We’ve begun the Greenroofs.com website redesign starting with the Homepage. Our new design is about improving page navigation and making it easier for our visitors to find the content they want.  More white space has been created and we changed the font type and size for better reading.  We also kept in mind that search engines like to have a sense of what role a page plays in the bigger picture of our site, and we think that this has been accomplished.

HERE’S WHAT’S NEW:

Project of the Week
The Project of the Week section has been moved to the top of the left side in order to attract the first look of our visitors.  Well-documented eyetool analysis has revealed “hotspots” where visitors looked the most on a webpage – and people look most at the left top side. This visual image of the featured greenroof project should instigate additional interest and thus a click-through that brings the latest project profile to the forefront in a separate window.  As you probably know, the project profile contains various photos and detailed content describing many important and relevant aspects of the case study.  The data associated with these profiles is administered on our MySQL Greenroof & Greenwall Projects Database via PHP scripts.  Our database currently has 1,022 project profiles with many more being added every day. By the way, the content of this database is currently indexed by Google and Google News – which means when visitors search online, the results page will contain links to the data from our database.

The Greenroof & Greenwall Projects Database has been open to the world since 2004, evolving from the “International and North American Case Studies” portion of Linda Velazquez’ initial 1999 independent research study.   Read more about how Linda selects the Project of the Week.

The Greenroof Directory
Visitors looking for companies to work with on their projects now have a quick search capability from the homepage, direct to the Greenroof Directory.

The Greenroof Directory is also a MySQL database which contains essential information (contact, products, services, photos, etc.) about Manufacturers, Suppliers, Professional Services, and Organizations in the greenroof industry.

All this information is searchable from the main Directory page and now, for the first time, from our homepage with our new quick search feature.  The most popular main categories are highlighted in this new search box, and you can also access more categories from here, too.

In a guest feature article submitted by Adam Henige, a Web consultant, he states “An analysis of search engine data for 2009 clearly demonstrates a rising trend in the general public’s awareness of and interest in green roofs. Looking at these estimates for a cross section of the most popular general roofing terms and green roofing terms performed on search engines, there was growth in both areas, but by November the monthly search volume had grown only 51 percent for general roofing terms while green roofing terms had grown 155 percent.”

No one knows the secret formula that search engines use in order to optimize a particular site and improve rankings, but fortunately for us, we have enjoyed the number one spot in all the top search engines for the most significant keywords in our industry for over 10 years.  In addition to creating lots of organic content on a consistent basis, we also have a high number of sites that consider us a great resource and thus add links back to us, which also improves search results positioning and site PageRank.  So, if you want your company to be found online, make sure you get listed with us (shameless plug!).

Video player
An embedded video player showing the latest videos from our greenroofsTV channel on YouTube has been moved to the top right side for better viewing.  YouTube is the most popular video hosting and sharing service and is owned by Google.  Their service lets users view and upload video files, and in addition to hosting videos, the service lets users rate videos, add comments, and subscribe to their favorite producers.

Public videos uploaded by YouTube online users are selected by us based on their relevance to the greenroof and greenwall industry, and then added to the respective playlist that feed the various video players throughout our entire website.  We encourage all of you to upload your videos to showcase and increase your exposure by sharing experiences, projects, interviews, tours, product demonstrations – with our marketplace and the rest of the world.

Industry News, ResearchLinks & Industry Support
The extremely long Industry News content that used to be displayed in the center column has been consolidated to a short list of the latest news with links to a new separate page fully dedicated to all the industry news associated with the greenroof and greenwall community.

The ResearchLinks section on the Navigation Bar has now been replaced simply with Industry, which now houses Industry News, Industry Support and ResearchLinks.  Industry Support used to be under Greenroofs 101, which was the basis for Linda’s 1999 paper and Greenroofs.com.

