The courtyard at the Concord Residences is an intensive green roof over a below grade parking structure. The design provides a space for the residents that accommodates social gatherings, while at the same time, due to its straightforward geometry and the simple palette of materials, can also serve as a quiet, calm place to read or have a cup of coffee. The courtyard is structured as a series of rectangles; the water feature, lawn panel, seating areas, and tree plantings are all in this language. Thedesign also incorporates a strategy to reuse all stormwater for irrigation. Rain that falls on the lawn, on the plaza pavement, and that runs down the facade of the building is captured in trench drains that supply a system of perforated pipes under the pavement. The water is distributedthrough this system into a soil-filled vault under the plaza pavement. Only the overflow from extremely large rain events goes to municipal storm drains. The pavement itself is supported by stacked, polystyrene soil chambers that support the weight of the paving while preventing compaction of the planting medium. The shade trees in the project, givensufficient soil resources, can then grow to maturity.
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