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 Weeksection has been moved to the top of the left side in order to attract the first look of our visitors. Well-documented eyetoolanalysis 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 beingadded 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. Readmore 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 containsessential 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 maincategories are highlighted in this new search box, and you can also access more categories from here, too.
By the way, the content in this directory is also indexed by Google and Google News.
In a guest featurearticle 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 industryfor over 10 years. In addition to creating lots of organic content on a consistent basis, we also have a high number of sites that considerus 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 Newscontent 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 NewsLinkshas 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.
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 havedone 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.
As we continue to ring in 2010 we hope you enjoyed warm holidays with family and friends and celebrated the New Year with renewed hope for the future. Can you believe we’ve entered a new decade? Shall we call it 2K10, Twenty Ten, or just good old fashioned 2,010? In any case, we’re finally out of the 0’s, now we’re into the 10’s.
Our world economy has been through a lot in the past few years, yet with a promising light hovering just over the horizon. Although development overall has declined, there is continued desire for green buildings from both the public and private sector, and in general our greenroof & greenwall industry has weathered quite nicely. Many of us are taking time to reflect on this passage of time and make New Year’s resolutions (another topic altogether!), and I was thinking of how far we have come since the German experience entered our architectural radar and into our collective consciousness in the 1990’s. Literally thousands of vegetated roofs and walls have been constructed since then in every continent except for Antarctica, with ever growing support from forward thinking multidisciplinary professionals: designers, government officials, organizations, companies, universities, students and other advocates looking to make Earth a little more sustainable.
Sadly, one of those special, innovative people passed away last November 27, the indomitable architect Malcolm Wells. Regarded as “the father of modern earth-sheltered architecture,” he was a staunch advocate of living architecture, known for his way ahead-of-the-times underground earth designs with living roofs starting in the 1960’s, see just one example below. He leaves a legacy of what he referred to as gentle architecture, design that would, in his own words, “leave the land no worse than you found it.”
The visionary Malcolm Wells' design for an eco-gas station, from MalcolmWells.com.
Many inspirational people and organizations have contributed to our current market, and I want to highlight just a few success stories from the past year, personal and global. So in my review, here are my favorite 2009 Top 10 Milestones and Accomplishments for both Greenroofs.com as a company and our international community as a whole:
10) In 2009 Greenroofs.com celebrated 10 years of being in business! We’ve seen a lot of progress and change for the good here as well as across the greenroof world. The fledgling Greenroofs.com – “exploring the ecology of organic greenroof architecture” started out as 60+ pages in 1999 as the result of an independent research study I did at the University of Georgia.
By 2003 we changed our format and grew into Greenroofs.com – “the international greenroof industry’s resource and online information portal,” and contained 600+ pages at the end of 2009 (not counting the hundreds of .php pages from The Greenroof Directory or The Greenroof Projects Database). At present, each month Greenroofs.com receives more than 160,000 unique visits and about 400,000 page views, and we’ve also expanded our presence in social marketing, too, so now you can stay connected with us on: Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, eNewsletter (our monthly eNewsletter consists of 10,000 opt-in subscribers) & YouTube, as well as our Blog.
9) The proliferation of living architecture is greatly spreading and permeating into the areas of design, policy, research and education through numerousworld conferences, congresses, expos, trainings, tours, and other events. For example, the World Green Infrastructure Network (WGIN) – formerly the World Green Roof Infrastructure Network (WGRIN) - held its first CitiesAlive! World Green Roof Congress in Toronto, Canada, with the second scheduled for Mexico City this October, 2010. The International Green Roof Association (IGRA) hosted the 2nd International Green Roof Congress 2009 in Nürtingen, Germany and the 3rd annual Green Roofs Australia Conference 2009 was held at the University of Melbourne. Longevity was evident with the 7th National FBB Green Roof Conference in Ditzingen, Germany and the 7th annual Green Roofs for Healthy Cities (GRHC) Greening Rooftops for Sustainable Communities Conference, Awards, and Trade Show in Atlanta, Georgia. By the way, look for the 8th annual GRHC conference to occur in Vancouver, B.C. on November 30 – December 2, 2010, rebranded as ”Cities Alive.” Look for many new 2010 events throughout the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Germany, China, Singapore, India and more under Upcoming Events, where you can also access Past Events.