Guest Features
You’ll find them now in a highlighted box displaying the latest two features with links to the full articles. If you are an expert on a particular greenroof or greenwall design topic, you may submit your content to our Editor and it will be reviewed for publishing on our site – just email your information to: submissions@greenroofs.com.

NewsLinks
The long list of NewsLinks has also been reduced to a shorter one of the latest few, with links for more news on our page dedicated to all our NewsLinks.  We have also added a section that will highlight a particular event during the month – like the 2010 Olympics, Earth Hour, etc.  Make sure you visit often for all your industry news!

Contributing Editor Columns
Similar to Guest Features, another highlighted section now houses the latest from our contributing editors, prominently displayed within the body of the homepage with links to the respective columns.

Other changes
· The Google Search Box that allows for searching our entire website is now more visible.

·  The banners on the top and bottom of the page rotate randomly with a fade transition instead of the old slide in a sequential order.  This will allow for all of our advertisers’ banner ads to have equal exposure to our visitors.

·  Social Media icons are now top and center for easy clicks.  Make sure you stay connected with us by following us on Twitter, becoming a fan of our Facebook wall, joining our Greenroofs.com Network group in LinkedIn, subscribing to the greenroofsTV channel on YouTube and our monthly eNewsletter.

·  Finally, the bottom of the page is now filled with small logos from all our sponsors linkable to their respective color brochures in The Greenroof Directory filled with lots of pertinent information about their products and services.

·  The Sky Gardens blog box, Upcoming Events, JobLinks, and our Advertiser Press Releases and are still pretty much in their respective spots, just cleaned up a bit.

We’re still in our tweaking stages, and have a lot more work to do to the rest of our site, but we welcome your feedback for what we have done so far.  Keep us informed of all your greenroof and greenwall happenings, and stay on top of the greenroof world with Greenroofs.com!  We look forward to hearing back from you.

After a long 16 months, the first episode of our WebTV series Sky Gardens ~ Greenroofs of the World will be up and ready to see on Sunday, November 8, 2009.  You can watch Episode 1: Rock Mill Park on the Greenroofs.TV Channel on Greenroofs.com and YouTube.   Download our Press Release here.

The Sky Gardens ~ Greenroofs of the World video series grew naturally out of my previous column “Sky Gardens ~Travels in Landscape Architecture” which ran from June, 2003 through April, 2006 here on Greenroofs.com.  With that column I was combining my various fields of expertise, and the description read:

“What do you get when you cross a landscape in the sky with an ecological designer, greenroof website publisher, and an international flight attendant?  Why, a column entitled “Sky Gardens ~ Travels in Landscape Architecture” of course!  Welcome to the ramblings of my unique bird’s eye perspective of the world, as I continue to visit new cities and noteworthy landscape architecture projects ~ both at ground and greenroof level.”

My hectic schedule proved too much for such an indepth column, and it evolved into this Sky Gardens ~ where cool green meets lofty blue Blog.  But I still wanted to pursue the thought of examining greenroof projects in-depth: the who, where, what, why and how’s of the entire planning and design process.  Our oldest son, Joey, is a screenwriter with film experience and so with the help of his film production company, Red Hand Productions, last year I decided to channel this vision into a more visual medium – video.

We selected one of my own designs here in Alpharetta for the first episode, and it’s been a true labor of love.  I’ve been involved with the Rock Mill Park project since 1999 when I interned as a student of landscape architecture with the City of Alpharetta.  I was thrilled when my design for “Celebrating Ecological Design in a Native Landscape” became a reality with construction of The Greenroof Pavilion and Trial Gardens of Rock Mill Park in 2007.  So many talented and generous people contributed to this endeavor, and being able to film and share this project built on such an environmentally sensitive and culturally important former Cherokee-owned site was an honor for me.  See 2008’s Love the Earth: Plant a Roof! and What I Did on My Summer Vacation… for a little more background info.

