Like the majority of our readers/ visitors, I am constantly on the look-out for green roofs. Extensive, intensive, moss-covered, or grass-filled eaves… Every green roof is, for me, a signal of Mother Nature’s pulse. A sign that she hasn’t abandoned us entirely, and will slowly, subtly, reclame our denuded constructions with autotrophic (i.e. self-feeding, from the sun’s energy…) Life.

I recently moved back to Austria, one of the several German-speaking lands of milk and honey. Further to my beloved cheese- and chocolate-dominated diet, this analogy also extends to the fact that I’m now living in the Motherland of extensive green roof technology. Whether driving along the Autobahn, hiking at 2500 m above sea level, or going to work, my hungry eyes are constantly satiated with the sight of green roofs.

Here’s the funny thing, though. When I lived in Reutte in the autumn/ winter of 2005, virtually all the conversations I had with locals about green roofs were met with confusion, c uriosity and disbelief:

“Why would you put plants on the roof?” “Never heard of such a thing..” “They may be big in Germany, but green roofs don’t exist around here..” “Green roofs wouldn’t work here, we get too much snow” It reminded me presenting the concept of vegetated roofs to someone who’d never heard of it before in North America.. except I’m in Austria, a progressive member of the EU.

Granted, I’m not in Linz, which has been implementing green roof policy and incentives since 1989. I’m 600 km west, in a Tyrolean alpine village that is covered by snow for 6 months of the year. Deep and persistent snow cover plays an important role to the cultural psyche of this region. World-class skiers grow up here. As far as the locals with which I’ve spoken are concerned, green roofs may exist in Linz or Munich, but they don’t fit in here.

What’s so funny, then? Well, when I returned to the area this past July, my eyes were repeatedly surprised by green roof after green roof. They are, in fact, EVERYWHERE here! Just as I have been pleasantly surprised, many of the locals (who had no idea about green roofs before) now report that they’re seeing green roofs everywhere too.. they’d just never noticed them before.

The experience has been not unlike that familiar experience from back home, of witnessing the lightbulb going on above a newly introduced’s head. The only difference is that here, the green roofs are HERE yet few people notice them (or thought much about them if they had). In some of the cases (see photos), it is hard to imagine how someone could miss them!

Catholic church in Reutte with green roof walkway

Jet lag is a thing of the distant past, we’ve been back here at Greenroofs.com for a few weeks after our extremely interesting and entertaining trip to the UK capitol and the 2008 World Green Roof Congress (WGRC).  Many of our readers expressed a lot of advance interest in attending this particular conference because of the location and their opportunity to do additional sightseeing in the beautiful English countryside and beyond.  In fact, most of our fellow participants did just that, adding vacation days to their trip across the pond to take full advantage of their stay.

Due to time constraints, we opted to arrive the morning of the first day of the Congress on Wednesday September 17 figuring (wrongly) we’d get there in plenty of time.  Manuevering from Gatwick to our hotel was quite a workout with bags in tow (not to mention horrifically expensive at about $130 for two, round trip) - and I can honestly say that Grand Central Station in New York doesn’t even come close to the hustle and bustle of Victoria Station! “Move It or Lose It” should be their motto.

We hadn’t seen Dusty Gedge of Livingroofs.org in a few years, and he welcomed us warmly and enthusiastically - in fact, both Aramis and I felt right at home among seasoned colleagues and new friends, too.  In particular, Paul Shaffer and Nipa Patel of CIRIA were just wonderful.  I’ve e-worked with Paul before, having reviewed the successful “BUILDING GREENer - Guidance on the use of green roofs, green walls and complementary features on buildings (C644),” (by Paul Early, Dusty Gedge, John Newton, and Steve Wilson, 2007 from CIRIA,) but meeting Nipa and Paul was very special - they’re really good people with not only great patience and organizational skills, but a great sense of humor, too.  All characteristics which must come in handy while planning an international conference of this stature.

Delayed bags made us unfortunately miss the better portion of the Wednesday morning session: Jim McLelland, Editor of sustain’ magazine (and the Congress Media Partner), opened the Congress with the Chairman’s Introduction followed by the Keynote Address from Richard Blakeway, Advisor to the Mayor of London on environment issues.  The London Plan addresses sustainability from many aspects and incorporates green roofs and green walls.  London climate change partnerships were discussed along with achievements and plans for the future.  The North American and German perspectives were tackled by Peter Lowitt of Green Roofs for Healthy Cities and Wolfgang Ansel of the International Green Roof Association (IGRA), respectively, addressing the drivers for implementing greenroofs, the benefits and achievements of their approach, challenges faced and lessons learned, ending with future plans.

Speaking of the International Green Roof Association, make plans now to attend the International Green Roof Congress 2009 in Nuertingen, Germany on May 25-27, 2009.  Under the patronage of the German Federal Minister of Transport, Building and Urban Affairs, the congress will be hosted by IGRA and the Deutscher Dachgärtner Verband e.V. (DDV).  Wolfgang is extremely excited about the program which will include the latest technological developments within our industry as well as detailed case studies of spectacular greenroof projects from renown international architects and designers.  Of course, there will be hands-on workshops and excursions to Stuttgart and Freiburg, too.

Edmund Maurer from Linz, Austria, gave “Green Roofs in Linz - A European municipality perspective on green roofs” including the history and development of the Linz Green Roof Policy, incentives, rationale, and barriers to implementation.  The City of Linz uses a combination of legal framework, financial grants, and policy incentives.  In 1985 legally binding development plans required greeenroofs, either extensive or intensive and a green roof subsidy was implemented in 1989, marking the first direct financial incentive in Austria.  At present, Linz has approximately 440 funded greenroofs with a total greened of about 500,000 m2 (5,381,955 sf), which includes the Bindermichl Landscape Park at 81,000 m2, designed with playgrounds above a motorway tunnel.