7)Green walls are firmly becoming entrenched in sustainable design,evidenced by high media attention, as much for their green properties as for their edible gardening possibilities. We’ve had tons of news articles posted in NewsLinks, our huge database of global articles, concerning living walls and green façades! In fact, they were listed as #31 in TIME’s 50 Best Inventions of 2009 and Triple Pundit recently proposed: ”Gardens Grow Up: Are Vertical Landscapes the New Green Roofs?“ - both featuring the works of Patrick Blanc. In our business you’d have to be living under a rock not to know who the renowned French botanist is; his often fantastical “murs végétalisés” designs stretch the limits of horticulture and design. Since 1994, he has created over 140 public vertical gardens as well as many private installations, including his most famous, the Quai Branly Museum in Paris, shown below. Read more about green walls from Treehugger, Daily Telegraph, Daily Commercial News, The New York Times, Times Online and CNN.com, just to name a few.
In 2009 Green Roofs for Healthy Cities, the North American professional association, established greenwall research projects at the British Columbia Institute of Technology and the University of Maryland, and GRHC has included an award category for Green Wall Excellence in Design for a couple of years now. In 2008 Greenroofs.com added our 8th Contributing Editor, George Irwin - aptly titled The Green Wall Editor - to cover this growing vertical gardening field, and new for 2010 we have altered the title of our Greenroof Projects Database to reflect the inclusion of these: The Greenroof & Greenwall Projects Database.
6)Investing in green building and infrastructure makes good economic sense by integrating green building policies into wider economic development goals, and creates a new job market. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) has prompted a gigantic increase in federal green spending, providing new money to all levels of government, aimed at stimulating the economy, promoting job growth, and lowering energy costs, providing an unprecedented opportunity for advancing green building and sustainability efforts in the U.S. And last December, the American Institute of Architects (AIA) reported at least 138 U.S. cities with populations over 50,000 people have green building programs in place (compared to only 92 in 2007). Referring to the economic recession, the AIA said “The downturn has had a devastating effect on construction generally, but sustainable building design continues to maintain and improve its market share.” Read their 2009 in depth study “Green Building Policy in a Changing Economic Environment” to learn more.
American Institute of Architects 2009 Study of Green Building Programs by Cities
U.S. economic stimulus efforts encompass green energy and construction, including greenroofs along with other forms of green building, and just one such example of Recovery Act funds benefit Washington D.C., where the Washington Business Journal says “Nearly $4 million would go toward building more than 100,000 sf of green roofs on city buildings, including libraries, firehouses and a demonstration project atop the parking garage deck at University of the District of Columbia. The stimulus funds would also expand the city’s green roof rebate program to allow residents and small businesses to afford another 20,000 sf of private green roof space.”
And importantly, many green building programs are also creating “green collar” jobs. In late 2009, the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) and Booz Allen Hamilton conducted a study and stated “Green building will support 7.9 million U.S. jobs and pump $554 billion into the American economy – including $396 billion in wages – over the next four years (2009-2013). The study also determined that green construction spending currently supports more than 2 million American jobs and generates more than $100 billion in gross domestic product and wages…The full report can be downloaded at www.usgbc.org/greeneconomy, where one can also find other research, resources, tools and information about green building and its role in the economic recoveries of professionals, businesses and the nation.” According to an analysis by American Rivers and the Alliance for Water Efficiency, the Natural Resources Defense Council reports that a $10 billion nationwide initiative to install greenroofs alone would result in almost 200,000 jobs – the Senate is expected to consider its own version of the bill in early 2010.
