Kansas State University StormwaterManagement Project – Manhattan, Kansas:
Integrating Education, Research, and Practice
Lee R. Skabelund, Kansas State UniversityLandscape Architecture / Regional & Community Planning
Principal Investigator / Project Manager
Konza Prairie near Manhattan, KSFlint Hills Ecoregion
Urban Stormwater ConcernsThroughout Manhattan, urbanizing parts of Riley County,
Kansas, and other urban areas, stormwater is typically sent quickly away from developed areas and straight-piped into drainageways, streams, rivers, and ponds.
As a result of these and other land-use practices, riparian ecosystems in the Upper Kansas River Watershed
continue to be severely degraded.
Large amounts of groundwater are also pumped to the surface, and sprayed on lawns, gardens, and other
landscapes. Very little water replenishes underground water reserves.
What can we do to correct these bad habits?
Project Summary• This collaborative design-build project engaged
students, faculty, staff, and professionals in the task of considering ecologically sound ways to treat stormwater that falls on the Kansas State University (KSU) campus. In the process, two specific goals were achieved:
• 1) Designed and created a rain-garden along a selected area of Campus Creek to reduce stormwater run-off and improve water quality.
• 2) Demonstrated specific ways to address urban stormwater runoff to KSU administrators, staff, faculty, students, and visitors.
Educational Intent• Engaging KSU administrators, staff, faculty,
students, and local planning/design professionals is deemed essential if substantive changes in stormwater management are to occur on campus and in the larger community.
• This collaborative design/build demonstration project involved key stakeholders at KSU and other communities, raising their awareness of best practices, testing design ideas on the ground, and engaging those who influence stormwater management at KSU and beyond.
Primary educational goals:1) Help students deepen their knowledge of both natural and human systems (building on lessons learned in Natural Systems & Site Analysis, Fluvial Systems, Construction I, II & III, Environmental Issues & Ethics, and Landscape Architecture Design courses); 2) Necessitate collaborative, interdisciplinary teamwork, and; 3) Require critical thinking about how conceptual design ideas are translated into construction drawings and functioning systems with a limited budget of time and money.
Sources: NASA (unlabled photos); Oberlin College (text & David Orr photo)
http://www.nrel.gov/buildings/highperformance/oberlin_gallery.html
http://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy03osti/31516.pdf
Excerpted remarks by David W. Orr, Director of Oberlin's Environmental Studies Program, in 1999.“Three years ago we began the effort to design a building for the Environmental Studies Program. We intended to create not just a place for classes but rather a building that would help to redefine the relationship between humankind and the environment—one that would expand our sense of ecological possibilities. We began by asking:Is it possible—even in Ohio—to power buildings by current sunlight? Is it possible to create buildings that purify their own wastewater? Is it possible to build without compromising human and environmental heath somewhere else or at some later time?”
DOE-Robb Williamson photo
DOE-Robb Williamson photo
Learning from Precedents:water-sensitive site
planning/design project
Roof water is collected in carved stone basins, then drains into a grated channel before cascading over a five-foot stone-faced retaining wall. The learning lab and auditorium buildings expand onto the courtyard, which is paved with stone, subtly-colored sandblasted concrete, and tile artifacts (historically manufactured in the watershed). Surrounding forest and meadows are pulled into the courtyard and onto building roofs.
Water-sensitive site planning/design project
Cedar River Watershed Education Center - Seattle, WA Source: www.asla.org
Design by Jones & Jones – Planners, Architects & Landscape Architects
ASLA 2004 award winner
A new road reveals previously hidden landscapes.
A new parking lot integrates multiple functions: parking, water collection, and horticultural display. The lot includes an impervious asphalt roadway, with permeable asphalt parking bays off to the sides. A stormwater recharge bed lies under the entire lot. When it rains, water rapidly disappears through the permeable paving and into the underground basin where it infiltrates into the ground.
Water-sensitive site planning/design project
Andropogon Associates, Ltd.
Morris ArboretumSource: www.asla.org
Water-sensitive site planning/design project
Coffee Creek, Chesterton, IndianaSources: www.coffeecreekwc.org/pages/showgallery_visitor.asp (photos)
www.coffeecreekcenter.com/ (text)
Employing Environmental EngineeringRestoration of the Coffee Creek corridor is being implemented with guidance from biologists who understand the local & regional landscape. Level spreaders and vegetation infiltrate water into the soil. The project employs civil engineering without traditional expensive and destructive stormwater drainage systems – and provides a wide range of shared community open space within a 167-acre preserve.
