Schwammstadt
Blue-green urban development is of great importance for our quality of life in cities and a resilient infrastructure. The careful use of water is an indispensable part of this, which includes the efficient utilisation, protection of water resources (quality, quantity) and the prevention of damage (flooding, heavy rainfall).
Sponge city concepts absorb rainwater locally, store and evaporate the water, promote biodiversity and, at best, make it available for use. Infrastructure elements for water-sensitive urban development should be characterised by multifunctionality and durability. Innovative protection concepts can be used to protect settlements from natural hazards, such as the drainage of debris flows.
We are happy to advise and support you in your project with the following expertise:
Rainwater management
Decentralised solutions for rainwater management are cost-effective and sustainable, can be integrated into existing settlement structures and are scalable. Heat and heavy rainfall events influence groundwater recharge, irrigation requirements, plant growth and human health. Various strategies for a ‘sponge city’ can be implemented:
- Decentralised retention, evaporation and infiltration of rainwater (unsealing, surfacing, tree trenches, dimensioning)
- Treatment of polluted rainwater (street runoff, roof/plaza water) - analysis and solution development
- Water storage and retention - above/underground water storage Rainwater utilisation for irrigation
- Roof and façade greening, greened areas, planting concepts
- Sustainable building - water footprint footprint of building materials, components and structures
- Life cycle assessments - analysing the environmental impact of a product (life cycle assessment)
Spatial planning and settlement concept
We are committed to water-appropriate planning and upgrading of habitats and the integrated design of settlements and support municipalities and cantons in planning and development within settlements.
- Water management and integrated urban planning for areas, neighbourhoods and municipalities
- Heat-reducing open spaces
- Spatially explicit needs analysis (municipal and regional)
- Settlement ecology & quality of living environment - Biodiversity
- Urban gardening
Hydraulic engineering
We support you in the planning and development of water management infrastructure, for example through numerical and hydraulic modelling of hydraulic and river engineering structures as well as protective structures against natural hazards. In our modern and well-equipped hydraulic engineering laboratory, for example, hydraulic model tests are carried out for project development and optimisation. Hydraulic engineering infrastructure - planning and development:
- Water catchments, water reservoirs, canalisation - Mixed and separation systems
- Hydropower plants and dams
- River engineering, waterways and bridges
- Protective structures and natural hazards: Floods, debris flows, landslides, etc.
- Hydraulics - numerical modelling (2D and 3D), physical model tests
- Hydrometry - determining the discharge of watercourses
Building technology
Water plays an important role in buildings - in water supply, wastewater disposal and utilisation in processes. We support you from rainwater management through the pipe network to the storage of energy in water.
- Pipeline network - fresh, waste and rainwater
- Rainwater management - infiltration, discharge into the sewerage system (combined and separate systems) reuse, storage
- Heating and cooling systems - solar thermal systems, heat pumps (heat pump test centre), hot water, hot water storage tanks, building cooling, system coupling
- Building technology - control and automation technology
- Legionella - hygienic water
Energy: production, storage and transport
Water offers a wide range of possibilities for generating, storing and transporting energy. We work on energy storage systems such as hydropower, ice storage, geothermal probes and hydrogen technologies. We support you with our expertise in your project.
- Heat exchangers for wastewater systems - Sustainable energy
- Hydropower plants - water, drinking water and wastewater power plants
- Solar pumps - surface water and drinking and waste water
- Storage - ice storage, hydrogen, geothermal probe heat storage, hot water storage
- Transport - district heating, anergy network
- Sector coupling
Contact
Water-Cluster
OST – Ostschweizer Fachhochschule
Oberseestrasse 10
CH-8640 Rapperswil
+41 58 257 43 92