5)Green Roofs for Healthy Cities launched the Green Roof Professional (GRP) accreditation for North America. The GRP is a measure of knowledge of established best practices and although a voluntary program, with the designation professionals can distinguish themselves in the marketplace. This association milestone was at least four years in the making! Currently with more than 250 GRP’s in 2009, GRHC hopes to add more professionals in 2010. Check their website for future testing dates, and consider attending one of their Green Roof Boot Camps to refresh and get you ready. See my interview with Jeff Bruce, president of Jeffrey L. Bruce & Company, Chair of GRHC and the GRHC Training and Accreditation Committee, which developed the Green Roof Professional program, to learn why the organization felt this accreditation was needed, how it evolved, and where it’s heading. For more info on the GRP, see “A Video Introduction to the GRP Program” from Green Roofs for Healthy Cities.
4)Within the U.S. industry, major contributions were made in the area to develop best practice wind and fire standards for greenroof design. Since 2007, leaders from various organizations have been working hard on prescriptive standards, and in 2009 standards were inserted into the International Building Code from members of GRHC and Single Ply Roofing Industry (SPRI). Read “Green Roof Wind & Fire Design Guidelines: After Three Years, Half the Battle is Won,” written by one of our Contributing Editors, Kelly Luckett, The Green Roof Guy, to learn about this winding road’s development of RP-14 and VF-1. And stay tuned for updates with his column here on Greenroofs.com.
Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUe) Wind Tunnel Testing in June, 2009.
3) The global Greenroof & Greenwall Projects Database surpassed the 1,000 mark in December! So where are all these greenroofs and greenwalls anyway? Let’s continue to work together to grow, update, and share valuable case studies for our communal benefit, for free. Even in today’s openly transparent society (think Google Earth), some people worry about confidentiality issues, and we only post information that is submitted to us by owners/project principals or that which is openly available through various media channels, and we always list owners as “private” when requested. The Greenroof & Greenwall Projects Database is now searchable by 24 fields, including specifically for green walls. After our Home Page, the Projects Database is the next visited page on Greenroofs.com – make sure your projects and valuable experiences are included here.
2) My albeitly biased personal favorite, Greenroofs.com inaugurated our first episode of the Sky Gardens ~ Greenroofs of the World™ WebTV series. Premiering at Boston GreenFest in September, our new venture followed on the GreenroofsTV channel on YouTube, and next on our own greenroofs.tv, where you can now see it in its entirety at just under 37 minutes. By the way, you can also view our video offshoot, ”Greenroofs 101 from Greenroofs.com” (4:50) in Greenroofs 101 or directly below, which is a great way to introduce the concept to newcomers. Coming soon is episode 2, highlighting the gorgeous Cook+Fox Architects corporate offices in Manhattan, NY. Our third episode is in the works, and more are being scheduled, so stay tuned!
1) 2009 saw some serious support for greenroofs, championed by professional organizations and governmental bodies alike. Global industry support has grown over the years, and many advocates continue to actively promote them worldwide. For example, the City of Chicago, certainly the U.S. leader in greenroofs, now has over 7 million square feet of vegetated roofs completed or under development. New support in 2009 includes:
North America: In addition to offering eco-incentives for greenroofs, currently Toronto has the most progressive policy in North America – last May Toronto became the first city here to adopt a bylaw to require and govern the construction of greenroofs. The new bylaw will be required on all new development above 2,000 m² (about 21,530 sf) of gross floor area and have a graduated coverage requirement ranging from 20-60%. Working with a program budget of $800,000/year, owners of industrial and commercial buildings can apply for grants worth up to $100,000 (Canadian) to build a greenroof. Mayor David Miller predicts the rules and incentives will create 50 to 60 green-roofed buildings per year, in addition to their current 135 vegetated roofs. Green Roofs for Healthy Cities supported the by-law against pressure from developers opposed to the policy. See more details under Industry Support and at the City of Toronto website.
