There's nothing more appealing to us than functional design. We ran across these downspout gardens in Seattle that had us wishing we had the ability to transform the side of our own living space! Not only does the downspout collect rainfall, it also sends that water directly to attached plants. See what it connects to after the jump....
Environmental Artist, Buster Simpson has been hard at work in his creations that are part of the Growing Vine Street Project.
The garden adjoins a water reclamation project, designed to one day take over the eight-block stretch of Vine Street from Denny Way to Elliott Avenue, and transform it into a watershed and urban green space for the dense high-rise population surrounding it. Water is directed from the roof via the downspouts (featured above) and then through the extended index finger of the outstretched hand (6'x10' tank) and eventually making it's way down Vine Street to the Cistern steps.
We'd love to see something like this implemented in other places around the country as the need to make as many spaces in our daily lives "green" continues!
(Images: Buster Simpson for the Seattle Times)
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Comments (11)
Ah! Finally! So wonderful.
Crazy! I'd love to see closer photos, but I suppose that would require a crane. I'd also like to know how exactly it works... is there any problem with backwash during a heavy rain?
"is there any problem with backwash during a heavy rain?"
Only if a friend shares the same bottle of beer....
It looks to be designed such that gravity won't really allow overflowing. Very neat. I may have to try making something like this :)
I dunno about this.. Maybe I am being picky because I just spent a small fortune having gutters installed on our historic home... When you shell out big bucks for something you become jaded, I think.
Anyway... if you got a big rain and those overflowed, you'd have water running down the side of the building and that defeats the purpose of guttering. We get big rains in the Midwest, and I could see it becoming a soupy mess. Plus, we paid extra to have the screens installed over the tops of the gutters - so it seems so bizzare to purposely put plant matter in there.
I would love to ask my gutter guy what he thinks of that one! :)
Wow - I had seen one of these back in 2006 in Seattle, but I had no idea of the back story. Very cool.
http://someoneelsehaslmcwethy.blogspot.com/2009/03/beauty-before-function.html
Overflow:
Water always takes the easiest route down, and never comes up higher than the source unless by force.
Notice how the plantings are higher than the junction that feeds the planting? No chance of overflow even if there was nothing planted unless there was a major blockage in the the pipe.
Very cool. I'm assuming the root system extends into the pipes then?
Hard to tell, but it does seem like it's impossible for these to overflow. The water will still travel down before coming out the top.
I guess if your rain is THAT heavy, then I don't think any gutter structure would fully fit your needs.
Funky.
And this is in my back yard so I'm gonna need to make this a walking destination, with camera. :-)
If you look closely, there is a tunnel like entrance to the downspouts from the room, which is flattish with a brick facade to hide it all and that is how the water escapes and if you look more closely, water will travel down the pipe, weting the soil from below, but also the water from above getting the plant directly and the water will simply flow down.
These kinds of systems have been in use all over for years and I've seen underground filters such as these at some of the park and rides around here. The Eastegate Park and Ride here in Bellevue has one such system.
As much as I like the idea, how foes one reach these and tend to the flowers. (I am assuming these are to grow something other than weeds.?)