The objective of Uncover the Green is to produce two winning designs: one designed to celebrate green stormwater infrastructure on an inset medallion marker and an accompanying design that recognizes our waterways and the strength of infrastructure beneath us for a manhole cover. Uncover the Green challenges college and graduate students to produce two designs for two objects that serve different purposes, yet must have a common thread through both designs as all green stormwater infrastructure tools are linkable parts of a much greater natural (think water cycle) and engineered (the underground pipes and nearby treatment plants) system. Ultimately, the designs will not only help brand green stormwater tools, but they will also help raise awareness and build excitement for Green City, Clean Waters through designs produced by local talent. Entries will be evaluated by juries comprised of PWD staff as well as local professionals in the design field. The winning entry must be eye catching and compelling enough to attract not only our judges, but engage the citizen.
In order to capture what I believe Philadelphia Water is all about, I chose to use symbolic images to represent the city of Philadelphia. In the Green Infrastructure Medallion Design, the Philadelphia city skyline was the first step. From there the liberty bell was added. Within the liberty bell, I wanted to show how crucial water is to the city. In order to accomplish this goal, I positioned and sized a faucet to the top of the liberty bell and opened up the crack of the bell in order to show the water dripping from within. This idea shows how important water is to the city in the most simplistic manner; having it drip from one of the first iconic symbols of Philadelphia. In order to create a simple, yet creative manhole cover, the same symbol combination was used on the manhole cover. The only difference is the city skyline was left out for fear that if the skyline had remained it would create confusion in the cover and take away from the simplicity.
