Uuring keskendub probleemidele, mis kerkivad esile veemajandamisel.

The research addresses the issue of water management through a constructed equivalent of a natural wetland. This park prototype constitutes an urban drainage corridor – with permeable surfaces – that decreases the rate, velocity and volume of surface water runoff in cases of heavy rainfall.

The building sloping roofs channel the water towards water tanks, which perform as a flood control mechanism. By temporarily storing floodwater, the water tanks help protect adjacent and downstream properties from flood damage.

The research revisited New York City`s water supply system as a case study for all metropolitan areas. New York was used as a testing ground for the design prototype, since the city was severely affected by the megastorm Sandy and the intention was to see how such a design approach can perform even within a very dense urban fabric. New York City’s water supply system is a complex hydraulic system which relies on a combination of tunnels, aqueducts and reservoirs, where 95% of the total water is supplied by gravity. The design idea of the project is based on this concept of gravity and the circle of water: tanks that receive, collect, treat and store rainwater, functioning through a topographical height difference.

In parallel with conveying, storing and filtering storm water, the park aspires to render itself as a viable urban node, where diverse open-air and indoor activities take place. Eventually, mechanisms will be operating in parallel across layers: a constant flow of water from one tank to the other below surface and a constant flow of programmatic activities on the park’s surface – these two flows ending up intersecting and interweaving with one another.

Authors: 

Constantine Bouras studied Architecture at the National Technical University of Athens and received a Master of Architecture in Urban Design from the Harvard Graduate School of Design. He has worked in architectural firms in Athens, Milan and New York, where he is currently an architect at DXA Studio. His work has been exhibited in Athens, New York and the Toyo Ito Museum in Japan.

Evita Fanou holds a MSc from the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation at Columbia University and an architectural degree from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. She has been awarded prizes and honorable mentions in International and European architectural competitions. She is currently an architect at Fogarty Finger Architecture, specializing in Building Information Modeling.

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