Meliora Design
100 North Bank Street | Phoenixville, PA 19460 | P: 610-933-0123 | F: 610-933-0188
The Stroud Water Research Center of the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences is one of the premier freshwater research institutes in the world. Stroud also supports an important environmental education program, and is expanding their campus to include a new Education Building. Meliora is providing full civil engineering including concepts that can both restore the water balance of the site and serve as education tools, such as rainwater cisterns for water reuse, porous pavement, and a wetlands wastewater treatment system.
Located on 188 acres of nature preserve in a suburban area the new Environmental Education Center at the Okehocking Nature Preserve will demonstrate techniques that can be used by local homeowners and businesses to improve stormwater and ecological habitat on their own property. Meliora Environmental Design is currently providing integrated site design for techniques such as rain gardens, roof leader cisterns, porous pavements, and natural habitat landscaping.
Meliora Environmental Design is developing the innovative landscape-based stormwater management design for the new Hamilton Family Children’s Zoo. The new Children’s Zoo will convert the existing Pachyderm House and Yard into new indoor/outdoor facility to educate both children and adults about farm animals around the world. Since water is an important part of farming, displays that collect roof runoff for reuse, filter runoff with wetlands, and support vegetation are an important and visual part of the design. Meliora is working closely with the rest of the design team to engineer the site to manage stormwater within the built environment and to meet rigorous City of Philadelphia stormwater regulations.
Meliora is currently completing a stormwater management design for the Mackey Athletic Facility at Purdue University. The design includes the installation of an infiltration bed under the football practice fields in order to capture runoff from the adjacent Football Stadium Parking Lot. A second phase of the project, currently in design, includes vegetated bioswales and tree trenches in the Ross-Ade Stadium Parking Lot that will provide shade and greenspace while managing stormwater in an area heavily used for football tailgating. Additionally, a large cistern will be designed to pick up stormwater from the Athletic Center for irrigation of the new football practice fields.
Meliora is currently providing Sustainable Site Engineering Services for the expansion of the Oxford Borough Library. The new addition is seeking LEED Silver certification and will include geothermal wells incorporated below stormwater infiltration areas. The new parking will be a combination of porous and standard pavements and the site will include stormwater rain gardens and native landscaping. The Library intends to use the site as a learning and demonstration area for better stormwater management and native landscaping.
Meliora is currently working with Viridian Landscape Studios and Cecil Baker and Partners Architects to design a new fire station for the City of Philadelphia Fire Department. The new fire station will be located in an existing urban park and for that reason positive interaction with the park and the community is emphasized throughout the design. Meliora is designing stormwater management measures such as bioretention areas, porous pavement parking, and a green roof to incorporate green design principles into the project in order to reach a LEED silver rating.
