Design4D Blog

Nik Hilton  //  www.design4d.co.uk
Young Architect of the Year Nominee 2009, 2010, 2011
Finalist in the British Homes Awards 2009
Finalist in the Design awards 2009

Jan 14 / 6:11pm

How to stop flooding disasters?

The current serious flooding in Australia and Brazil has highlighted the
dangers of building on flood risk land in order to house our ever increasing
population. With increases in temperature it is likely we are going to see
further extremes in weather and more flooding in the future. How are we to
prevent further disasters from occurring?

Design4D's Waterscape City scheme was a response to this issue, proposing a
network of canals be used to 'perforate' the land. Reedbed systems adjacent
to the canals would assist the wastewater treatment process and accommodate
changes in water levels. Roofs were planted to help buffer and absorb heavy
rainfall and all road and pavement surfaces were permeable to allow natural
even drainage. The canal systems provided low energy transportation networks
and, as is proven in places like 'Little Venice', would result in a
significant uplift in property prices as people pay a premium to live by the
water. 
 

Design4d_waterscape_view

Design4D's waterscape City Proposal

 

Filed under  //  Architecture   Design4D   Sustainability   canals   flooding   waterscape city