Water Management

Louisiana Children’s Museum, New Orleans, La.
Case Study
Water Management

Retaining Water

Following Hurricane Katrina, the Louisiana Children’s Museum (LCM) adapted its mission to respond to the changing needs of its recovering community. By integrating indoor and outdoor interactive experiences in a park setting, LCM presents a unique model for children’s museums.The museum’s new home, designed by Mithun, is distributed into two linked buildings that are carefully sited to protect a significant grove of live oaks, part of a World Heritage Site. The design builds resilience into the lagoon edge with native plantings that will absorb rain and flood water and creates open space that reinforces environmental education. The choreography of the visitor experience con

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Grasspave2, Gravelpave2 and Beachrings 2
Advances
Paving Systems

Rolling Along

Grasspave2, Gravelpave2 and Beachrings 2 from Invisible Structures allow ADA-compliant access for areas typically difficult to access for wheelchair-bound or disabled individuals. Simple but highly effective components buried just below the surface, plastic cylinders allow the normally uneven surface to provide uniform resistance to walkers, bikers or wheel chairs, meeting ADA standards for public park and recreational facilities.

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Case Study
Paving Systems

A Water Celebration

A new scalable climate adoption system, Climate Tile, equips side-walks with capabilities that not only treat water, but celebrate water as a valuable resource. Climate Tile is a new scalable climate adoption system for future cities. It couples traditionally separate functions. It transforms future sidewalks to collect and manage water, while contributing to the growth of urban nature and improved microclimates. It equips sidewalks with a set of additional capabilities that treat water in a technical manner, and conserve water as a valuable resource.The system can catch and redirect the additional projected 30% rainwater due to increased precipitation from climate change. It preve

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Case Study
Paving Systems

Bricks Beckon Precipitation

If you’re thinking about adding an outdoor component to your next project there’s more than meets the eye to brick hardscapes. It takes an experienced contractor, coupled with expert craftsmanship and highly resilient materials to eloquently construct a brick-centric landscape design with both ecological sensitivity and longevity. Recently, the Hardscape North America competition lauded the merits of three clay brick projects: all three incorporate Pine Hall Brick.One of which, The Flats East Bank, won an HNA award for Clay Brick—Permeable. The project is an expansive warehouse district on the waterfront of the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland, Ohio. It is now the site

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Frick Environmental Center, Pittsburgh, Pa.
Case Study
Water Management

A Formula for Stormwater Retention and Reuse

Some reputations die hard. Granted, Pittsburgh’s legacy as a sooty, steel-making city a century ago was well-earned, but it’s also a thing of the past. In its place is a widespread commitment to environmental stewardship that is slowly but surely earning The ‘Burgh’ a new and better standing in the public eye. The latest example of this new era is the Frick Environmental Center, the first municipally owned, fee-free public building in the U.S. to earn Living Building certification, a rigorous protocol by the International Living Future Institute.“The international recognition of the Frick Environmental Center is the perfect reflection of the deeply rooted c

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Advances
Water Management

Leak-Proof

Water damage is difficult to recover from, sparsely covered by insurance, and even so, many times the damage is irreversible. Uponor has developed an intelligent water technology, Phyn Plus, a smart water assistant and shutoff. This new smart water monitoring system automatically measures tiny changes in water pressure 240 times per second, to identify and alert homeowners the moment a leak is detected. The simple set-up and easy installation is a precursor to an enterprise solution, which will be available next. Experts at Uponor and Phyn will provide ongoing plumbing and technical support to help plumbers leverage the device’s features and benefits. 

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