Street and city
Rain garden
aceraplazaparkingschoolyardfront garden
A planted depression that receives water from roofs and streets and lets it soak slowly into the ground.
What it solves
It reduces flooding, cleans rainwater and recharges the soil. In the tropics it helps absorb intense downpours instead of overloading storm drains.
Today
Size it for the design storm, with sandy soil that drains, native plants that tolerate both waterlogging and drought, and an overflow outlet.
Common mistake
Making a depression in compacted clay soil that stays waterlogged for days.
Tomorrow
Networks of rain gardens can be part of neighborhood drainage in the face of more extreme downpours. Planted with native species and adopted by neighbors, they attract butterflies and birds.
Fact Many guides require a rain garden to drain within 24 to 48 hours after the storm.
Where it comes from
- 1United States Prince George’s County, Maryland, 1990
Rain gardens for homes were developed there. - 2China Chinese cities, 2014 and 2015
The sponge city idea, proposed by the landscape architect Kongjian Yu, became national policy to retain and reuse rainwater.
Masters
- Kongjian Yu Qunli Stormwater Park, Harbin, China, 2009
He surrounded a wetland with a necklace of ponds and mounds that collect, filter and infiltrate the city’s rain. His work gave shape to the sponge city idea.
Appears in the routes
See also
Also in Street and city
Diagrams and texts by LDB Arquitectura. They are shared under the CC BY 4.0 license, which allows them to be used and adapted with credit to the source.