Kansas State University StormwaterManagement Project – Manhattan, Kansas:

Integrating Education, Research, and Practice

Lee R. Skabelund, Kansas State UniversityLandscape Architecture / Regional & Community Planning

Principal Investigator / Project Manager

Konza Prairie near Manhattan, KSFlint Hills Ecoregion

Urban Stormwater ConcernsThroughout Manhattan, urbanizing parts of Riley County,

Kansas, and other urban areas, stormwater is typically sent quickly away from developed areas and straight-piped into drainageways, streams, rivers, and ponds.

As a result of these and other land-use practices, riparian ecosystems in the Upper Kansas River Watershed

continue to be severely degraded.

Large amounts of groundwater are also pumped to the surface, and sprayed on lawns, gardens, and other

landscapes. Very little water replenishes underground water reserves.

What can we do to correct these bad habits?

Project Summary• This collaborative design-build project engaged

students, faculty, staff, and professionals in the task of considering ecologically sound ways to treat stormwater that falls on the Kansas State University (KSU) campus. In the process, two specific goals were achieved:

• 1) Designed and created a rain-garden along a selected area of Campus Creek to reduce stormwater run-off and improve water quality.

• 2) Demonstrated specific ways to address urban stormwater runoff to KSU administrators, staff, faculty, students, and visitors.

Educational Intent• Engaging KSU administrators, staff, faculty,

students, and local planning/design professionals is deemed essential if substantive changes in stormwater management are to occur on campus and in the larger community.

• This collaborative design/build demonstration project involved key stakeholders at KSU and other communities, raising their awareness of best practices, testing design ideas on the ground, and engaging those who influence stormwater management at KSU and beyond.

Primary educational goals:1) Help students deepen their knowledge of both natural and human systems (building on lessons learned in Natural Systems & Site Analysis, Fluvial Systems, Construction I, II & III, Environmental Issues & Ethics, and Landscape Architecture Design courses); 2) Necessitate collaborative, interdisciplinary teamwork, and; 3) Require critical thinking about how conceptual design ideas are translated into construction drawings and functioning systems with a limited budget of time and money.

Bioregion/Landscape

Community Context

Site

Sources: NASA (unlabled photos); Oberlin College (text & David Orr photo)

http://www.nrel.gov/buildings/highperformance/oberlin_gallery.html

http://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy03osti/31516.pdf

Excerpted remarks by David W. Orr, Director of Oberlin's Environmental Studies Program, in 1999.“Three years ago we began the effort to design a building for the Environmental Studies Program. We intended to create not just a place for classes but rather a building that would help to redefine the relationship between humankind and the environment—one that would expand our sense of ecological possibilities. We began by asking:Is it possible—even in Ohio—to power buildings by current sunlight? Is it possible to create buildings that purify their own wastewater? Is it possible to build without compromising human and environmental heath somewhere else or at some later time?”

DOE-Robb Williamson photo

DOE-Robb Williamson photo

Learning from Precedents:water-sensitive site

planning/design project

Roof water is collected in carved stone basins, then drains into a grated channel before cascading over a five-foot stone-faced retaining wall. The learning lab and auditorium buildings expand onto the courtyard, which is paved with stone, subtly-colored sandblasted concrete, and tile artifacts (historically manufactured in the watershed). Surrounding forest and meadows are pulled into the courtyard and onto building roofs.

Water-sensitive site planning/design project

Cedar River Watershed Education Center - Seattle, WA Source: www.asla.org

Design by Jones & Jones – Planners, Architects & Landscape Architects

ASLA 2004 award winner

A new road reveals previously hidden landscapes.

A new parking lot integrates multiple functions: parking, water collection, and horticultural display. The lot includes an impervious asphalt roadway, with permeable asphalt parking bays off to the sides. A stormwater recharge bed lies under the entire lot. When it rains, water rapidly disappears through the permeable paving and into the underground basin where it infiltrates into the ground.

Water-sensitive site planning/design project

Andropogon Associates, Ltd.

Morris ArboretumSource: www.asla.org

Water-sensitive site planning/design project

Coffee Creek, Chesterton, IndianaSources: www.coffeecreekwc.org/pages/showgallery_visitor.asp (photos)

www.coffeecreekcenter.com/ (text)

Employing Environmental EngineeringRestoration of the Coffee Creek corridor is being implemented with guidance from biologists who understand the local & regional landscape. Level spreaders and vegetation infiltrate water into the soil. The project employs civil engineering without traditional expensive and destructive stormwater drainage systems – and provides a wide range of shared community open space within a 167-acre preserve.

