Project Description
Western Albemarle High School
Albemarle County, Virginia
The Master Plan focused on developing a multi-dimensional, stormwater management strategy that would not only meet regulatory requirements by employing green infrastructure but would also help restore natural systems and ecologies, celebrate rainwater as a valuable natural resource, and facilitate science based educational opportunities.
We thoroughly examined each of the site’s eight main watersheds in order to document and analyze their overall drainage health. We found that while newer construction (buildings, parking, courts and fields), in each watershed, included stormwater management, older construction did not. As a result; campus-wide runoff volumes and velocities were high, site damage was occurring, fragile wooded stream valleys were eroding, and water quality was impaired.
We developed a multi-layered, stormwater design vision for each watershed that recommended day lighting building downspouts where possible, rerouting and capturing parking area runoff above ground, employing filter strips, planting area trenches and bioswales, retentive grading, meadow and woodland restoration, rain gardens, and wet basins.