Paul Collins, Head of Design Environment at Nottingham Trent University followed with his presentation of “Green roofs: British policy responses and practice.”  It was nice to finally meet Paul later, too, as we had been corresponding for many years.

We arrived at the beautiful glass structure of One Bishops Square in Spitalfields, home to the London offices of Allen & Overy, the WGRC host, close to noon and joined the other 300 attendees in time to hear Duncan Young of Lend Lease, UK talk about “Commercial drivers for green roofs” which was very heartening.  He talked about some of the amazing projects that Lend Lease is currently working on, both in the UK and Australia.  Lots of green buildings and greenroofs!  For example, one of the UK’s largest regeneration schemes is Greenwich Peninsula which is being developed by a joint venture between Lend Lease and Quintain, working with English Partnerships.  Over the next 15 years, the £5 billion regeneration of Greenwich Peninsula will be transformed into a thriving riverside community with about 20,000 residents and 24,000 workers.  Upon completion, at 190 acres this extensive new quarter of London is expected to form Europe’s largest mass of greenroofs.  And we were told that approximately 70% of the 2012 London Olympic Games structures will be greenroofed!

The morning Question and Answer session followed with many people asking about insurance issues, especially as recently raised by Swiss insurance giant Zurich Re - see the related article in Building.co.uk “Insurers warn of fire risk from green roofs” by Michael Willoughby of September 5, 2008.  People discussed how non-vegetated fire breaks are critical as well as setting a maintenance regime and having supplemental water available.  In terms of leaks, respondents said that just like in all of the roofing world, flat roofs, greened or not, are the problem.  And it was brought up that many European insurance giants actually have greenroofs on their own buildings, including Munich Re!  Austrian Edmund Maurer added that his country in general has problems related to greenroof maintenance, and several German delegates agreed that this issue was present in their homeland as well.  Also, with the current financial crisis in London (and elsewhere), it was asked how important is it to have incentives from government to promote further greenroof development.  As important as it is to have local and national governments behind the promotion of greenroofs, many people responded that we really need to focus on greenroofs as amenity driven, not policy driven.  Dusty said that after climate change, biodiversity is a major concern in the UK and that living roofs provide solutions for both.

Next we enjoyed our lunch, and I have to say that overall the catering and service was excellent, which can be rare for these types of events.  The exhibitor booths were arranged very smartly, in a U-shaped embrace of sorts around the central hall and all refreshments, lunches and snacks were set on tables within the exhibitor rooms to make it very easy to flow through, visit and network with other attendees and the greenroof trade show participants.

The afternoon session was also lively and we heard from some real leaders and mavericks in the field of architecture and research.  Known for his design of visionary green “bioclimatic” skyscrapers, Dr. Ken Yeang of Llewelyn Davies Yeang offered “Designing for ecological sustainability” which talked about his philosophy of “mound to ground” and the need to connect greenroofs to the ground level through a series of corridors and fingers utilizing living walls and “landscaped skycourts.”  He showed innovative designs from Hong Kong, New Delhi, Istanbul, Macao and Singapore.  Dr. Yeang also stressed the importance of bio integration of the physical, systemic and temporal nature of each site, and that each project needs to be program-specific.

Another colleague of ours, Dr. Stephan Brenneisen of the University of Applied Sciences in Basel, followed with “Benefits for biodiversity” and the Swiss approach for creating higher biodiversity and cost effective greenroofs.  Stephan said the low biotic diversity of many greenroofs is due to a very thin substrate layer, and using different types of local substrates and varying the depths ( 5, 8, and 12 cm, for example) creates various types of environments where a variety of flora and fauna may thrive.  Referring to the growing media mix, he added that the greater the water storing capacity, the more biomass you’ll get on your roof which in turn creates greater opportunities for higher diversity.  He also presented case studies including the Basel Exhibition Centre; Klinikum 2, Cantonal Hospital of Basel and the new Monument Development in London, which features the greenroof as a combination of art, design, and nature conservation.

Our German friend Dr. Manfred Kohler from the University of Applied Sciences in Neubrandenburg and the President of the World Green Roof Network (WGRIN), spoke about “Benefits for sustainable water management” and how it is possible to design zero runoff properties.  Greenroofs were discussed in relation to decentralized rainwater management with examples of research studies in Berlin.  Manfred also informed us that at present, the 2008 FLL Proceedings are being finished.

David Sailor from Portland State University presented “Energy and urban climate benefits of green roofs,” which could have been a boring, dry subject if that’s not your thing, but it wasn’t!  A very likable fellow, Dave talked about the solar radiation properties of greenroofs - they reflect 20% - and the thermal variances between winter and summer.  For example, a greenroof is 10 degrees C cooler in the summer, which is pretty standard, although a greater than 30 degree C heat flux is possible.  Unfortunately, greenroofs can be warmer at night since they retain some of the day’s heat, but overall greenroofs reduce summer roof temperatures by 10 -30 degrees C.  He gave examples of various energy studies including monitoring from ACROS in 1995 and the City of Portland, Oregon.  Dave told us the DOE EnergyPlus 2007 modeling software incorporated his greenroof module which includes details of greenroof energy balance (see “A green roof model for building energy simulation programs” published in Energy and Buildings).

