Landscape Design and Construction
PERMEABLE PAVER Y
ou never get a second chance to make a first impression, whether you are a potential new employee — or a
parking lot. Officials in Annapolis, Md., certainly
knew the latter. The parking lot for Gotts Court — the Annapolis & The Chesa- peake Bay Visitor's Center — was made of asphalt, was worn down, and didn't drain properly. In the summer that meant ankle- deep puddles; in the winter that meant ice, possible slips and falls, and the potential for lawsuits.
20 Landscape and Irrigation September 2011
All in all, the parking lot in front of the welcome center wasn't very welcoming.
FOR PARKING Project showcases how clay brick pavers can maximize drainage and aesthetics
The lot was also a contradiction in
terms: the place where you were supposed to park at a visitor's center was often inac- cessible. The only way in was through a parking garage. When the garage was deemed full — due in part to spaces set aside for monthly pass-holders — it was closed off, which meant that passing mo- torists could occasionally see an empty parking lot, but couldn't get to it. In addi- tion, from an aesthetic point of view, as- phalt and concrete curbing didn't fit in an open space in the middle of one of the most historic cities in the United States.
The solution Landscape architect Shelley Rentsch,
RLA, ASLA, who is a partner in Annapolis Landscape Architects, resolutely set out to address all of the problems. Reorienting the entrance meant that there would be better access; and specifying clay brick per- meable pavers instead of asphalt better complemented the surrounding red clay brick buildings, some of which date from Colonial times.
That left the drainage. Rentsch de- signed in a permeable paver drainage sys- tem using specially designed StormPave pavers. Made to resemble conventional English Edge pavers, StormPave has a 1/4- inch joint width so that water can infiltrate the system where it is naturally filtered as it dissipates into the ground instead of wash- ing surface pollutants to nearby storm drains or waterways.
www.landscapeirrigation.com
