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, curiosity 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

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

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.

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