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Ord Military Community Activity Center
This new facility supports the sports and recreation needs of a revitalized military housing community in its vicinity. Working with the landscape architects and civil engineers on the project team, goals were to infiltrate the stormwater on site and provide a water reuse system.
A bioswale network was developed. One type of bioswale takes the roof and site runoff and slowly routes it into an infiltration rain garden. From there, plant roots clean and slow the water as it eventually permeates into the soil. The second type of bioswale is lined with an impervious material to transport the water into an underground tank. Water enters into a rain garden before it enters the tank. The water collected in the tank is transported to the green roof on the Activity Center building for irrigation.
In addition, an effort was made to educate the landscape architect about the California coastal plant communities and species that would be appropriate for the harsh coastal climate as well as creating habitat for coastal species such as hummingbirds and butterflies. Ultimately, the meandering and graceful design of the bioswales informed the overall site design for the landscape architect. It tells a story about the journey of stormwater flow.