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House 1



Sofia Balters, Brandon Hall and Jim Peraino
Washington University in St. Louis, 2010

Problem
Conventional houses contribute to citywide flooding in New Orleans because they are designed to shed water as quickly as possible. Rainwater rushes from their roofs and gutters into storm sewers, and its speed exacerbates the burden on the pumping system.

Proposal
The project detains water at the house with an innovative gutter system that stores over 4,000 gallons of water, provides shade, and modulates interior temperatures. A cistern below the house increases its storage capacity to 8,500 gallons: together, gutters and cistern can contain all of the water that falls on the house in a two-year storm.