Here in the U.S., in late 2009 ASLA, the American Society of Landscape Architects, worked with Congress to include the Green Act into the House-passed climate change legislation. The Act would require the Dept. of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to employ greenroofs, tree canopy coverage, and other site planning techniques to help reduce heating and cooling costs in certain HUD facilities. Still pending before the Senate Finance Committee, last January Senator Maria Cantwell (WA) introduced the Clean Energy Stimulus and Investment Assurance Act of 2009 (S.320), legislation geared toward creating high-wage green-collar jobs and revitalizing the economy through clean energy investments. ASLA worked with Senator Cantwell’s office to ensure that a section of the bill was dedicated to green roof tax incentives, and GRHC provided technical support. Under section 506 of the bill, residential and commercial property owners will receive a 30% tax credit for qualified greenroof expenditures.
As you may recall, Congress enacted Section 438 of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA) to require federal agencies to reduce stormwater runoff from federal development projects to protect water resources and in October of 2009, President Obama signed Executive Order 13514 on “Federal Leadership in Environmental, Energy, and Economic Performance” calling upon all federal agencies to lead by example and address a wide range of environmental issues, including stormwater runoff. Federal agencies can comply with Section 438 by using a variety of green infrastructure / low impact development techniques including living roofs. Prepared by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in coordination with other federal agencies, the “Technical Guidance on Implementing the Stormwater Runoff Requirements for Federal Projects under Section 438 of the Energy Independence and Security Act” PDF is highly detailed and instructive.
State and municipal governments also provided policy support: Former Virginia Governor Timothy M. Kaine signed three bills promoting incentives in 2009: HB 1975 and SB 1058 authorize localities to grant regulatory flexibility and incentives to promote the construction of vegetative roofs on private homes and businesses. The incentives or regulatory flexibility could include a reduction in permit fees, a streamlined process for the approval of building permits, or a reduction in any gross receipts tax on greenroof contractors as defined by the local ordinance. The third bill, HB 1828, allows water authorities to offer rate incentives for vegetative roof construction, based on the percentage of stormwater runoff reduction. In late fall, the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (OEPA), Metropolitan Sewer District of Greater Cincinnati (MSDGC), and the Office of Environmental Quality created a Green Roof Loan Program utilizing money from the Water Pollution Control Loan Fund. OEPA has made $5,000,000 available for linked deposit, below market rate loans to install green vegetative roofs within the service area of MSDGC on residential, commercial and/or industrial buildings.
Already a city offering several greenroof incentives, in October Portland’s city commission approved a Climate Action Plan which calls for a 40% reduction in carbon emissions by 2030 and an 80% reduction by 2050. According to the Portland Business Journal, “The Plan calls for the city and county to take 93 actions over the next three years. City bureaus must immediately begin implementing 15 of the new climate-related initiatives, such as establishing a tax credit for businesses that install ecoroofs and solar panels together.” And last month, the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District invited governments, organizations, school districts, and businesses within the 28 communities it serves to participate in their 2010 Regional Green Roof Initiative Program. Among other prerequisites, proposed projects must minimize impervious roof area and maximize the reduction in the rate and/or volume of stormwater runoff.
The World:Singapore is targeting 50 hectares of skyrise greenery by 2030 and its Urban Redevelopment Authority launched the LUSH Programme (Landscaping for Urban Spaces and High-Rises) in April of 2009. Offering financial and planning incentives to developers to provide greenery at the upper levels of high rise buildings, their goal is to make 80% of all buildings in Singapore green by 2030. Quezon City, Phillipines has a new law requiring private and government-owned buildings to green part of their rooftops. New commercial/residential buildings, under the Green Roof Ordinance (Ordinance 1940) signed into law by Mayor Feliciano R. Belmonte, Jr. last September, should allocate at least 30% of their roof area for plants and trees. In Australia, the Queensland Government signed a “Memorandum Of Understanding” with the Singapore National Parks Board late last year to trial vertical gardens and greenroofs in various cities in an effort to benefit from Singapore’s experience with skyrise greenery.
