Brad Lancaster shows us how a bleak, eroding, and dehydrating storm DRAIN was transformed into vibrant, passive water-harvesting storm PARK rehydrating and regenerating the community thanks to work by designer and implementer Craig Sponholtz of Watershed Artisans and his team.
The installation helps recharge groundwater and Santa Fe River flows, while creating a vibrant and beautiful public park and gathering space that reduces flooding and erosion, and grows a living seed bank of native plants — irrigated solely with passively harvested rain and stormwater — supporting abundant pollinators, birds, and other wildlife.
I love when infrastructure connects people to a city’s energetic flows. Where I grew up stormwater management was hidden underground and piped into a degraded river. Surface drainage was a purely functional strip of mowed grass graded into a ditch or detention pond. There was no reason to visit those sites, so water was just an abstract thing that either flowed out of a tap or pooled in the street. Where I live now, it’s routed through rain gardens and engineered wetlands that border the bike trails. I have a constant connection to the city’s water supply that’s enriching and educational. Every one of those interactions exposes me to its issues and inspires me toward solutions that give me more of the pleasant experience.
A park like this is something you want to visit when you’re rained out of every other park. There waste is beautiful and bad weather is a celebrated community experience- rain in a desert. Highlighting the problem in a way people want to engage with will push them in so many good directions.
Says the video’s been removed by the uploader
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqwDElPWwPw
They must have made some editing change. It’s been reuploaded here by the same channel.
Thanks
I found a YouTube link in your comment. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:
I found a YouTube link in your post. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:
