The Sustainability team had created a project for Green Stormwater Infrastructure. They wanted to get some more feedback, so I converted it to an Autodesk Labs technology preview. It is now free, open to the public, and participants are not required to be under a nondisclosure agreement.
Project Green Stormwater Infrastructure (GSI) is a free* technology preview from Autodesk that enables the rapid design and analysis of sustainable stormwater projects in an interactive 3D environment. Geared towards planners, landscape architects, and civil engineers, this solution offers the tools to evaluate runoff retention strategies during the early stages of project development.
As cities continue to grow, their aging pipe-and-tunnel drainage systems are no longer fit for the task. Increased urban development and a changing climate have led to heavier rainfall events that discharge more polluted runoff into the sewers, causing sewage overflows and stream erosion. As a result, cities are now turning to more sustainable drainage techniques such as swales and porous pavement that mimic the natural hydrological response by capturing rainfall and reducing the amount of runoff.
GSI combines the easy sketching and modeling capabilities of the Autodesk InfraWorks platform with a dashboard full of hydrologic metrics that automatically update with each design change. Leveraging an industry-standard hydrological model, GSI provides feedback on site runoff and guidance on how to add Best Management Practices (BMPs) to meet municipal requirements for Low Impact Development (LID) or water storage. GSI offers 7 options for BMPs, all of which can be sketched, modeled, and customized to meet the user’s needs:
- Green roofs
- Rain gardens
- Swales
- Porous pavement
- Filter strips
- Rainwater harvesting
- Treebox filters
Users and clients with aspirations for achieving the LEED v4 (SSc4), LEED 2009 (SSc6.9) or Envision (NW2.1) certification credits can also track their progress towards these credits concurrently. As the site is redesigned and new green infrastructure and other features are added, users iterate their designs in context of their surroundings until the project meets both sustainability and aesthetic requirements. GSI helps project teams vet conceptual landscape designs early in the design process and empowers planners, landscape architects, and civil engineers to collaborate, engage stakeholders, and design for both form and function at the same time.
A wider audience is alive in the lab.
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