Award-winning Craftsman Winnetka – Rain Garden
A pre move-in tour with Architect Jeff Eichhorn of a Craftsman style home in Winnetka, IL including how the landscaping incorporates native plants and a rain garden swale to optimize stormwater management on the property – and for the community – while promoting pollinator-friendly habitats.
Video Transcript
Hello, my name is Jeff Eichhorn. I’m an architect with Scott Simpson Design Build. One of the things that we have to do with new homes is with the increased development of the North Shore, there’s a big issue with stormwater management.
When we do a new house, we’re increasing the amount of impervious surface on this lot, and those are surfaces that, as it would sound, the water cannot penetrate. So that’s the house, those are patios, driveways, sidewalks, etc.
We are creating a rain garden. It’s a way to manage that water that’s on the site in a way that’s going to be pretty and environmentally-friendly. Looks like a rock garden right now, and the idea is that the water that comes to the site, we collect it, and we’re going to move it to a certain portion of the yard. It’ll fill up and then slowly dissipate back into the ground.
That way we’re holding that water on our site, we’re not overburdening the city’s storm system. It’s still a little rough because it’s very much just rocks in the ground. Over the coming years, it’s going to fill in with more grasses that like the water, and it’s going to be very natural and pretty looking over time.