Rain Collection for Philadelphia Row Homes

Project Overview:

Run off and stormwater management in urban areas is one major issue shared by cities across the country. Philadelphia is leading the way in managing our combined sewer systems by implementing new green infrastructure in the public setting. The city’s proposals are looking to neighborhood associations and individual homeowners to install green infrastructure elements to aid in achieving several water management goals. Urban Studio, with support from the Water Department and the New Kensington Community Development Corporation, has taken on a leadership role in developing designs that are more appropriate to Philadelphia row home architecture and space limitations.

Urban Studio has developed a long-term project with three phases: research and design development, installation and observation, and distribution. In each phase we will work with different organizations ranging from neighborhood groups to architects, homeowners to the Philadelphia Water department, and manufacturers to sales venues. By working with this range of stakeholders, Urban Studio will identify new solutions appropriate in terms of function, aesthetics, production techniques, scale, quantity, and cost.

The recommendations for rain collection systems will have several outcomes when implemented at the scale of Philadelphia, including creating new manufacturing opportunities, new green jobs, using recycled plastics, implementing water conservation practices, cleaner rivers, and new processes for getting more people engaged with city wide issues.

Project Origin:
Urban Studio approached New Kensington Community Development Corporation (NKCDC) to learn about their plans and projects for sustainable development in the New Kensington Neighborhood. New Kensington is participating in the Green Cities, Clean Waters Model Neighborhoods program, an initiative of the Philadelphia Water Department (PWD). The initiative is being developed by a partnership of PWD, Fairmount Park, PennFuture, and the Next Great City coalition, Pennsylvania Horticultural Society (PHS), with neighborhood associations and community development corporations. Urban Studio began educating ourselves on the six identified elements that make a model neighborhood and reviewed the Homeowner’s Guide to Storm-water Management, prepared by the Office of Watershed Philadelphia Water Department. Out of the twelve recommended areas necessary to create a green infrastructure we identified the Rain Barrel as both an item most in need of development and a project that will utilize Urban Studio’s and meet our mission.

In order to complete a project of this type Urban Studio uses a community driven design process to establish best designs and best practices. This is done by collaborating with both for profit professionals and non-profit community groups with expertise in the project’s requirements. Through out the project we will record and evaluate the community’s needs, wants, and goals and use them are parameters when making decisions on concepts, final designs, manufacturing, installation, and use.

Phase 1 Outcomes:
During Phase 1 Urban Studio completed a comprehensive study of the current work happening across the region by the government, communities, for profit, and non-for profit organizations. We clearly established there is a major gap in the work being done to get individual homeowners involved in creating sustainable solutions for Philadelphia specifically around storm water management. Through interviews with individuals and active organizations, participating in community meetings, and reading reports individual participation is limited due to lack of appropriate designs for individuals to purchase, install, and use, a lack of information and education, and because the neighborhood associations and city do not have the capacity to create and direct large scale distribution and installation. Without new designs and systems, the potential will go untapped despite the large interest in communities across Philadelphia to do more.

After our research illustrated where we should focus Urban Studio developed 40+ concepts for rain collection systems. These concepts and research were presented publicly at a design charrette hosted on September 12th. The charrette brought together stake holders: representatives from the Philadelphia Water Department, Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, New Kensington Community Development Corporation, as well as active designers, architects, and homeowners. Through the charrette we established a set of criteria to use during our design refinement and a specific concept that met everyone’s shared goals.

Phase 2 Outline:
With the completion of Phase 1 we were able to approach NKCDC as a partner. There are a lot of overlaps with our work and vision and NKCDC’s goals with their Sustainable 19125 Water Conservation initiative. Urban Studio’s Phase 2 now includes leading their water initiative. We will be developing new designs, making them available for purchase, developing educational material, making recommendations for other types of water conservation beyond installing rain collection, doing follow up evaluation and tracking, and establishing a system of ongoing participation and maintenance.

In order to meet these goals and complete our deliverables for NKCDC, including installing 200 systems in the neighborhood, we will be developing educational materials with continued work with PHS and PWD. Continue our outreach to the for profit sector to develop a supply chain specific to the region to produce and distribute our systems. Developing a website that will be used for educational purposes as well as a way to share experiences with water conservation and to help track the impact of the project. We will also reach out to other groups in the city to discuss the possibility of work force training to install, maintain, and record usage. The design of all components – the rain collection systems, educational material, website, and job training – will be done in collaboration with groups in the city already doing this type of work, Urban Studio’s design team, students, and through community participation with volunteer opportunities and design charrettes.

Once our systems are in place and people are trained to do follow up evaluations, Urban Studio will oversee recording the impact of this project to test how well our systems work. The goal is to have a measurable impact on storm water management that will help the PWD meet their goals. Having an impact will help to illustrate the importance of changing how the city can allocate funds for developing sustainable solutions. Currently the PWD policy limits the water department to making capital investments on city owned property only. However, residential properties make up a large percentage of the developed land and contribute to the city’s storm water management problems. The Urban Studio Rain Collection project is the type of project that could trigger this policy change. The monitoring report will demonstrate not only the amount of storm water collected but also the reliability of residential storm water infrastructure. The intent is to replicate this installation and monitoring with other CDC partners resulting in large-scale implementation and monitoring of residential storm water management. The results generated from the monitoring these installations would be used by the Office of Watersheds to convince the PWD that investing in storm water management solutions is a sound method to meet their long-term combined sewer overflow program’s goals.

Project Goals:
Urban Studio’s Rain Collection Project on one level is an opportunity to develop new designs and technologies appropriate to Philadelphia. As Urban Studio began working, collaborating, and identifying shared goals, we quickly identified that this project has several larger impacts and opportunities:

- Protect water resources by managing rainwater run off
- Revitalize the urban core by getting people engaged in creating, developing, and maintaining solutions for sustainable urban living.
- Improve regional prosperity by developing a regionally specific supply chain to produce, distribute and install new technologies appropriate to Philadelphia.
- Establish a demonstration project that illustrates processes for collaboration between the city and organizations, communities, for profits, and individuals in the development of new solutions.
- Create new policies for determining best use of city funds whether on public or private spaces.