Hamburg, Germany gets an urban facelift of epic proportions Located on the waterfront in the historic port city of HafenCity a new kind of city sector unique in both planning and architecture was built. THE CHALLENGE The Marco Polo Terraces feature a central plaza in HafenCity and have become a marquis attraction for tourists and a popular hangout for locals. While beautifully designed and appointed, irrigating the terrace conventionally proved impractical. Irrigation challenges include; supplying coverage to turf areas near the sidewalks while avoiding over spray on hardscape and benches, also consistently providing water to several steep grass slopes with no wasteful run-off. Marco Polo Terraces Irrigation System THE SOLUTION This subsurface application maximizes every drop of water keeping water fees as low as possible. Run times spread out the low emission rates making sure that water is not wasted and turf doesn't float away on unabsorbed water. Keeping water off benches and hardscapes allows for pedestrian use day and night accommodating foot traffic at the rate the area was designed for. THE RESULT Overwhelming public attendance has made it obvious that the concept of subsurface irrigation is going to be easily adapted into irrigation designs worldwide. Thanks in part to the versatility and efficiency of this new irrigation innovation, Marco Polo Terraces continues to be one of HafenCity’s crowning achievements in landscape architecture.