Dr. Nigel Dunnett of Sheffield University and The Green Roof Centre talked about “Landscape and Amenity: a UK Perspective.”  Nigel suggested we “liberate design opportunities in the UK horticultural tradition” and wants us designers to be more liberal overall, utilizing both native and non-native plant species to create dramatic visual impact.  His point was that we can design a living roof to be functional and attractive, and in fact the very important attribute of aesthetics will help promote the market.  The Sharrow School in Sheffield was highlighted as a case study, with greenroofs at three levels.  Modelled on the distinctive urban habitats of the region, its 8,000 m2 rooftop is a wildlife habitat of mounds and valleys with areas of: a small wetland, an open brownfield / rubble section, birch forest, limestone grassland, wildflower meadow and a colorful annual meadow.

Closing the afternoon session was Robert Runcie of Environment Agency from England and Wales - he presented “Partnership approach to implementing green roofs.”  Robert asked, “How do we use development as a stimulus?”  Environment Agency is a national body working with colleagues in government and industry with the capacity to roll this as a best practice policy out across England and Wales.  Over the past two years, they helped ensure that eight hectares of greenroofs were included in London.  As part of their Green Roof Toolkit, they recently launched “Environment Agency’s Building a better environment: A guide for developers - Environment Agency advice on adding value to your site,” a web-based resource for developers and planners for the Thames Region.

The pursuant Q & A session caused quite a stir and some people were dubbed ”Native Plant Nazis” putting forth the classic argument of how we should be only using native plant species on our greenroofs.  Basically the questions asked were Are aesthetics important enough for us to give up the biodiversity benefits that using native plants offer?  Is it really necessary to use introduced species just for the wow factor?  Many people responded that actually both natives and non-natives provide a multitude of benefits to wildlife, including valuable habitat, food and cover, and a variety of plants can be used for seasonal color and interest.  A little tolerance, people!  Don’t get me started - I’d like to write much more about this topic, so look for it later.

After the close of this first day of the WGRC, the Congress Reception was held on the beautiful 10th floor intensive greenroof terrace of Congress Supporter Allen & Overy where we were treated to a lavish selection of tasty barbecue and lovely local UK wines and later, innovative lemon and chocolate mousse dessert shots.

The area encompasses three landscaped greenroof terraces, and a fourth terrace is covered with photovoltaic cells.  The terrace layout offered intimate areas for reconnecting with far flung associates and social networking - who’s doing what and where, and what a view!  The ever expanding London skyline was beautiful in the rosy hues of dusk.

At the end of the evening we heard from Congress Sponsor The Wildlife Trusts who introduced their Biodiversity Benchmark for Green Roofs.  The Biodiversity Benchmark for Green Roofs was created to support the increased development of living roofs in the UK and is the first standard to encourage excellence in design, implementation and management of green roofs for the benefit of wildlife.  It was set up to support the UK Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) to help increase the contribution that businesses can make towards enhancing biodiversity, and guidance materials provide advice on how to integrate biodiversity with environmental management processes.

It was great just hanging out with friends who share the same passion as we do in a relaxing greenspace in a wonderful city.  Stay tuned for a little more about the 2008 World Green Roof Congress and beyond when I’ll talk a bit about Day 2 and then our whirlwind London greenroof tour with Dusty and about 25 of his visiting colleagues!

~ Linda

So much for blogging while on the road! Two weeks have passed since Green Roof Safari ended, and I’m only getting caught up now. That said, after the Safari ended, I got swept up by the World Green Roof Congress, and then by a week in a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, Grosses Walsertal. Apologies, as I digress (but must admit they are nice memories!!).

This blog posting is meant to share some reflections of the Safari. Since I’m only skimming the 6 day study tour, please don’t hesitate to send me your questions, either as a comment (at the bottom of this posting), or via email.

For its first run, Green Roof Safari visited between 4 and 6 sites a day, with a range of project designs which included Hundertwasser, intensive public spaces, extensive Sedum ‘deserts’ and ecologically designed roof habitats. For integrative, holistic projects, we visited two sustainable communities -Scharnhauser Park (near Stuttgart) and the Vauban District of Freiburg. Both are former military barracks remodeled for efficiency and mixed-use.

The tour met with a number of local experts representing policy and municipal campaigning, green roof design, research, and installation. The tour is indebted to the generosity of Stephan Brenneisen (Zurich University of Applied Sciences), John Doeveling (City Stuttgart), Christian Lang (Top Gruen), Christian Mathys (City of Basel), as well as our colleagues at Gemperle AG. Thanks also to Hotel Contel and Hotel Abalon for entertaining our curiosties.

We had great weather the whole trip, right up until the last day. And then, my, did the weather turn BAD! The downpour was torrential, and relentless. Nonetheless, we visited some unbelievable living facade projects in Zurich-Oerlikon. Doesn’t Brent’s red umbrella add a nice touch to MFO Park?

The night spent in the Alps, on the Rigi at 1,500 m above sea level, was literally in the clouds, so we didn’t get much of a view. Not of the Alps across Lake Lucerne, and hardly even of the little green roof bar on the terrace. Still, we knew that through the haze was the representing ‘green roof above 1000 m’. The photo below was taken in early August.

There is not a date for Green Roof Safari 2009 yet, but stay tuned to the website. Please don’t hesitate with questions or inquiries, and I’d love to hear any comments below.

