Soak It Up Competition

This competition, sponsored by the Community Design Collaborative and the Philadelphia Water Department, explored various ways to manage stormwater in the urban environment.  Brawer & Hauptman, on a design team with civil engineers Hunt Engineering and landscape architects Simone Collins, proposed a design that used the rainwater runoff from the roof of a block-long factory building in North Philadelphia to irrigate crops grown by an urban farming venture on vacant land across the street.  The cost-effective design of overhead piping, cisterns and metal fabrications produced by the factory provided a sustainable system and a workable business plan.