U&R worked tirelessly with Artik Art and Architecture to convert the former Southern Lumber site in San Jose into a bright new school campus for Downtown College Prep Charter Schools.
This included designing some very innovative stormwater conservation features. The main building discharges 59,000 square feet of roof drainage into an underground infiltration basin to recharge the aquifer.
The 10,000 square foot gymnasium roof drainage is collected into a storage tank for watering student gardens, parking lot and playground surfaces drain to bio-retention stormwater filter gardens.
Students now have an invaluable working laboratory for experimenting and testing stormwater treatment and conservation. The project was awarded a $500,000 DROPS (Drought Response Outreach Program for School) grant from the California State Water Resources Control Board.