Truly,

~ Christine

Hi, I’m George Irwin, a contributing editor here on Greenroofs.com - The Green Wall Editor. I write the occassional Green Walls Column, and as promised I will convert and dedicate most of my personal blog thoughts from a prior blog site to Sky Gardens…..One thing I do not care about when Im writing is the grammar or spelling mistakes I make when Im spilling my thoughts, so if you’re reading this blog and want to comment on my mistakes….too bad:)

I think free writing is important not to be interrupted by the conscious thought of making mistakes, it takes away the creativity of transferring the thoughts to writing. The same holds true with new research and products introduced to the market. Dont be afraid to make mistakes, take chances and like Nike “Just do it”. You will make mistakes…..So there is the inspiration for my first post.

The second part of the post is our Green Living Technologies Green Living Newsletter, not associated with Greenroofs.com but I thought you might be interested in my personal business, too. This month we have some very cool changes…yes change is good…for both our green roof and green wall systems. We are also charging the way into Central America, Honduras to be exact. Im hoping to bring you into my thoughts and also provide a combination of education, stimulated thinking and comments…..as always I make myself available for contact via email at the greenwalleditor@greenroofs.com.

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Green Living TM Technologies and THE GREEN LIVING NEWS
Current September Issue:

I want to welcome the new subscribers to our newsletter! Lots to talk about this month! Our dedication is to improving our products making sure they are both affordable and functional. This month we are proud to release our Roof Tray system that was designed to retain stormwater.

New Product Launch: Green LivingTM Roof Tray

Rochester NY…. Green Living TM Technologies announces the release of its advanced patent pending Green Living TM Roof Tray with water retention. The heavy gauge aluminum soon to be zinc Green Living TM Roof Tray was developed as a simplified way to install a basic green roof. The original Green Living TM Roof Modular System requires a higher level of installation skills and green roof know how. The Roof Tray has a price point similar to the cost of the original modular system but the installation labor cost is half. It’s easier to transport and can be pre-vegetated or filled and planted on the roof. “This is a great product for clients who have the ability to lift and place the trays on almost any flat or minimally sloped roof without hiring a green roof contractor.” The Green Living TM Roof Tray comes complete with a hydro-blanket that also acts as a filter. The system was designed for stormwater retention. The trays measure 20″ x 24″ (3.5 square feet) and come in standard 4″, 6″, 8″ and 12″ depths. The 4″ depth can retain up to 4.35 gallons of stormwater and still provide unlimited drainage through the large .25 drain holes within the sides of the tray. Just like the Green Living TM Roof Modular System once the tray reaches saturation the stormwater flows to the roof and into the designated drains. With embossed feet, to allow the tray to sit off the roof for air and water flow and built in handles for easy transport and carrying, two people can install a complete 1000 square foot roof in less than a day! Even fully saturated, we still maintain 15 +/- pounds per square foot.

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Change is Good! for the Green Living TM Wall

With all good companies product improvement and development is a high priority. After additional R&D we have made some key changes to the Green Living TM Wall. Before we announce the changes let us make note the corner panel is now part of the standard Green LivingTM Wall System. The first change is the safety hem on the outer edges of the wall panel structure. Second is the two part assembly that led to removing any torque. The result is a green wall panel that is easier and safer to handle. With our patented cell technology we still retain the unlimited drainage and root migration within the panels themselves and unlike plastic components the Green Living TM Wall will not warp or crack with the expansion and contraction of heat and cold. Also now available in standard increments of 6 inches and custom manufacturing, powder coating and laser engraving are always available.

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Green Living TM Wall Featured on Dream Home w/ Lisa Quinn on October 4th, 2008

Green LivingTM Technologies and the Green Living TM Wall was featured in one of the San Francisco area’s Dream Home episode. Join us as we work with Lisa Quinn, co-host Alexandrea Schardt and GLT’s George Irwin on how easy it is to dress up an otherwise drab wall by planting and installing a 2 - panel Green LivingTM Wall system with manual irrigation.

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Green Living TM Technologies in Honduras

Green Living TM Technologies Breaks ground with Angela Stassano of Techos Verdes and her partner Lazarus & Lazarus in San Pedro Sula, Honduras. October 13th we will be in Honduras with Angela to establish the installation of the Green LivingTM Systems. In addition the location will also serve as a continuing education and eventually a growing facility. Congratulations to Techos Verdes and Lazarus & Lazarus. I will have more pictures and in depth coverage for our next newsletter!

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Green Living TM Technologies reps and installer Michael and Angela Bucci, G-Space Philadelphia, showcase the Green Living Wall

Green Living TM Technologies’ Philadelphia-based and authorized representative / installer G-Space (Not to be confused with another “G” company) displays one of their latest Green LivingTM Wall projects on the exterior of the refurbished Vorhees Coliseum, home of the Arena Football League’s Philadelphia Soul. Great job to Michael and Angela Bucci and the entire G-Space staff!

I can be reached via email also at George@agreenroof.com. If you like our Green Living TM Technologies and THE GREEN LIVING NEWS newsletter and want to receive it directly, register for email updates.

That’s it for now, look for my next Green Walls Column soon!

George Irwin, The Green Wall Editor on Greenroofs.com and President and CEO of Green Living Technologies, LLC (GLT).

Check out the September 29, 2008 issue of People Magazine, and turn to the next to the last page.  ”Up on the Roof” are Troy Wagner and his wife Julie - center stage on the mostly graphic two-page spread, talking about their 110-year old home in Tacoma, Washington.  Back at the beginning of the year Troy had shared his experience with us about building his two greenroofs using a rather unique method.  Based on traditional Scandinavian turf homes, one has a 12/12 pitch planted with sod, and he actually has a resident goat who provides a unique but sustainable form of maintenance from time to time!