I think you’ll enjoy our first episode, where we interviewed many people involved in the project and filmed on site at Rock Mill Park; Alpharetta City Hall at Mayor Arthur Lechtas’ office; the City of Alpharetta Engineering/Public Works Department; the historic Log Cabin at the former site of Milton High School; Saul Nurseries “Swamp” location; and the former Cherokee capital, New Echota in Calhoun, GA, now a Historic Site.

We’ve had some trials and tribulations along the way, but that just makes it more special now that it’s done!  On November 8 you can see Episode 1: Rock Mill Park in four 10-minute installments on our home page and the Greenroofs.TV page on our website, where they will be added to the Greenroofs.com playlist on the greenroofstv channel on YouTube, found at http://www.youtube.com/greenroofstv.  All four videos will be lined up in order for easy viewing.

Look for our second Sky Gardens ~ Greenroofs of the World episode which highlights the gorgeous Cook+Fox Architects LLP corporate headquarters in Manhattan, NY, and details some of the greening initiatives that New York City is spearheading, coming soon to GreenroofsTV!

~ Linda V.

2009 marks the third year of our “Top 10 List of Hot Trends in Greenroof Design” – download the Press Release here.  Compiled by our Design Editor, Haven Kiers, and I, we presented the Top 10 List on Friday, June 5, 2009 at the 7th Annual Greening Rooftops for Sustainable Communities Conference, Awards and Trade Show in Atlanta, GA.

Our time slot was changed by Green Roofs for Healthy Cities from 9:30 am to 8:00 am, so if you went by an older Agenda, you missed us!

In 2007, we explored “chic sustainability” and looked at examples of trailblazing and trendsetting greenroof design.  Last year, we turned to greenroof industry professionals for inspiration and guidance and asked them to share their top 10 trends of 2008 with us.  Together we chose “The Influence of LEED on Design Professionals = Pushing the Green Envelope,” “Sky High Cool Green Schools,” and “Eco-Communities & Eco-Cities” for the top three spots.

This year, the projects we have chosen all share a similar concept – the desire to improve their surrounding environment.  The focus of the Top 10 Trends of 2009 is on greenroof design as a means to combat problems in our world of the built environment versus nature, and restore sustainability to the eco-system.

I feel the common element running through all the categories this year is the increasing shift in viewing the building not as a single physical element to be manipulated, but holistically – integrating the site, building envelope, and roof with cultural awareness – creating vegetated surfaces in 3-D and truly linking nature to human design.

Without further ado, the

2009 HOT TRENDS in GREENROOF DESIGN:
Top 10 List

10) Client Specific ‘Boutique’ Greenroofs

9)   Design Competitions: Promoting Future Inspiration

8)   Earth-Sheltering for Sustainable Site Design

7)   Master Plans – Greenroofs in Every Corner

6)   Sustainable Stimulus: Green Buildings Creating Green Collar Jobs

5)   LID Strategies: Celebrating Water with Greenroofs, Rain Gardens, Stormwater Catchment & Beyond

4)   Championing the Green Machine: Policy Driven Ecological Development

3)   Healthy, Efficient & Affordable Green Housing

2)   Sky-High Green Living on the Rise: Condos, Townhomes and Lofts
 
1)   “Towers of Power” – Mega Vertical Structures Linking Earth and Sky

As usual, we included built projects, those on the boards, and several which are stunningly conceptual, like “The Lilypad” by Vincent Callebaut, above and below, designed to make us really push our notion of the possibilities of function and design, and to reprioritize and rethink our global view of our diminishing natural resources.  Actually, The Lilypad is a “Tower of Power” – Mega Vertical Structures Linking Earth, Sky, and Water!

Missed our presentation?  No problem - click on the 2009 PowerPoint here:

You can also view the 2008 and 2007 PowerPoint presentations of the Top 10 List of Hot Trends in Greenroof Design, and the papers, too.  We’ll be posting the 2009 paper – with hyperlinks to each project in The Greenroof Projects Database - by the end of the month.

Happy Greening!

~ Linda V.

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