetland in portion of existing lawn

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The central lawn was once a tidal inlet, providing an outlet for the stormwater runoff from the surrounding drainage area. Today the large central lawn is the museum’s most high-intense use area, supporting many Strawbery Banke Museum events throughout the year. The central lawn is also the absolute low point within the campus and the surrounding watershed. During high tide, when the tidal culvert outfall is submerged under several feet of seawater, the city’s drainage infrastructure can not release the accumulating stormwater from the watershed.

Most of the stormwater within the campus finds its way to the central lawn. At times, this can create extensive flooding within the lawn area. Controlling and diverting stormwater elsewhere on site will not be enough to alleviate the visible burden that accumulates in the central lawn each spring and or throughout the year when storm events coincide with high tide.

Design Intent

This intervention aims to create a constructed wetland where it is already wet. The proposed shape would move stormwater from the Carpenter’s Shop wet swale beneath Atkinson Street and into two deep pools to temporarily store water at high tide. During severe storms, the wetland configuration will also promote lateral flow across the Campus towards Marcy Street.

Positioned between the central lawn and parking lot, the wetland can act as a soft visual buffer, screening the view of parked cars and buses, which can detract from the museum experience. The proposed wetland vegetated slopes adjacent to the central lawn are imagined as low growing, maintaining the long viewsheds of today while also creating a more immersive opportunity with the natural environment. The southern slope of the wetland, between the boardwalk and parking lot, is imagined as a more natural riparian habitat with mixed native shrubs and herbaceous ground cover.

The constructed wetland and accessible boardwalk crossing could become a new Strawbery Banke Museum feature and local landmark. Opportunities for interpretive signage describing the plants, habitats and its role in water control are myriad. The Museum can highlight its wetland ecosystem, how it is planning for groundwater rise, and how drawing working with the past can help steer our future.

PAVED INLET FLUME

SOURCE: HORSLEY WITTEN GROUP

RAIN GARDEN

SOURCE: HORSLEY WITTEN GROUP

RAIN GARDEN

SOURCE: HORSLEY WITTEN GROUP

VEGETATED SWALE

SOURCE: HORSLEY WITTEN GROUP

SPILLWAY (PLANK-STYLE PAVERS)

SOURCE: UNILOCK

BOARDWALK CROSSING CONSTRUCTED WETLAND

SOURCE: KLOPFER MARTIN DESIGN GROUP