The second greenroof is over his lesser pitched garage, which he actually mows.  On one side the couple tends to vegetables while the other is a flower garden.  Troy told me that after having owned a roofing company for 15 years and looking at 20,000 roofs he felt it was time to set an ecological example, so in 2004 they built their living roofs.  Check out the ”Troy’s Green Roof“ profile in The Greenroof Projects Database. People also has photos of the Roofscapes’ Life Expression Wellness Center, the California Academy of Sciences, and a private residence in Sunol, California.

Known for their spectacular coverage of celebrities as well as plain old regular folk, I was surprised when one of the People article’s authors, Maureen Harrington, called me back in July to pick my brain about “the phenomenon of greenroofs in the U.S.” - I guess greenroofs really are becoming mainstream!  She was looking for facts, and Ed Snodgrass of Green Roof Plants, who was interviewed, referred Maureen to me.

Everyone wants hard statistics (I also recently fielded some from Bloomberg News and Newsweek), and we get requests from tons of freelance writers all over the world - the UK, Chile, France, Poland…you name it.  The point is our industry is still accumulating these figures since research and projects, at least in North America, are relatively new.  I say relatively because although we can been studying and building modern-day living roofs here since the 1990’s, the Germans have figures from many types of testing and trials from the 1970’s.  The websites of both Green Roofs for Healthy Cities (GRHC) and us here at Greenroofs.com have been up since 1999 and in terms of facts, each has a lot of specific data: GRHC in their Tree of Knowledge page and from Greening Rooftops for Sustainable Communities Conference proceedings (available for purchase if you didn’t get to each one), and Greenroofs.com in FAQ’s, ResearchLinks, Industry Support, and The Greenroof Projects Database.

But getting back to the People article, I suggested ranges rather than hard facts for costs and energy savings because each greenroof project is unique, something we have all been harping on for years.  And in terms of numbers of projects, I gave my best guesstimate of “more than 500″ based on what we do have listed in The Greenroof Projects Database, profiles waiting to be entered, plus approximate numbers for under represented U.S. cities, including the more traditional sod homes found across the northern states.  And they only wanted figures for residential projects, so that number includes not only Single-Family but also Multi-Family and Multi-Use profiles.

That’s why it’s so important to keep compiling case studies from across the globe to show the world that greenroofs are viable, demand and construction are thriving, and the market is here to stay.  Everyone wants to know where they are, what type they are, who designed them, how big they are, etc., and of course everyone wants to see photos, too!  The Greenroof Projects Database is meant to be a free international resource, so we encourage you to continue submitting profiles with as much information as you feel comfortable sharing, and we always send readers back to the original source for follow up.

Getting back to the article, Ed has a couple of quotes and referring to the added capital investment of greenroofs, he simply says:

“It’s like getting a Prius or solar panels…It costs more upfront but there are long-term savings.”

In addition to the obvious ecologocal, economic, and aesthetic benefits, we all know that greenroofs offer habitat for displaced birds, butterflies and other wildlife.  I don’t know that goats up on a roof are the wave of the future, but I do believe that eco-friendly architecture is.  In today’s environmentally conscious climate, eco-trends are here to stay and as these trends become the norm and turn mainstream, we’ll see costs driven down and then the vegetated roofing market will really take off.

And who knows, maybe in a few years’ time alongside perusing the Best & Worst Dressed People issue we’ll be also reading about the Best Sustainable Design Trends in People - perhaps even an article behind the greening of the White House?  Now there’s a people story!

My husband (and business partner) Aramis and I were lucky to sidestep our film scheduling issue and we are very pleased to be able to go to The World Green Roof Congress in stately London this upcoming Wednesday and Thursday, September 17-18!  Presented by CIRIA in partnership with Livingroofs.org, this Congress promises to offer us greenroof aficionados an interesting mix of the latest in innovation and research progress in the UK and around the world in addition to a great working vacation. 

In 2005 we attended the Congress in Basel, Switzerland, where I presented my paper “An International Call for The Greenroof Projects Database.”  We enjoyed a wonderful conference spending time with many old colleagues and friends; from the jokes of the late Dr. Dave Beattie and Dr. Rob Berghage to the wonderful hospitality of Dr. Stephan Brenneisen and staff to Trish and Kelly Luckett (our travel buddies from all the Greening Rooftops for Sustainable Communities conferences and the International Green Roof Congress in Nuertingen, Germany back in 2004), we learned a lot and had a grand time.  And we fully expect the same with hosts the likes of Dusty Gedge, co founder of Livingroofs.org, and company.

I’ve known Dusty now for six years, and for those of you unfortunate ones not to have met him (yet - he’s always making new friends), he’s quite a character - in a good way, of course!  I know everything is relative, but he has quite a thick accent, and when he gets really excited he speeds up, making it a real challenge to catch everything he’s saying.  In fact, Dusty recently told Aramis, “I am practising talking slowly!”

We first started corresponding in 2002, when he was the lead for the Black Redstart Action Plan for the London Biodiversity Partnership, and this was the topic of his first 2003 Guest Feature article for Greenroofs.com.  In October, 2003 Dusty took me on a personal greenroof tour of projects in Deptford Creek in the Thames corridor within inner London, and across several roofs within Canary Wharf, a huge and hugely successful urban regeneration development, and his enthusiasm and knowledge - not to mention his energy, was intensive!  In November, 2004 he contributed “Livingroofs.org ~ A New Independent Green Roof Organisation for the UK” and through all his hard work he has become one of the leading campaigners in the UK on greenroofs.  His commitment to promoting living roofs is genuine and wholehearted and is only comparable to his passion for sustaining and mitigating biodiversity in the built environment by incorporating living architecture.

