NEWS

eDesign Dynamics (EDD) gave a tour of the Javits Center Green Roof to practicing engineers on the afternoon of August 14th, 2024. The tour featured EDD President Franco Montalto, PE, PhD, who has led multiple research projects through Drexel University discerning the hydrological and habitat benefits offered by the nearly 7-acre green roof, one of the largest in the United States.

Construction is underway on the Permeable Interlocking Concrete Pavers (PICP) that eDesign Dynamics designed for capturing runoff in The Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, NY. Once constructed, the PICP practices will manage up to 50,000 gallons of runoff per rain event, reducing wet weather flows to the City’s combined sewer system.  The New York Times recently covered some of this work — specifically our Pond Sensor and the Permeable Pavers that facilitate stormwater resilience.

EDD’s Theo Barbagianis (in the blue hat in the pics below) was excited to join Green-Wood Cemetery staff and funder NYS Environmental Facilities Corporation recently on a tour of EDD-designed green infrastructure projects!

Read the NYTimes mini-story with additional pictures here>

EDD’s Eric Rothstein and Nicholas Parisi recently participated in a community design charrette in Culebra, Puerto Rico. EDD serves as the engineering lead on a Technical Assistance team helping community organizations prepare designs for EPA Community Change Grants. EDD’s designs will focus on the ecological restoration of vulnerable shorelines, preservation of critical mangrove and intertidal habitats, and the preparation of island-wide resiliency strategies for climate change adaptation.

“Sponge cities” use innovative landscape and drainage designs to reduce and slow down runoff, while allowing certain parts of the city to flood safely during extreme weather. Here’s Franco:

I’m a water resources engineer who studies and designs strategies for sustainably managing urban stormwater. In response to recent flooding episodes, some U.S. cities are beginning to take steps toward incorporation of sponge city concepts into their stormwater management plans, but most of these projects are still pilots. If this concept is to evolve into the new standard for urban design, city officials and developers will need to find ways to scale up and accelerate this work.

Read the full article here>

Here’s an example of eDD’s work in action: The real-time control system we developed and installed at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden prevented nearly 287,000 gallons of stormwater from entering the combined sewer system during the storm on Tuesday, January 9, 2024, that dropped 1.65 inches of rain! The monitoring data integrated into the system allowed us to gauge performance immediately after the storm.