The issue of scale is a common concern when designing the large exterior surfaces of the urban carpet. Large monolithically paved surfaces do not tend to provide the human with any dimensional relationship to the environment on which their feet are planted. The use of segmental paving, by default, offers a direct dimensional relationship between the human and the individual units that make up the paved assembly. 
Portion of Harfmann/Day publication 

The term Green Structure is borrowed from the European planning model that links the natural "green" qualities of the environment with the organizing human "structure" of an urban or landscape design. The use of this concept can be applied to both urban and natural environments.  The green structure is a mechanism to control or maintain the natural environment when intervention or urbanization has caused an imbalance. Portion of Harfmann/Day publication 

This study is focused on the implementation of interlocking pavers in marshy roads and high groundwater table terrain. Permeable interlocking concrete pavers were used to combat intrusion of underground/saline water for the road of case study (Akin-Adesola Street, Victoria Island, Lagos). Hydrogeologic data, i.e., groundwater level information for marshy roads terrain including the area of case study was obtained in form of investigation hole/borehole data. Different scientific tests and researches put together show the effectiveness and durability of the modified exfiltration system type of permeable pavement for high ground water table terrain. 

When it comes to permeable paver design, several factors go into making a functional system.  One must size the system appropriately taking rainfall, infiltration rates, available area, void space, layer depth, and time all into consideration.  This lesson will introduce you to all those critical factors in these three lesson components:

Location is Everything.
While designing paving systems, you must consider location.  It rains DIFFERENTLY in California than Alabama. Each system can have a number of different soils, each draining and retaining water DIFFERENTLY.  Lets take a deeper look into how rain events, annual precipitation and soil type effect permeable paving systems.

This learning animation walks you through many of the considerations for designing a ICP system.  Topics range from rainfall events, geographic range, soils, and substrates.  After completing the learning section, an interactive site allows your to choose different combinations of parking surface areas and base depth to hold a particular rain event. 
​(Animation currently being updated for 2018 - check back later!)

In this interactive animation, the student will explore a cityscape finding place types that landscape architects commonly work with in urban areas, including space, edge, path, threshold, and focus. Each place is attributed to a quote from Catherine Dee's Form and Fabric in Landscape Architecture, A Visual Introduction, along with example photography. (Animation currently being updated for 2018 - check back later!)

The following case studies were compiled as part of the Denver Avenue Streetscape Design Project in order to help inform the design process for Denver Avenue’s streetscape.

A case study from Pine Street, Seattle, WA

The goal of this project is to explore the inherent geometric and pattern potentials in segmental pavers through the use of abstraction.  Building on the objectives of ‘Abstraction-Forms,’ the objective of this project is to develop a pattern that abstracts and expresses site ‘readings’ related to the built environment such as ‘space,’ ‘path,’ ‘foci,’ and ‘threshold.’  

The focus of this curriculum module is to foster a deeper awareness of the multiple impacts that interlocking concrete pavements (ICP’s) have on the human experience of place. This is of particular importance at the small scale, where people engage on perhaps the most personal and intimate level with the materials of their environment. The student will explore the role that ICP’s play in issues of aesthetics and material selection based on context, culture, and place identity.

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It is the goal of this guide to improve the design of the paved plane of the built environment by expanding the level of knowledge about concrete pavers. This will be accomplished through the organizing of information and support material for both the instructor and the students.