Back to the Congress - the Keynote address will be given by Richard Blakeway, adviser to the Mayor of London on environment issues; who else will be in attendance?  Many local UK and international professionals will be speaking, and including Dusty, to name but a few are: Dr. Nigel Dunnett, University of Sheffield, UK;  Dr. Ken Yeang, Llewelyn Davies Yeang, UK; Paul Collins, Nottingham Trent University, UK; Dr. Manfred Kohler, University of Applied Sciences, Neubrandenburg, Germany and WGRIN, President; Wolfgang Ansel, International Green Roof Association (IGRA), Germany; Dr. Stephan Brenneisen, Life Sciences and Facility Management, University of Applied Sciences, Switzerland; Kristin Getter & Dr. Brad Rowe, Michigan State University; Peter Lowitt, Green Roofs for Healthy Cities, North America; Dr. Elizabeth Fassman, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Auckland, New Zealand; and Dr. Sam Hui, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Hong Kong, as well as couple of our own Greenroofs.com Contributing Editors:  Ed Snodgrass of Emory Knoll Farms/Green Roof Plants is presenting “Green roof plant selection and landscapes” and Christine Thuring of Green Roof Safari is just ”going for fun” - after six days from guiding her first Green Roof Safari tour.

I’m planning on blogging while in jolly old England, taking lots of photos and film of presenters, attendees, exhibitors, and local greenroof projects.  So if you can’t go, check back here for some casual interviews and discussions with friends and associates, old and new.   You know it won’t be all work - we fully expect to enjoy a few relaxed, informal evenings with a pint or two in some lovely English pubs with lots of local character(s), too!

Learn more about The World Green Roof Congress 2008.

As an airline employee I’ve flown now on numerous 9/11 anniversaries, including today, returning from Orlando this morning from visiting my beautiful daughter, Anjuli.  Days after this other day which will also live on in infamy, we were given lapel pins which read “Remember, Honor, Renew” and I’ve worn it ever since on my uniform in remembrance.  You can’t help but Remember the horrific events of September, 11, 2001 - the panic, the disbelief, the heroic actions of so many, the souls lost, the families separated within this lifetime, and also the rather selfish line of ”Where were you on this date?” which people love to go on about.

So today on Patriot Day here in the Untied States we Honor the people from around the world whose lives were lost on U.S. soil here in New York, Washington, D.C. and Pennsylvannia because of what, obvious acts of aggression and extreme violence which equate to social/psychological/political intolerance? religious fanaticism? or perceived meritorious acts of moral justice or superiority?  Maybe also a combination of these and ideals from a certain small but albeit powerful faction of Muslim separatism, an extreme type of eco-centrism, and a belief that these terrorist acts are selfless, divine, and which according to these fanatics result in the extinction of evil and the promotion of greater good?  I recently read about “The Romantic Ideal” pertaining to The Holy War, which on one website states, 

“Muslims emphatically insist that the Jihad, or Holy War, was only a means of defence and was never used as an offensive act…”

I don’t pretend to know much about it, but I do know that many Muslims were dismayed and appalled at these actions.  Read much more on the war on behalf of Islam.

We also need to Honor everyone who reacted immediately with selfless acts - specifically the brave firefighters, police, and unnamed civilian heroes, and afterwards also to those of all races, creeds and nationalities who spoke against these inhumane actions - thank you!

So how about Renew part?  Let’s continue the healing process to renew our faith in human beings - as neighbors carpooling each other’s kids to individuals influencing our local and national political candidates - to ourselves as citizens of the world.   If we understand that we all live on one Earth, we can extend this committment to renewing our stewardship of our own planet - I mean, if we’re going to renew something, there’s nothing more sustainable for the long term than “live locally, act globally!”

When I put my pin on this morning it occurred to me, as a former student of landscape architecture back in the late 90’s and now as an ecological designer of greenroofs and green walls, that “Remember, Honor, Renew” is also a great philosophy in terms of environmental design.  We are taught to look at a site’s history, both physical and cultural, to determine the “genius loci” or spirit of place as a basis of design.  So from this perspective we can create a spiritual connection to the past in addition to promoting a renewal of ideals and ecological principles for the future, and really express the true nature of a site.

But the Imagine piece of the equation came to me from a rather personal perspective, but one that fits this new amended motto of “Remember, Honor, Renew…and Imagine.”  Our oldest son, Joey, celebrated his first anniversary with his wife, Korinne, in late July, and he picked out John Lennon’s “Imagine” as our wedding song together as mother and son - talk about a tear jerker!  It seemed the perfect fit for my firstborn who has grown into a young creative man with high ideals, so why not for the more jaded of us, too:

“Imagine there’s no heaven
It’s easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today…Imagine there’s no countries
It isn’t hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace…You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world…

You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will live as one” ~ John Lennon, 1971

 

 

 

Imagine a world working in tandem to combat issues as seemingly unimportant as a specific religion (God is God, right?) or political theology to more pressing ones such as global warming (Nature as God perhaps?) and freedom, peace and safety for all.

So, “Remember, Honor, Renew…and Imagine.”  Designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, maybe the new Freedom Tower which will replace New York’s World Trade Center (finished by 2011 or so) will embrace this new credo, but we certainly don’t have to wait until then to continue believing in ourselves and each other, and imagining a better future, do we?

Linda V.