Restoring Native Ecosystems and Habitats“Unbuilt areas are being restored to a pre-settlement landscape to minimize soil erosion and rebuild soil integrity, re-establish native plant & animal communities and encourage increased bio-diversity.”
Level Spreaderslows runoff
Wetland Celltreats sewage
Greenroof
Stream
Prairie
Water-sensitive site planning/design project
Coffee Creek, Chesterton, IndianaSource: www.coffeecreekwc.org/pages/showgallery_visitor.asp
Managing & Monitoring Site SystemsMonitoring reports are prepared for water quality, fish, birds and vegetation. Fire is used to maintain the prairie.Watershed Preserve
Trails Map
Fall 2004 KSU-LAR StormwaterManagement Charrette
Q: How do we restore hydrological processes in urban settings?
Instructive StormwaterManagement BMPs in the Region
Jackson Street Bioretention Areas, Topeka, KS
Mize Lake Bioretention Cell and Created Wetland, Lenexa, KS
Discovery Center,Living Machine & Created WetlandKansas City, MO
Three Guest Speakers/Reviewersand Links to KSU Classes
Stormwater Management Charretteat Kansas State UniversityOct. 25-27, 2006
Ten Teams; Multiple Sites; Reviews & Open House
Integrated Teams and Many Design Ideas…
Potential Stormwater Management Retrofits at KSU’s Derby Dining Complex
Moore Hall/Claflin Rd. Bioretention Area (Spring ’09?)
Haymaker & Ford HallBioretentionGardens(Fall ’08?)
Derby Green Roof *
International Student Center Raingarden(Spring 2007)
West & Ford Hall Parking Retrofit (Summer ’09 construction?)
Boyd Hall/Old Claflin Rd.Raingarden(Fall ’07 / Spring ’08 implementation?)
ISC/Residence Hall Raingardens, Amphitheater & Pathways(Fall 2009 charrette; Summer 2010 implementation?)
* Collaborative Project with BNIM and other firms(Fall 2007 Studio Project; Construction date TBD; includes designing a Green Roof for Seaton Hall’s West Wing walkout)
Restoring Hydrologic Processes along Campus CreekThe KSU International Student Center Design/Build Rain-Garden Demonstration Project
Project inspired by KSU-LAR StormwaterManagement Charrette
Taiwan Wing
Korean Room
Restoring Hydrologic Processes along Campus CreekThe KSU International Student Center Design/Build Rain-Garden Demonstration Project
In-process rain-garden photos taken on 5/16/07, 6/2/07, 6/22/07, and 7/16/07.
Planting & Setting Level-Spreader (4/28/07)Planting Plan (Cary Thomsen, KSU-MLA)
Restoring Hydrologic Processes along Campus CreekThe KSU International Student Center Design/Build Rain-Garden Demonstration Project
ISC Staff: Photo taken April 23, 2007
The KSU-ISC Rain-Garden
October 2, 2007 - photos taken after a 1.2-inch storm event (approximate).
Campus Creek10/2/07
KSU Green Roof Design – Fall 2007Green roof designs were proposed for a handful of buildings on the K-State Campus in Manhattan, Kansas.
Landscape Architecture students visited four constructed green roofs in Kansas City, Missouri; reviewed and discussed the literature related to green roof design, construction and management; and then selected one or more rooftops on which to design a green roof.
They spent three weeks asking: What if? What might be? If here, how?
Three-Week Green Roof Design Project, KSU-LARCP Specialization Studio – Prof. Lee R. Skabelund; Designers – 12 LAR Students.
Derby Dining Complex
Chalmers & Ackert HallsSeaton Hall (3)
K-State Union
Project Sites
KSU Green Roof Design – Fall 2007
This green roof would serve as a research laboratory, outdoor reading room, and social gathering space.
Three-Week Green Roof Design Project, KSU-LARCP Specialization Studio – Prof. Lee R. Skabelund; Designers - Anthony Fox & Chris Morton.
KSU Green Roof Design – Fall 2007
The Derby green roof would serve as park-like space for walking, reading and studying, conversing and eating, and resting, relaxing and sunbathing.
Three-Week Green Roof Design Project, KSU-LARCP Specialization Studio –Prof. Lee R. Skabelund; Designers – Cole Giesler & Katie Sobcynski.
KSU Green Roof Design – Fall 2007
Three-Week Green Roof Design Project, KSU-LARCP Specialization Studio – Prof. Lee R. Skabelund; Designers – Kris Coen & Daniel Robben.
These green roofs would serve primarily as a research laboratories to study the value of living roofs for energy savings and stormwater management.