Water, Landscape and Urban Design, MIT 4.214/11.314
Course Description: Water affects the design of every building, site, and city in aesthetic, functional, and symbolic ways. This course examines issues of water-conserving design in different regions of the world, with a focus on the U.S. and South Asia. In the fall of 2009, the Philadelphia Water Department announced a landmark proposal to reduce combined sewer overflows through green infrastructure. The course explores the potential for this approach to reduce 30-50% of runoff from impervious surfaces in the Mill Creek Watershed, which drains about two-thirds of West Philadelphia. View the Course Syllabus.Click on each category to view student work.
Best Management Practices (BMPs) in the Urban Landscape
To explore strategies for stormwater management, each student conducted an analysis of Best Management Practices (BMPs) for stormwater in urban environments. Each student prepared a short presentation (provided as PDFs below). To research each BMP, students used the EPA Urban BMP Performance Tool and stormwater design resources from key American cities, including NYC, Portland, Seattle and San Francisco. To view the projects, click the thumbnails below.
| Berms | Bioretention & Bioinfiltration |
Constructed Wetlands |
Detention Basins |
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| Filter Strips |
Green & Roofs |
Inlets & Outlets |
Rainbarrels & Cisterns |
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| Subsurface Vaults |
Subsurface Infiltration |
Swales | Wetponds & Retention Basins |
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Transect Analyses of West Philadelphia
For this course, we are studying a series of transects within the Mill Creek watershed (both across the buried floodplain and along the main trunk sewer), which, collectively, represent the diverse neighborhood conditions (e.g. in land use, topography, impervious surface, demographics, ownership). For this project, students generated diagrams, maps, and sections of transects to highlight opportunities and obstacles to the design, construction, and management of green infrastructure to reduce or detain stormwater runoff. These transect analyses provide the basis for fieldwork in Philadelphia and for the initial schematic designs. Click here for a PDF description of the Transect Analysis Assignment.
To view the Transect Analyses, click the thumbnails below. Note: some files may be very large.
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Brown Street Transect By: Elisha Goodman & Wataru Nomaru |
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Transect: Haverford Ave & 46th Street By: Shoko Takemoto & Stephanie Stern |
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Lancaster Transect By: Florence Guiraud Doughty & Allison Hu |
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Locust Transect By: Jasmine Tillu & Yan-Ping Wang |
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Westminster Transect By: Christopher Chung & Elizabeth Ramaccia Note: Very large file size (179MB). |
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Woodbine Transect By: Tyler Corson-Rikert & Frances Ritchie |
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Woodland Transect By: Zaynab Abaas & Alexis Taylor |
Initial Schematic Designs
Students created draft site design alternatives for transects within the Mill Creek watershed in West Philadelphia. Working in each transect, students synthesized sustainable site design technologies to reduce runoff from impervious surfaces by 30-50% and to show how water conservation and stormwater design can enhance residential design, streetscapes, parks, parking lots, mixed land uses, etc.
PDF Description of Schematic Design Assignment
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Brown Street Schematic Design By: Elisha Goodman & Wataru Nomaru |
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Haverford Ave Schematic Design By: Shoko Takemoto & Stephanie Stern |
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Lancaster Schematic Design By: Florence Guiraud Doughty & Allison Hu |
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Locust Schematic Design To Be Posted Shortly By: Jasmine Tillu & Yan-Ping Wang |
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Westminster Schematic Design By: Christopher Chung Elizabeth Ramaccia & Jamie Renee Young |
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Woodbine Schematic Design By: Tyler Corson-Rikert & Frances Ritchie |
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Woodland Schematic Design By: Zaynab Abaas & Alexis Taylor |
South Asian Precedents
Students explored how design innovations in other parts of the world might help generate analogues that broaden the range of choice in Philadelphia. Our focus is South Asia, which has been a leader in rainwater harvesting and irrigation management. This project involved identifying precedents, comparing projects across space, culture and time, and considering their use as design analogues.
PDF Description of Assignment 3 (Coming Soon)
- South Asian Precedents Available in November 2010
Transect Design and Implementation: Community, Culture , and Process.
Student designs for an implementation strategy and refined conceptual design proposals for transects across West Philadelphia's Mill Creek watershed based on analyses of precedents in the Indo-Islamic realm.
PDF Description of Assignment 4 (Coming Soon)
- Final Design and Implementation Available in December 2010