Rain’s in the forecast and so what better excuse do I have to post-pone that massive amount of yardwork I would love to be doing to bring you a bit more….Freno! Matt showed me the video he and Javier, another co-hort from Planning who also sits next to Matt, created showing the features of this product. I’ve embedded the video below, but for those of you more literary types, here’s the deal in print.
To touch on what we covered in the last post, Freno is what we call a segmental wall system, it’s basically a kit of 3 concrete parts that are precast just like building blocks in a variety of arrangements to accommodate any site’s installation …
In honor of the impending Earth Day, and to celebrate National Landscape Architecture Month, let’s talk rain gardens! I’ll pause for oohs and aahs.
Here in the Planning Group we’re always trying to come up with an ideal way to deal with rainwater on-site rather than piping it. We’ve tried infiltration fields, bioswales, rain gardens, etc etc. These all work when you have plenty of space, permeable surface, and the option to alter topography on sites. This, as you can imagine, gets a bit difficult when you’re in the middle of a city…in the middle of a street…
Urban rain …
As I mentioned in my previous post, I’m in Portland, Oregon attending the 44th annual SCUP conference. There are 14 HOKers here from across the U.S. and Canada, and not only are we learning lots and meeting great people, we’re also sharing HOK greatness with the world.
To be specific, HOK greatness includes:
- 2009 National SCUP Campus Planning Award – District Category for the University of Alabama Science and Engineering Precinct Master Plan (Tuscaloosa, Alabama). Accepted by Crystal Barriscale and Paul Woolford (San Francisco) and our University of Alabama Clients, this award recognizes the University’s new precinct which focuses on science and engineering and creates a new pedestrian
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What makes metropolitan and regional economies thrive? The keys are talent, innovation, connections and distinctiveness, says Joe Cortright, an economist in Portland, Oregon. Joe’s firm, Impresa, specializes in regional economic analysis, innovation and industry clusters. He is a non-resident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution and a Senior Policy Advisor for CEOs for Cities, a national network of urban leaders dedicated to creating cities for the future.
I talked to Joe as part of the HOK Planning Group’s exploration of the city of the future. I found his theory on the Green Dividend – a computation of the actual economic benefits that people and places (like Portland)
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