Among the fundamental purposes of protector is to keep water out. Just about every aspect of the exterior envelope addresses this dilemma, be it walls, doors, windows or roofs. The final is the clearest point of contact for rain and for dealing with it, necessitating that rainwater be directed somewhere away from the construction.
Therein lies the demand for downspouts. With flat roofs, most often downspouts are situated within walls inside the building, hidden from sight and thought. On the other hand, pitched roofs, and sometimes flat roofs, display the channeling of water to the surrounding landscape via gutters and downspouts.
But conventional solutions don’t always yield the best of looks. What follows are other ways of bringing water from roof to landscape, through downspouts, scuppers, and even down rain chains. Perhaps it’s time to incorporate a notion on your own house before it rains again?
Eggleston Farkas Architects
The Pacific Northwest is a place that’s known for its wetness, though in reality it is just half the year that it deserves that reputation. Yet architects in the area are definitely creative in handling water, as the endeavors of Seattle’s Eggleston Farkas attest. This home overlooking Puget Sound includes this distinctive”paired spout,” that is replicated around the perimeter. In the primary entrance the spouts really feed a reflecting pool traversed by means of a bridge.
David Ludwig – Architect
Downspouts like from the prior photo require some sort of splash block, so that large quantities of water don’t erode the landscape around a home. Here is 1 way of creating one: using stones stored in a little square frame. The California poppies poking up through the stones are a nice — I’m guessing — accident.
Eggleston Farkas Architects
Returning to the job of Eggleston Farkas, this cottage also in Washington State contains two volumes whose corrugated metal roofs slope together in a butterfly form. As can be seen here 1 roof is taller than the other, shedding water on the lower roof and its integral gutter. Seen from the flip side…
Eggleston Farkas Architects
The water is directed via the gutter/scupper to a tiny concrete container that sends it to a holding cistern, from where it is slowly released into the local wetlands. It is a responsible design that also celebrates the water and leaves the occupants mindful of the house’s interaction with it.
Sam Crawford Architects
Similar to the preceding instance is this home in Australia that also includes roofs in corrugated metal and a top portion sending water to a very low portion. Note the gutter/scupper at the middle of the photo…
Sam Crawford Architects
In the close-up at left it is clear how the water is transported to the internal gutter at the roof beneath. So we have an outside gutter above and one cut to the corrugated metal beneath.
Equinox Architecture Inc. – Jim Gelfat
Talking of scuppers, a few of these — think gargoyles in old churches — ship off water the construction. This flat-roofed home in Santa Fe, New Mexico uses scuppers to do such a thing instead of using roof drains and internal downspouts.
When using this form of scupper, it is suggested to think about how the water strikes the landscape, including these approaches as splash blocks or having water hit a paved area that slopes away from your home.
Four Corners Construction, L.P.
Within this large home in Austin, Texas, an outside downspout brings water from a butterfly roof to the reduced level of the home (the area in the foreground is a green roof), where it turns in an internal downspout. It is worth noting how the architects carefully coordinated the downspout with the windows, requiring just a slight jog up above.
HP Rovinelli Architects
Here is an internal downspout that actually becomes outside by cutting away the shingles that comprise the facade of the upper floor. It proceeds below, in the front of the rock wall that’s set back from the shingles above. Copper is definitely a good selection for this particular application.
Feldman Architecture, Inc..
Another way of bringing water from roof to landscape is the use of rain chains, increasingly popular in places outside Asia, where they seemingly originated. Water follows the string down to a splash block or any other considered patch of soil. Here, two frame an entrance; note the downturned gutter at the upper left corner.
Klopf Architecture
Here is a rain string that ends at a large rock. This example also illustrates that the location of a rain string ought to be considered in ways past the roof design. The occupants of this house can sit on the covered porch and revel in the rain, both as it falls and as it trickles down the string.
Ehrlich Yanai Rhee Chaney Architects
This set of chains is situated at a roof extension that appears to exist to frame an outdoor space and bring the water away from the home. The water moves down the rain chains and strikes some earth that slopes away from the home.
Anderson Anderson Architecture
This project comes with an intriguing hybrid of a scupper, gutter and rain string. Some of these can be seen projecting from the low point of the different roofs. The water is attracted away from the walls at the close of the deck.
2fORM Architecture
Last is a home that features a tall rain string in the foreground and rainwater collection in the backdrop. The latter is often used for irrigation purposes, but here it really is used to flush toilets.
More:
Introduce a Rain Chain
9 Cooling Rooftop Gardens
Wood Slats in Design
Breezeways: Architecture’s Cooling Connections