New Low-Impact Environmental Education Center Opens

The Overbrook Environmental Education Center, a new Green Building, opened recently in Philadelphia. 

A former quarry and commercial site was transformed into the community-based Technology and Literacy Center developed by JASTECH Development Services, Inc. The Center will teach environmental awareness and conservation in urban communities. 

F. X. Browne, Inc. developed the Low-Impact site design construction plans for the Center. The objectives of our design were to: 

• Demonstrate a variety of stormwater retrofit technologies applicable to urban redevelopment projects
• Promote the infiltration of stormwater, where possible, up to and including the 2-year, 24-hour storm 
• Reduce and disconnect existing impervious cover 
• Demonstrate the use of bioretention basins and swales as a means of “softening” an urban site 
• Provide public education for a variety of stormwater Best Management Practices (BMPs)

For more information on this project, visit the Overbrook Environmental Education Center website or view a Fact Sheet on the Overbrook Low-Impact Design Process.