The Rain Garden

The Athenaeum not only fits into the campus environment, but it also protects, preserves, and contributes to it. The building will feature at least three green roofs, and the water that collects on its rooftops will run off into an area known as the rain garden.

Planted with shrubs, trees, and herbaceous vegetation (some chosen to further enhance the colorful natural environment by attracting butterflies), the rain garden controls the volume of the stormwater that runs off the Athenaeum’s roof while the natural filtration processes of its soil, mulch, and plant life clean the water of the pollutants it may contain.

It is an attractive part of the landscape in both an aesthetic and an environmental sense.