Bayer (Monsanto) Raingarden Pilot Project
High Performance Native Soils
"The efforts taken to work with the local municipality to create a better strategy for the rain garden soil profile not only benefited the client, but also highlight why landscape architects have a critical role to play on all projects."
Collaborators
Civil Design, Inc.
Geotechnology, Inc.
Munie Greencare
Project Facts
Award:
Merit Award | American Society of Landscape Architects St. Louis Chapter
Size:
.5 acres
Completion:
Fall of 2016
[dtls] was contracted to design a stormwater mitigation strategy for over 3,500 square feet of roof runoff, previously held in a series of cisterns. The [dtls] design team made an early commitment to use this project to demonstrate a transferrable process for designing a highly-functional raingarden with minimal soil disturbance.
With collaborating firms Civil Design, Inc. and Geotechnology, Inc., detailed subsurface exploration and stormwater calculations were performed to confirm that the existing native soils would deliver infiltration rates exceeding the rates required by the Metropolitan Sewer District’s design requirements for constructed raingardens. The effective utilization of onsite soils significantly reduced construction costs for the client, while minimizing onsite disturbance. The final design solution uses locally sourced stone creek beds to direct roof runoff into a 1,600 square foot bioretention basin for controlled stormwater infiltration into a native soil base. Within the basin and surrounding landscape, more than 1,500 butterfly-friendly plants have been incorporated into the overall landscape design to strategically convert 17,500 square feet of manicured lawn into native prairie plantings.

The Details
Native Soils
Infiltration
Minimal Disturbance
Mitigate Run-Off
Continually Monitored
Educate