Dubai Municipality launched a greenroof initiative in line with a Dubai law on green building specifications. The Municipality’s strategic goal is to raise per capita green area to 23.4 square meters by the end of 2011, with the green building project coming under the directives of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, United Arab Emirate Vice President and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai. A public awareness campaign for greenroofs was announced last month, committed to the “development of laws and regulations to keep pace with international standards in the field of sustainable development by planting green roofs and facades in the Emirate of Dubai.” Traveling display models and educational publications will circulate residential neighborhoods and shopping centers and markets for a 12-month period. Read more on the Dubai Municipality Portal. One spectacular greening project currently on the boards in Dubai is the self-sustained system “Food City” below, designed by Green Concepts Landscape Architects (GCLA):
The proposed Dubai Food City, conceptualized by landscape architecture firm GCLA.
So here we are at the start of a whole new year – we hope you’re excited and optimistic about it, just as we are! Whatever 2009 offered you, we hope you embraced new friends and opportunities and experienced great personal and professional growth, and we thank you for your readership. What’s in store for our new decade? We’ll see, but as the green building industry continues with positive signs of sustained growth, let’s also continue to collaborate and create a more sustainable world with eco-architecture embracing greenroofs and greenwalls as part of the overall green living architecture strategy.
“I woke up one day to the fact that the earth’s surface was made for living plants, not industrial plants.” ~ Malcolm Wells
Here’s a gentle toast to continued health, love, and prosperity for you, your families, and all of our greenroof associates in 2010!
An exclusive of Greenroofs.com, we’re now in our third year of publishing the “Greenroofs of the World™” 12-Month Wall Calendar series. The 2010 version is now available and it’s filled with beautiful living roof projects and even more green building events from around the world than the previous last two years.
I thought it might be interesting to some of you to learn about the design process, why and how we choose the highlighted projects – the ideology behind the product, which is our first. Although I’ve been wanting to write a book (or two) for the last nine or so years, prior to the calendar all our “products” have been intellectual property offerings. And as you probably know, all of the information on Greenroofs.com is free and without subscription, following an open source philosophy of information sharing.
I had been wanting to do a calendar for years as it was an obvious add on to The Greenroof Projects Database as well as complimentary to our Upcoming Events section where we list conferences, workshops, presentations, etc., from around the world. So, voilá! 2008 marked the first year of the Greenroofs of the World™ 12-Month Wall Calendar series. How do we select our featured projects? From our website Sponsors, which is the highest level of advertising we offer on Greenroofs.com. It’s our way to highlight fabulous examples of sustainable roof design and thank these companies who back us up by marketing their ecologically friendly products and services with us. Each chooses their desired month on a first come, first serve basis. I ask for two of their favorite projects each along with several shots each. Then the fun starts! I try and represent different types of greenroofs, sizes, and geographic locations within the U.S. and the world – and of course, the quality of the photo is a huge factor. This is what is most time consuming! We include a short description under each photo, and do our best to list all major designers/manufacturers of record, including the Sponsor.
As you know, greenroofs can be used at any scale, and in the past our smallest featured vegetated roof came in at 52 sf here in Atlanta, Georgia (2008), and the largest was a whopping 765,000 sf in Zaragoza, Spain (2009). For 2010, Calendar projects range from 1,000 sf in Manhattan, New York to 113,000 sf in Minneapolis, Minnesota, see below:
In addition to displaying eye-catching greenroofs, we also desired an eco friendly product, and I feel like we do create a truly eco-chic calendar! Our 11″ x 18″ full-color glossy 12-month wall calendars are printed on 50% recycled paper with 25% post consumer waste using soy inks. We use The Messenger Press of Carthagena, Ohio where Randy Heitkamp does a great job of printing excellent quality work – and we recommend him highly.