After months’ worth of planning and organization, this Sunday night I find myself in a green roofed hotel in Darmstadt, Germany. Tomorrow Green Roof Safari will run its first day, and I’m hoping everything unfolds as it ought. As does our small group of jet lagged participants, I’m sure!

Tomorrow, we’ll launch the itinerary with a colourful bang - Hundertwasser ‘Waldspirale’.

The Waldspirale (“Forest Spiral”) in Darmstadt is a remarkable achievement of an original Hundertwasser concept, truly representing the Austrian artist-architect-ecologist’s goal of “harmony with nature”.

A flowering meadow, interspersed with trees and shrubs, carries the visitor from ground-level slowly upwards in a horseshoe shape, eventually reaching a tower 40 m above ground.

From Darmstadt, we’ll proceed south to Pforzheim, where we’ll visit the FBB-green roof of the year (2006). The Schloessle Galerie Pforzheim is an intensive green roof atop a shopping centre, and is an island of green surrounded by densely packed houses. At 7,000 m2, the green roof includes lawn, a bamboo ring, plant caverns, a playground, an Amelanchier grove, and walkways.

From Pforzheim we’ll continue to Stuttgart - the first city in the world to  promote green roofs with financial incentives (since 1986).  We’ll spend 2 nights here.

My Green Roof Safari partner, Joerg Breuning, is originally from Stuttgart.  Joerg has been working with green roofs from apprenticeship through his own business for over 25 years. And I lived in Stuttgart for a year, on a year abroad at Uni Hohenheim. At the time (1997), I didn’t even know what green roofs were, quite happy with a summer job working in the botanical garden.

On Tuesday morning we’ll meet John Doeveling, Garden Architect for Stuttgart’s Office of Gardens, Cemetaries and Forests.  One of Doeveling’s jobs in Stuttgart is to coordinate, care and control Stuttgart’s incentive program for privately-owned green roofs.  We’ll spend the rest of the day packing in as many green roofs and views as possible!

From Stuttgart we’ll head to Freiburg and visit with Christian Lang, who was my internship supervisor back in 2002. It will be great to meet with Christian again, and check out some of the projects in the area.

I’ll try to write more when we get to Basel.. some reflections on Germany before the Swiss goodness kicks in!

Stay tuned,

Christine

First of all, I have to say that the title is just quite not right because 1):  Although most students are back in school, summer is not over yet; and 2):  I haven’t had a real vacation in a long time, let alone this particularly hectic summer!  Of course, recently I have been traveling in my “other career” to some wonderful cities - Buenos Aires, Barcelona, Madrid, and Copenhagen - but with only 24 -36 hour layovers, these visits can hardly be considered holidays.

But I liked the classic tone of ”What I did on My Summer Vacation” because it sounds like I actually did something productive, and I felt like I needed an excuse to explain why I haven’t posted anything in three months… Well, I’m back and now Sky Gardens ~ where cool green meets lofty blue will be populated not only by me but all of our contributing editors on a more regular basis.  So what have we been doing on Greenroofs.com?

For one thing, we’ve been keeping our Student Intern, Caroline Menetre, very busy with hands on visits to The Greenroof Pavilion & Trial Gardens of Rock Mill Park documenting our plant trials and with The Greenroof Projects Database, where she has been entering case studies like crazy.  Her internship will be over soon, and we’ll need some extra hands for research and data entry, so if you’re interested, please let me know: linda@greenroofs.com.

After the whirlwind filming of our little “Love the Earth: Plant A Roof!” video in May, we embarked on a much larger project, our brand new “Sky Gardens” WebTV series, at the beginning of June.  We begin our internet journey to explore the organic architecture of greenroofs and visit all kinds of different, exciting projects around the world, and I’ll be your host on Greenroofs.TV.  We’re initiating our series highlighting greenroofs in the U.S., starting with one of my own designs - you guessed it - the beautiful and award-winning Rock Mill Park.  The City of Alpharetta received the 2008 Water Resources Project of Excellence award and Breedlove Land Planning, who designed the park, just won a Merit Award from the Georgia Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects - congratulations!

Each time I’ll take you on a tour of one unique, stunning vegetative roof.  From planning through the design process, installation through completion, we’ll share intimate stories from the stakeholders – government officials, designers, owners, product manufacturers and service providers.  Why was it built - what was the client’s intent or market driver?  Was it stormwater management, mitigation of the urban heat island, biodiversity, sexy aesthetics, or a combination?  What was the design philosophy and who was involved?  What were the site challenges, techniques used, and what were the lessons learned?  Bottom to top, we’ll show the materials used, culminating in the beautiful, living, breathing plant layer.  Each program will highlight the greenroof’s site specific benefits to the building’s ecology, the local environment, and the watershed at large.

The Alpharetta project is unique for many reasons, especially because the entire property was originally owned by a full blood Cherokee and the site is located within the 100-year flood plain of Big Creek Watershed.  The Greenroof Pavilion is just one of the many low impact development techniques used to tread lighter on the environment and provide educational opportunties for visitors.  When is the air date?  We’ll keep you posted, but we’re planning on the end of September.

Speaking of September, are you going to the World Green Roof Congress in London?  The two day conference will discuss the challenges and opportunities faced when implementing green roofs, and will focus on the contributions that they can make to sustainable urban regeneration, climate change adaptation, sustainable storm water management as well as improvements to local biodiversity and quality of life within cities.  The conference will highlight latest innovations and research to support the effective promotion and delivery of green roof solutions as well as demonstrating examples of good practice from the UK and overseas.  We’re planning on going, but there may be a scheduling conflict with our second “Sky Gardens” WebTV episode - we’ll be filming in Manhattan atop a corporate headquarters, and the date hasn’t been confirmed yet!

