Vacant Site Lagoon Construction with Non-Permeable Liners
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Solution Overview
Problem
Urban areas with high population density face challenges in creating recreational spaces due to vacant or abandoned sites, which are often underutilized and negatively impact community quality of life, while current transformation methods into green spaces or parks have limited success and high maintenance costs, and people seek low-carbon alternatives for relaxation and recreation.
Innovation Solution
A method to transform vacant or abandoned sites into tropical-style swimming lagoons with controlled access areas and recreational facilities, involving excavation, construction of non-permeable basins, containment walls, and sloped beach access, reducing the need for thick concrete and filtration systems, and incorporating micro-leakage water renewal systems for efficient water management.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If vacant or abandoned sites are transformed into traditional green spaces or parks, then recreational space is provided, but maintenance costs are high and success rate is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transforms the traditional approach by changing the fundamental parameters of the recreational space - from green spaces requiring organic maintenance to water-based lagoons with inorganic, more manageable maintenance requirements. The use of non-permeable liners and controlled access areas fundamentally alters the maintenance paradigm, reducing costs while providing versatile recreation options.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of following the conventional path of creating green spaces from vacant lots, the patent inverts the approach by creating water-based tropical lagoons - a fundamentally different type of recreational space that inverts the traditional park concept while providing similar social and recreational benefits with lower maintenance demands.
2Reliability
If thick concrete and conventional filtration systems are used for swimming pools, then water containment and quality are ensured, but construction cost and carbon footprint increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces thick concrete structures with flexible non-permeable liners (such as HDPE or EPDM membranes) that provide effective water containment with minimal material usage. This thin-film approach dramatically reduces the carbon footprint associated with concrete production while maintaining reliable water containment through engineered membrane properties.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent substitutes conventional mechanical filtration systems with a natural evaporation-based water renewal system. Water is continuously added to the lagoon, and evaporation naturally concentrates salts and removes contaminants, eliminating the need for energy-intensive mechanical filtration infrastructure and reducing operational carbon emissions.
3Ease of manufacture
If vacant sites are left undeveloped, then construction costs are avoided, but community quality of life deteriorates and property values decrease
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates multi-functional tropical lagoon spaces that serve multiple community needs simultaneously - recreation, social gathering, aesthetic enhancement, and potential commercial activities. This universal design approach maximizes the benefit-to-cost ratio by providing diverse community values from a single development intervention, improving quality of life while maintaining cost efficiency.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent converts the harmful presence of vacant lots (which degrade community quality and property values) into beneficial tropical lagoon spaces that enhance the neighborhood. By transforming the problematic vacant site condition into a desirable recreational destination, the patent turns a community asset into a community liability and back into a valued asset with improved social and economic outcomes.
Data Source
AI summary
An urban transformation and construction method is disclosed that creates a tropical style swimming lagoon at vacant and/or abandoned sites. The transformation includes demolishing at least part of the vacant or abandoned site, excavating material from within the site; forming a basin for a large water body having a surface area of at least 3,000 m2, and constructing water containment walls on a first section of the basin to form a waterfront perimeter. The shape of the waterfront perimeter is mainly curved, the basin has a maximum width of 300 meters, and the bottom is covered with a non-permeable material. A sloped access area is constructed in a second section of the basin to form a beach. A barrier is constructed to control access into the area including the beach. At least one recreational facility is constructed including restaurants, bars, kiosks, stores, and/or cafes about the waterfront perimeter.