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Rieth Village Parking
A sustainable parking lot sounds like a contradiction in terms. But it is possible to address many of the environmental problems parking lots cause and still provide a place for cars. The main problem with the typical shopping mall parking lot is the water runoff it creates and the damage it does to the local hydrology. Rain that falls over a natural area soaks gradually into the soil and is filtered and purified on its way down to the ground water; rain that falls on an asphalt parking lot becomes a waste product rather than a resource. Conventional storm water systems drain it off the site as quickly as possible. This sudden torrent of water rushes down pipes and culverts, carrying oil, gas and other pollutants that have not been filtered by the soil. This causes flooding, erodes stream banks and degrades water quality. Asphalt parking lots also create heat islands. The asphalt absorbs heat, raising the air temperature above it several degrees.
One
solution to both these problems is to use grassy pavers rather than a
solid sheet of asphalt over the parking area. To the right you see some
of the grass covered parking bays at Rieth Village. These porous
networks of concrete and gravel allow grass to grow through their
holes but still provide support for the weight of the cars. The heat
island effect is reduced and water drains through the grassy pavers rather
than running off. Bioswales, or earthen dikes bordering a parking lot
can also capture polluted runoff.
All of the material
for the roadway is recycled concrete, which has been crushed and screened
for size. The excavator had collected this material from demolition projects.
These larger concrete blocks (above left) of three to four inch diameter
were used as the undergravel base to allow for excellent permiability and
water storage for slow infiltration into the groundwater. This was
then covered with a layer of smaller sized gravel (above right) and gravel
grass was planted in the parking bays to reduce the heat island effect.