No eaves gutters, no downpipes -- how you can do it

This beautiful central courtyard is in the Puntukurnu Aboriginal Medical Service building in Newman, Western Australia. It has no eaves gutters and no downpipes. We design it his way to keep the roof eaves line clean and simple. And to make a feature of the rainwater (which falls only one month per year).

The entire roof falls to the courtyard but the stormwater is collected in a custom gutter that is integrated into the structure and hidden behind the fascia. The roof is supported by a system of I-beams. To avoid blocking the stormwater, the beam webs have penetrations to allow the network of drainage channels to connect.

Instead of using conventional downpipes. the falling water cascades into the dry river bed within the garden and passes out through the courtyard to the external landscaping.

Researched and written for you by Ian. ian.warren@stellenconsutlng.com.au