Image Credit: Taber Caton, Principal, Searle Design Group

Image Credit: Taber Caton, Principal, Searle Design Group

Image Credit: Taber Caton, Principal, Searle Design Group

Image Credit: Taber Caton, Principal, Searle Design Group

Project: Congdon House (RISD) Rain Gardens

Location: Providence Map It

Description:

The project removed 510 square feet of paving and added mostly native plantings, many of which were salvaged from the site. Bel-Terra Landscaping implemented a plan by Searle Design Group that includes a terrace for student use and a narrowed asphalt path to the parking area. One of the gardens collects the surface runoff from a majority of the reduced paving areas as well as 25 percent of the Congdon House roof water. The other garden acts as an overflow in the event of a large storm event and has the capacity to take an additional 25 percent of the roof runoff. The infiltration reduces the flow toward Angell Street, that would feed into the combined sewer sanitary system.