Rainlab at Dalton School II Manhattan, New York II USA
Who needs a play pool when you can mount running water on a wall?! In an innovative way to integrate motor skills, learning and pure play, HOGs on the roof spill water down into a maze of pipes and valves that delights all ages.
“For kids this age, it’s all about interactivity and exploration,” says Will Hopkins, the Dalton School Science Department chairman.
Year of Install: 2012
Installation Stats: The interactive rooftop science classroom at Manhattan prep school for First Program students (grades K-3) has two orange HOGs installed horizontally to capture rainwater from an adjacent roof.
HOG Skills: The stormwater moves down the wall through a series of pipes, paddles and wheels and collects in removable buckets used to water plants. When it rains, the wheels and beams move on their own, even when the tank valves are shut off. Planters, a cold frame, a compost bin, and solar panels complete the 16-foot square rooftop “RainLab.”
Where is it now? Science lessons in the rooftop classroom are an interactive experience for young students. With the water wall demonstrating stormwater capture, planters, solar panels, and wind and weather elements, the small Dalton School rooftop is a kid-friendly introduction to sustainable practices. Liz Pulver, landscape architect from Town and Garden Ltd. and designer of the Rainlab, does periodic maintenance on the structure to ensure it’s continued smooth running.
The Rainlab at the Dalton School received a 2014 Merit Award from The New York Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA-NY). Congratulations to the landscape architecture firm Town and Garden for their rooftop classroom – with prominently featured HOG tanks! – that ASLA-NY recognizes for “us[ing] rainwater and other sustainable elements to provide an innovative way to integrate elements of motor skills, learning and pure play.”
The Whole HOG 