Phipps Conservatory

Phipps Conservatory :: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

The new Center for Sustainable Landscapes at Phipps Conservatory is the first building to meet four of the highest green certifications including LEED® Platinum, Living Building Challenge, Four Stars Sustainable SITES Initiative™, and WELL Building Platinum project. Aquascape Construction was called on to construct a viable and sustainable rainwater harvesting solution. Water is collected from the upper campus, off the roofs of the Center for Sustainable Landscapes, and another nearby building. Collected rainwater is then directed to a stormwater lagoon, designed to fluctuate with storm events and also serve as a decorative element next to the Center.

Skimmers clean debris from the lagoon’s surface while the wetland filtration system cleans and polishes the stormwater through stone beds by using a multi-staged filtration approach of suspended solid removal, biological filtration, and phytoremediation using native wetland plantings. A 65,000 gallon storage system was installed along with a 23,000 gallon sub-surface reservoir to handle overflow. This system allows Phipps Conservatory to drastically reduce its dependence on municipal water.