Architecture Commons^™

Solar & Rain Catching Canopy "Urban Oasis" 1.1, Afolabi Ibitoye, Alexander Aptekar

Publications and Research

Accumulation of water runoff during rain storms affects New York City’s combination water system, forcing water treatment plants to release untreated excess water. Rather than allow this grey water to overfill the sewer system, pocket parks and gardens can be used to absorb rainfall. By harnessing nature’s resources through today’s technology we can also create solar and rain catching canopies to beautify, educate, and bring growth and social awareness to local businesses.

In order to design the canopies to collect the maximum amount of rainwater and maximize solar collection, we analyzed expected rainfall and optimal solar angles. The canopies will …

Solar And Rain Catching Canopy. Urban Oasis, Afolabi Ibitoye, Langston Clark, Elena Zimareva, Evan Banks, Alexander Aptekar

Publications and Research

The Urban Oasis is designed to work within existing “pocket parks” in New York City as a combined rainwater collector, personal electronics charging station and resting designation for New Yorkers. Intended to not only lessen the demand on the city power grid by using renewable energy to charge devices, the urban oasis is also intended to mitigate grey water overfill in New York’s combined sewer system and, in general, serve as a model for responsible environmental stewardship in urban areas.

The important technical aspects of the canopy specifically analyzed were:

a) how much rainwater could the canopy be expected to …