Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure B-35
Ford porous pavement discharges to wetland trenches that drain to the Rouge
River, assuming no infiltration.
Ford Amazon Plant (2003)
Following successful redevelopment of the River Rouge plant in Dearborn,
Michigan, during 2001-2002, Ford considered other plant locations around the
globe where the principles of sustainable or “green” design might be suitable.
The company had long wished to develop a truck and auto manufacturing
plant in South America, to gain a greater share of that rapidly growing market.
The Brazilian government had a site available in the northern state of Bahia,
in the Atlantic rain forest, where a prior developed had cleared and stripped
almost 2 miles (1,236 acres) of forest for a manufacturing facility, and then
changed its mind, leaving a totally barren and lifeless landscape generating
tremendous erosion and runoff (Figure B-39). Ford decided to send the same
team of consultants, led by Bill McDonough, to Brazil, to formulate a concept
design with the local term of consultants and designers, who would implement
and construct the building complex. A critical requirement by the Brazilian
government was that the final site plan would include restoration of the original
rain forest ecology, a challenge that had never been accomplished with a new
land development project in the country.
Through a series of working sessions and field trips, meetings with local
experts in soil sciences, ecology, and vegetation, including faculty at the Univer-
sity of Salvador, Bahia, a basic strategy was formulated by Cahill Associates for
site restoration and hydrologic cycle capture and reuse, to eliminate any runoff.
Included in the water planning was a wetland wastewater treatment system, in-
plant reduction of water use and rooftop capture-reuse, porous pavements in all
parking areas, and the use of waste organic solids to build a new soil mantle
for planting beds of native trees. It was estimated that the rain forest restoration
would require some 20 years but would take place over the major portion of the
site. The following year, Ford experienced a significant fiscal blow when tires
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