Hopefully we can go and see Dusty Gedge of Livingroofs.org and all of our other friends from across the pond.  And it would be grand to go on one of the 6-day study tours from Green Roof Safari in Germany and Switzerland - we’ll see.  Green Roof Safari is a collaboration between Christine Thuring, our Student Editor, and Jörg Breuning of Green Roof Service, so I’m sure a lot of great vegetated roofs and fun will be involved.

I also spent some intense design time for a major greenroofing company on a potential local commercial project - I delivered four conceptual illustrative designs and it would be just awesome if they decide to implement any of them!  Can’t tell you who it is, but it’s very exciting - let’s see what develops.

You know how last year we published our first Greenroofs of the World Calendar™?  Well, we’re currently gathering more stunning living roof projects for the 2009 Greenroofs of the World Calendar™, and this year it will be available for purchase much earlier - in time for the holiday season!

So designing, writing, editing, and filming in 97 degree weather here in Georgia has taken up most of my summer, but don’t feel too badly for me.  Confession:  24 hours may not be enough to qualify as a vacation, but I have to admit that I always manage to have some fun on my (very) mini work-related holidays.  Sightseeing in a new city is always a must, as seen in these photos from Copenhagen earlier this month, but I’m always looking for examples of green architecture, too. 

And to be honest, it wasn’t really my first time in Denmark - my husband Aramis and I spent one day there in 2002 awaiting our return to the U.S., after I gave a greenroof presentation across the way in Malmö, Sweden where we spent four wonderful days with our very gracious hosts, Peter and Violetta Lindhqvist, former directors of the Augustenborg Botanical Roof Garden and the International Green Roof Institute, now the Scandinavian Green Roof Association.

But on this trip I was able to go on a canal tour and it was beautiful!  The overcast skies opened up to a gorgeous day on the water.  And I even found a sustainable design exhibition going on offered by the Danish Architects Center.

So there you have it!  My next blogging endeavors will include interviewing all of our contributing editors, starting with Ed Snodgrass, our Plant Editor.  And look for a new editor coming on board soon, too.

Happy Greening & Safe Travels!

~ Linda

About a month ago my husband, Aramis, alerted me to a competition from The Green on the Sundance Channel called “What’s the Big Idea?” Contest.  The Sundance Channel and Lexus Hybrid Living were encouraging either a video or photo essay no longer than 60 seconds which illustrated how you work green, play green, eat green and live green, making our planet a cleaner, greener place.  And what’s the grand prize?  A private green consultation with BIG IDEAS FOR A SMALL PLANET experts, CURRENT ENERGY and $10,000 to help you live a greener life!

So you can imagine what my Big Idea was – greenroofs, of course!  I’m lucky that our oldest son Joey offered to help and that I have access to one of my own designs here in Alpharetta, GA, The Greenroof Pavilion of Rock Mill Park.  The deadline for submissions was midnight on May 20, 2008, but Joey and his wife were out of the country in April, returning just after the Greening Rooftops for Sustainable Communities Conference in Baltimore.  So we had to wait.  I had some editorial catching up to do and trips planned for work and play the first half of May, but since I’m no stranger to tight deadlines anyway, and even though I always underestimate each project by at least half of the time I really need, we hurriedly decided to give it a go and off we went to film the day before it was due.

We had just planted this roof on October 25 of last year, and about 5 weeks ago went up to check on its progress, weed, and since it is a test greenroof, take notes on which species were faring well and those which were not.  It looked great; the grasses in the “Forest” and “Upland Meadow” zones were swaying in the wind, the blue phlox in “Big Creek” and the white phlox in the “Meadow” were in flower, and the chives were blooming in the “Wetlands.”

I figured that if I was going to be up on the greenroof again, I would bring up some additional plants and more river rock used as design accents, too.  The City of Alpharetta graciously provided usage of their bucket truck once again, and up we went individually, buckled up tightly in our safety harness to plant and film:  Caroline Menetre, our intern, Joey, his wife Korinne - at left - and me.  I have to give special thanks, of course, to the City of Alpharetta and particularly Terry Porter, the Environmental Education Coordinator, who has always gone up with me before and has been a champion of this project for years - but this time she just watched on the sidelines with a broken wrist!

Now with a borrowed camera and our rushed filming and editing schedule, I did not realistically believe we had much of a shot to win this thing, but it was a fun learning process, at least for me.  We went back the next day to take video on the ground, in front of the Greenroof Pavilion and next to the Greenroof Demonstration Model.  Lessons learned?  It’s amazing how much film you need to compile a minute’s worth of work, and it’s not so funny to be fumbling your lines over and over again!  Wind is awesome for movement but not so good for sound.  Lighting is essential, and some cue cards would have been a thing of beauty!

Of all of the submissions, 25 semi-finalists were just chosen the week of May 26, and now the videos/photo essays are open for voting from the general public to determine the five finalists; then the Grand Prize Winner will be selected by a panel of judges from the Sundance Channel’s GREEN Advisory Board.  The winner will be announced on or about July 7, 2008.

Well, I’m thrilled to say we were chosen as a semi-finalist!  So here’s my entry entitled: Love the Earth: Plant a Roof!  Is it worthy of an Academy Award?  No way!  Is it worthy of promoting greenroofs as The Big Idea for the Next Big Thing?  You bet!  Please vote for us by June 24, 2008 - what great exposure for our greenroof community, don’t you agree?

You must be a Sundance Channel member to vote!  Please login or register here.

~ Linda