Restoring Native Ecosystems and Habitats“Unbuilt areas are being restored to a pre-settlement landscape to minimize soil erosion and rebuild soil integrity, re-establish native plant & animal communities and encourage increased bio-diversity.”

Level Spreaderslows runoff

Wetland Celltreats sewage

Greenroof

Stream

Prairie

Water-sensitive site planning/design project

Coffee Creek, Chesterton, IndianaSource: www.coffeecreekwc.org/pages/showgallery_visitor.asp

Managing & Monitoring Site SystemsMonitoring reports are prepared for water quality, fish, birds and vegetation. Fire is used to maintain the prairie.Watershed Preserve

Trails Map

Fall 2004 KSU-LAR StormwaterManagement Charrette

Q: How do we restore hydrological processes in urban settings?

Instructive StormwaterManagement BMPs in the Region

Jackson Street Bioretention Areas, Topeka, KS

Mize Lake Bioretention Cell and Created Wetland, Lenexa, KS

Discovery Center,Living Machine & Created WetlandKansas City, MO

Three Guest Speakers/Reviewersand Links to KSU Classes

Stormwater Management Charretteat Kansas State UniversityOct. 25-27, 2006

Ten Teams; Multiple Sites; Reviews & Open House

Integrated Teams and Many Design Ideas…

Potential Stormwater Management Retrofits at KSU’s Derby Dining Complex

Moore Hall/Claflin Rd. Bioretention Area (Spring ’09?)

Haymaker & Ford HallBioretentionGardens(Fall ’08?)

Derby Green Roof *

International Student Center Raingarden(Spring 2007)

West & Ford Hall Parking Retrofit (Summer ’09 construction?)

Boyd Hall/Old Claflin Rd.Raingarden(Fall ’07 / Spring ’08 implementation?)

ISC/Residence Hall Raingardens, Amphitheater & Pathways(Fall 2009 charrette; Summer 2010 implementation?)

* Collaborative Project with BNIM and other firms(Fall 2007 Studio Project; Construction date TBD; includes designing a Green Roof for Seaton Hall’s West Wing walkout)

Restoring Hydrologic Processes along Campus CreekThe KSU International Student Center Design/Build Rain-Garden Demonstration Project

Project inspired by KSU-LAR StormwaterManagement Charrette

Taiwan Wing

Korean Room

Restoring Hydrologic Processes along Campus CreekThe KSU International Student Center Design/Build Rain-Garden Demonstration Project

In-process rain-garden photos taken on 5/16/07, 6/2/07, 6/22/07, and 7/16/07.

Planting & Setting Level-Spreader (4/28/07)Planting Plan (Cary Thomsen, KSU-MLA)

Restoring Hydrologic Processes along Campus CreekThe KSU International Student Center Design/Build Rain-Garden Demonstration Project

ISC Staff: Photo taken April 23, 2007

The KSU-ISC Rain-Garden

Sep. 7, 2007 photo Sep. 26, 2007 photos Rain-Garden Sign

The KSU-ISC Rain-Garden

October 2, 2007 - photos taken after a 1.2-inch storm event (approximate).

Campus Creek10/2/07

KSU Green Roof Design – Fall 2007Green roof designs were proposed for a handful of buildings on the K-State Campus in Manhattan, Kansas.

Landscape Architecture students visited four constructed green roofs in Kansas City, Missouri; reviewed and discussed the literature related to green roof design, construction and management; and then selected one or more rooftops on which to design a green roof.

They spent three weeks asking: What if? What might be? If here, how?

Three-Week Green Roof Design Project, KSU-LARCP Specialization Studio – Prof. Lee R. Skabelund; Designers – 12 LAR Students.

Derby Dining Complex

Chalmers & Ackert HallsSeaton Hall (3)

K-State Union

Project Sites

KSU Green Roof Design – Fall 2007

This green roof would serve as a research laboratory, outdoor reading room, and social gathering space.

Three-Week Green Roof Design Project, KSU-LARCP Specialization Studio – Prof. Lee R. Skabelund; Designers - Anthony Fox & Chris Morton.

KSU Green Roof Design – Fall 2007

The Derby green roof would serve as park-like space for walking, reading and studying, conversing and eating, and resting, relaxing and sunbathing.

Three-Week Green Roof Design Project, KSU-LARCP Specialization Studio –Prof. Lee R. Skabelund; Designers – Cole Giesler & Katie Sobcynski.

KSU Green Roof Design – Fall 2007

Three-Week Green Roof Design Project, KSU-LARCP Specialization Studio – Prof. Lee R. Skabelund; Designers – Kris Coen & Daniel Robben.

These green roofs would serve primarily as a research laboratories to study the value of living roofs for energy savings and stormwater management.