alluvial gardens

design/concept

This project was something of an undertaking. The task at hand was to take a section of land that constantly flooded and figure out a way to contain the runoff while also purifying it. We started off with a concept of a series of concrete boxes that formed a sort of artificial valley, using the surrounding sidewalks as a way to redirect and funnel the water into this modified section of land. These concrete boxes would have an overlapping pattern that would allow for water to filter through the plants and material contained within, and then pass through to another layer of filters. This work was done while at James Madison University, and after the completion of our project the university funded an investigation into the plausibility of realizing our designs while also asking us to develop them further.

Unfortunately, the university eventually realized their was already an existing plan to build a road through that section of land and discontinued their efforts on the project.