When designing her new garage with LD Arch Design, our client Katherine made a simple decision to make her home greener: using a permeable material for her driveway. While standard concrete pavement is expensive and contributes to issues with runoff and water pollution, installing a permeable surface allows water to be filtered as it seeps back into the ground.

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Katherine chose to “pave” her driveway with open cell concrete blocks. These blocks are designed to support a car while also allowing grass to grow. Water hitting the surface now becomes groundwater instead of contributing to erosion and adding harmful chemicals to our streams. This project also featured a green roof garden on the upper story overhang accessible through the window and creative solutions for storage!

Read more from The Seattle Times.