36.14N
36.13N
36.12N
115.39W
115.38W
115.37W
115.36W
115.35W
115.34W
PZ 1900
Municipal
Pressure
Zones
PZ 2055
PZ 2168
1960'
1980'
2080'
2060'
2040'
2020'
2000'
A
1
2
3
4
5
1.57M cf
0.567M cf
0.598M cf
3.45M cf
4.124M cf
0.322M cf
0.629M cf
0.629M cf
0.629M cf
1.254M cf
0.846M cf
0.743M cf
2.334M cf
0.166M cf
0.112M cf
0.875M cf
V
A
C
R
W
A
ZoneArea
(million ft )
V
RunoffVolume - PeakRainstorm
(million ft )
R
W
WeightedRunoffCoefficient
A
C
AbsorptiveCapacity
TANKCAPACITY
KEY
SURFACEABSORPTIVITY
R
w
=
A
k
C
k
1
n
3
2
k =0
A
( )
A
c
= R
w
A
18.1
1.141
0.42
7.6
A
V
A
C
R
W
8.5
0.529
0.64
5.4
A
V
A
C
R
W
10.7
0.673
0.79
8.4
A
V
A
C
R
W
9.0
0.567
0.58
5.2
A
V
A
C
R
W
11.9
0.752
0.76
9.1
A
V
A
C
R
W
8.8
0.55
0.49
4.3
A
V
A
C
R
W
11.7
0.731
0.57
6.6
A
V
A
C
R
W
7.7
0.485
0.49
3.8
A
V
A
C
R
W
20.1
1.269
0.54
10.8
A
V
A
C
R
W
12.6
0.794
0.72
9.1
1960'
1980'
2000'
2020'
2040'
2060'
2080'
36”Main
Water Line
7.521Mcf
6
7
8
9
TANK
Built in the desert and with 72% impervious surface, downtown
is simply incapable of absorbing floodwater runoff from the
surrounding suburbs.
Flash floods are destructive, unpredictable, and surprisingly
common, and are most severe in the densest downtown region
of Las Vegas. In September 2012, a flash flood in the valley
caused $73 million in damages and 7 fatalities.
Downtown Las Vegas is a loose fabric of underutilized and
vacant lots. There is a lack of active public space and street-
level activity so that the streets appear deserted day and night.
Existing flood control measures have taken the form of large
detention basins in the surrounding suburbs. The basins collect
some of the floodwater in valley, but are too large to exist
where they are needed most - in the densest areas of the city
where the percentage of impervious surfaces are highest.
C I V I C A R C H I T E C T U R E
Poreform is an urban surface - an intelligent and flexible
system of pores - that absorbs and collects water like a skin
for the city.
The pores of this urban skin are inlets to a
new adaptable infrastructure below its surface which is
capable of rapid saturation and slow release.
Hoover Dam
The Hoover Dam, built between 1931 and 1936, mediates
between the Colorado River and Lake Mead. Today the dam
continues to regulate water supply and supplies hydroelectric
power to Nevada, Arizona, and California. One million people
visit the dam each year. There are no amusement parks or
ferris wheels, just a piece of water infrastructure so powerful
that the public cannot help but say thank you.
While the Hoover Dam illustrates the potential for large-scale
public infrastructure to alter the public’s awareness of, and
engagement with, the civic machines that supply our resources,
the need for new urban infrastructure that addresses the
imperative for spatially complex and nimble solutions is
becoming ever more critical.
N E TWO R K MA P
(below)
The proposed network of flood control infrastructure is
finely calibrated to absorb specific volumes of floodwater at
critical intersections throughout the downtown area. Water
flow calculations, municipal documentation, volumetric
assumptions, and historical flooding data were used to design
a network of absorptivity capable of preventing destructive
floods from becoming commonplace in downtown Las Vegas.
The network is divided into subarea watershed zones, each of
which has a sponge or small basin capable of absorbing runoff
from the immediate area. These small basins are designed to
release water into the network post-flood. Each basin drains
into the main collection tank, which is sized to take on the
area’s floodwater volume during times of peak rainfall and
release it slowly back into the existing drainage network.
Each subarea watershed zone has an area and peak rainstorm
runoff volume; these variables define the volumetric capacity
of the infrastructure located in that zone. The analysis of a
subarea watershed surface type and permeability defines the
runoff coefficient applied to that zone, which in turn defines
the absorptive capacity of the Poreform surface for each
location. For example, a densely urban zone that is mostly
building and paved surface parking, with little vegetation to
naturally absorb water, will require a small volumetric capacity
and a highly absorptive surface.
P O R E F O R M I S WH AT W E N E E D T O D AY.
T H E H O O V E R D A M
WA S WH AT W E N E E D E D
T H E N .
