Rain Gardens: New Hampshire SPCA
As part of our work on a building project for the New Hampshire SPCA, ARQ Architects collaborated with landscape architect, Soren Deniord, on the creation of a “rain garden” to capture and infiltrate storm water runoff from the buildings and site. With increased development and storm intensity, local jurisdictions are requiring new building projects to manage storm water on site to reduce down stream impacts from flooding. Concrete detention and infiltration tanks are one means of meeting these requirements, however natural ecosystems can accomplish the same goal often at a lower cast and with additional environmental benefit.
In the case of the New Hampshire SPCA, a large area of lawn was regraded and planted with native weltands plant species. The resulting “rain garden” not only will effectively retain and infiltrate runoff, but it will also provide habitat for native insect and animal species as well as a beautiful and sustainable landscape for the staff and visitors to the facility.
Other projects that use similar site design strategies include:
• Potter League for Animals: rain water reuse and vegetated roof
• BRC: vegetated storm water infiltration system
• Marin Humane: storm water management integrated into landscape design
Soren and the ARQ partners, Paul and Lucy, lead a volunteer team in the planting of the rain garden. Involving staff and the other volunteers from Timberland helped give the participants a better understanding of how natural systems can play a vital role in storm water management and environmental restoration.
Rain gardens and related site work are only one means of helping to mitigate storm water damaged and reduce runoff. At the Potter League for Animals, ARQ worked with project engineers and other designers to include a vegetated roof (left) and a rain water reclamation system (above) to retain and repurpose storm water on site. These and related measures help protect the adjacent wetlands habitat while reducing the amount of potable, treated water used in the facility.