Flood Prevention and Daylighting of Ladegårdsåen
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Flood Prevention and Daylighting of Ladegårdsåen A Project to Create Green Space and to Provide Better Drainage of Rainwater SUBMITTED BY: Nésa-Maria Anglin Anthony Hassan Shane Ruddy SUBMITTED TO: Project Advisor: Prof. Lorraine Higgins Project Liaison: Anders Jensen May 4th, 2012 An Interactive Qualifying Project submitted to the faculty of Worcester Polytechnic Institute in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Bachelor of Science i Acknowledgements There are many people that we would like to thank for all of their support and input. Their help was invaluable and made our report much more complete and thorough. Many of our ideas and designs were adapted and developed from the guidance and suggestions we received. Anders Jensen: Miljøpunkt Nørrebro employee Ove Larsen: Miljøpunkt Nørrebro employee Lars Barfred: Miljøpunkt Nørrebro employee Søren Gabriel: Orbicon engineer Stefan Werner: Copenhagen Municipality employee, Water and Parks Division Aske Benjamin Akraluk Steffensen: Copenhagen Municipality intern, Water and Parks Division Thorkild Green: Municipality of Aarhus’ Department Architect Marina Jensen: Professor, Forest and Landscape at the University of Copenhagen Ole Helgreen: Aarhus Municipality Engineer, Water and Parks Division Oliver Bühler: Assistant Professor, Forest and Landscape at the University of Copenhagen Eigil Nybo: Architect Scott Jiusto: Professor at Worcester Polytechnic Institute Lorraine Higgins: Professor, Director of Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) at Worcester Polytechnic Institute Suzanne LePage: Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute ii Authorship Page For our report, each team member worked on revising and editing all sections of this paper. Nésa-Maria Anglin Nésa-Maria transcribed and organized the previous proposal made by Orbicon which served as a basis for our design features and options for the canal. She focused on designing the green space along the canal, as well as researching water quality in the canal, biodiversity and how to clean the water by using rain gardens. She also developed sketches for the pedestrian walkway. She wrote the following sections of the research paper: Executive Summary with Shane Ruddy and Anders Jensen, the following sections of the Background chapter: History of Nørrebro, History of the Ladegårdsåen, Past Daylighting efforts in Copenhagen with Shane Ruddy, The Ladegårdsåen Today, Environmental Awareness, Flooding and Drainage Issues and the Opening of the Cheonggyecheon River in Seoul, Korea. She also wrote the introduction for the Design Concept and reference sections of the report. From this project, I learned to rely on my strengths and not to focus on my weaknesses. One of the biggest challenges I faced was using citations, and even though it is still a challenge I have come to understand the deeper meaning to the importance of it. Writing, for me, was a challenge as this report was technically based, and I am more of a creative writer, but as I progressed I felt that I have learned how to become a better writer through revisions, comments from my peers and advisors. Finally, I learned about claims and the importance of using relevant sources and data to argue and defend my positions. Anthony Hassan Anthony Hassan was responsible for compiling the information we gathered from experts in the field in order to select and confirm a route. Using a variety of maps, which illustrated the environmental issues affecting the route, he built a persuasive argument to justify the reasons why we should daylight the canal along this particular route. He also created several bridge designs to support soft traffic across the canal. He wrote the following sections of the research paper: Introduction, the following sections for the Background Chapter: Traffic and its Potential Reduction with Shane, Harmful Pollution and Opening the Aarhus River in Denmark, co-wrote the Methodology section with Shane, and the Recommendations and Conclusion Chapters of the report. iii Throughout my time working on this project in Copenhagen, I learned a great deal about organizational writing. I learned how to use my writing to clearly explain key facts in detail to use as evidence for claims. I also toned my skills as a group member by reducing my susceptibility to procrastinate, increasing my content of constructive criticism, and enhancing my ability to be patient. Pertaining to the concept of daylighting, I learned that projects related to canal or river openings are very complicated. There are many important factors pertaining to the success of such a project which I overlooked and did not understand before my experiences working abroad. Shane Ruddy Shane Ruddy was responsible for creating designs for the canal and the tunnel, as well as determining the dimensions needed for the route and the design features along the route, such as store front areas and bike lanes. He helped determined the water sources and the secondary uses for the water from the canal. He also wrote the following sections of the research paper: Acknowledgement, Abstract, and the following sections for the Background chapter: Benefits of Daylighting, Past Daylighting efforts in Copenhagen with Nesa-Maria, Traffic and its Potential Reduction with Anthony, the Introduction section to the Case Studies and the Daylighting Design Option. He co-wrote the Methodology section with Anthony and the Executive summary with Nésa-Maria and Anders Jensen. This project taught me how to use data and information to properly argue and justify a decision you have made. The project was very large and complex, and therefore, I learned the importance of organizing gathered material and making sure that it is presented in a logical and structured order. Displaying information using bullets, numbering, and strategic headings and subsections was an approach I learned to follow. Specific to our project, I learned that daylighting plans encompass many different aspects that take time to analyze. The importance of flood protection in urban areas and the different ways of dealing with this issue became much more apparent to me throughout my work on the Ladegårdsåen daylighting. iv Abstract Our team assisted Miljøpunkt Nørrebro, an environmental organization in Copenhagen, in selecting a pathway for reopening the piped Ladegårdsåen canal. We identified design options that meet the city’s goals to add green space and alleviate flooding along the chosen route. Using maps and expert interviews, we developed and justified design concepts for a canal, pedestrian areas, rain gardens, bike paths, and a dual-purpose tunnel serving as a motorway and reservoir. v Executive Summary Copenhagen faces many environmental problems; the most compelling are a lack of green space and recent extreme rainfall causing flooding. This project aimed to address these problems by (1) investigating the possibility of daylighting Ladegårdsåen, a piped canal that is located under the busiest road in Copenhagen, the Ågade-Åboulevard (AA), and (2) developing a feasible design concept that our sponsor, Miljøpunkt Nørrebro, and other stakeholders might pursue further. Previous plans to daylight Ladegårdsåen failed due to a lack of funds and motor traffic considerations. Prior to our arrival in Copenhagen, a planned congestion ring was scrapped, meaning we could not rely on decreased traffic in the area where we planned the canal and would need to address that obstacle. The more recent need for flood alleviation was, however, a new development that made the need for a canal more urgent and desirable. Within this context, our objective became to design the daylighting and green space in a way that would alleviate flooding, while still meeting the demands of a major motor traffic corridor. In order to select a route and create proper designs, we planned out a four phase approach. In Phase 1, we simply gained a better understanding of the problems and motivations surrounding daylighting projects in general and the opening of Ladegårdsåen specifically. Phase 2 focused on confirming a route, which was done with the help of expert interviews and by establishing parameters to evaluate the different routes. Phase 3 involved refining the route and developing possible design options. This required a large amount of data collection, including maps, technical documents, and an inventory of physical features of the site. Maps, such as the heat and noise maps, were used to illustrate the different problems that affect the route more prominently than other surrounding areas. A trip to a previously daylighted river in Aarhus and a study of other daylighting projects was also important, as we wanted to analyze and incorporate relevant elements of those designs. Phase 4 involved mapping out a visual plan and justifying the major features. vi Our design solution, to both help with city-wide flooding and to make room for daylighting along the route, is a dual-purpose motorway tunnel design that can handle displaced traffic along the AA, while serving as an emergency reservoir system (inspired by SMART project in Kuala Lumpur). Reservoir Figure 1: Canal and Dual-purpose Motorway Tunnel Design (Recreated capacity is preferable to direct from our designs in Section 4.5.2 using computer software by Eigil Nybo, 2012) outlets into the harbor because, (1) it is not realistic to divert huge amounts of water to the harbor directly, and (2) reservoir capacity is not affected by high tides coinciding with extreme rain, while bringing water directly to the sea would (because of decreased slope). Reservoir capacity would also not be affected by rising sea levels due to climate change. The supply of water is low in the canal itself, so our stepped, double profile design allows for a narrow, but naturally appealing flow of water through its base channel; in times of heavy rain, the water can rise up and flood the canal’s ascending steps, increasing the capacity. Other design features - bicycle paths, a pedestrian walkway, and ornamental bridges - were added for practical and aesthetic reasons, and would attract residents and visitors to local businesses and provide community uplift.