A Flood of Ideas

Mark McMenamin -- Interior Design,

Sudden rainstorms such as New York's this past August shouldn't derail the largest mass-transit system in North America. And three design firms are determined to prove it. The city's Metropolitan Transportation Authority has selected Antenna Design, Grimshaw Architects, and Rogers Marvel Architects to come up with concepts for how to divert water from subway grates. Among the possibilities: porous pavements, tree pits that retain water, and roofs that prevent runoff.