This year we decided to go global, and you can purchase the 2010 Calendar on Amazon.com as well as from us directly. But I will say that you’ll save money by ordering through us at only $12.95 each, with free shipping in the contiguous U.S. and Canada (contact us for international shipping rates). And there are quantity discounts, too.
The 2010 Greenroofs of the World™ 12-Month Wall Calendar will make a great inexpensive Christmas/Holiday gift or stocking stuffer (well, if you have a really wide stocking!) for all you greenroof aficionados out there. See our Press Release here, where you can view each project highlighted in The Greenroof Projects Database. And find out the details for ordering here.
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 SkyGardens ~ 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!
I receive a lot of great info about a variety of topics from readers – tidbits and sometimes more elaborate – usually not quite enough to qualify as a Guest Feature on Greenroofs.com, but certainly enough to pique our interest for a blog post. Of course I don’t have unlimited time at my disposal to further research all of these newsworthy items, nor do our Contributing Editors, so we’ve decided to open up our Sky Gardens Blog to Guest Posts.
Talking about our Contributing Editors, as it is I’m the one blogging the most anyway – they all have their real careers and companies to run, after all, so I think this will open up our piece of the blogosphere a bit – new blood and all that.
So how does it work and what are we looking for? Posts will come through me, and I’ll determine if the topic is pertinent, appropriate, and in-line with the tone of “Sky Gardens~ where cool green meets lofty blue.” So what’s that, again? From my bio in About Us:
“Cool green?” Cool green architecture, cool green people, cool green environments, etc., you get the picture.“Lofty blue?” As in sky high spaces, places, ideals, and ideas.
Ask yourself, Will the greenroof community be eager to read this? Is it environmentally interesting, important, funny, or thought provoking? Good examples are projects with greenroofs or green walls you visited or articles/videos you came across, people and organizations who are working in the sustainable design field, commentary on green case studies, examples of best practices, links to industry news, or media happenings in general. No press releases,infomercials or advertorials, please! If you want to advertise your product or service, great – we keep that separate, just visit Advertise with Us. Also see our Submissions page for more. If accepted, the author’s name will be followed by a comma and Guest Post, as in Jane Doe, Guest Post to differentiate you from the Team at Greenroofs.com.
Guidelines are simple, please:
Informal and opinionated is fine, but no nastiness or preaching will be tolerated. Be clear and concise, edit and spellcheck your work – don’t make us ask for clarifications! If English is not your native tongue, that’s different and we’ll be more tolerant, so please state that. But we will still not publish poorly written work.
Include relevant references and websites; if you are lifting someone else’s work, put it in quotes and give the source. When referencing an article or other post, it’s not considered polite to paste the entire story (not to mention legal in terms of copyright issues). Most blogs post a summary or the first paragraph (40 words), then include a link to the rest of the story. But I really don’t want copied articles that are just being regurgitated over the Internet – be creative and summarize in your own words!
Length: About 150 words would be max. Sometimes less is more.
Send great and awesome photos, graphics and images, people! How many? At least two, more is fine. No one wants to read a bunch of words going on and on about some vague architectural philosophy pertaining to culture and the evolution/decline of man without some interesting photos to break it up. Again, state the source and if the photo is copyrighted, include the name of the photographer.
Format: Word, TXT, or RTF; Photos: JPG or GIF, no larger than 490 x 342 pixels
Here’s a new opportunity for Greenroofs.com to continue our onward and upward expansion into the greenroof world, as well as your opportunity to share your views with our readership. So for those of you who want to be bloggers, here’s your chance!
As always, we welcome your ideas and comments ~ Linda V.
After almost seven weeks of intense scrutiny and review, Green Roofs for Healthy Cities (GRHC) has relased the names of their first “graduating class” of GRP’s, or Green Roof Professionals (download the Press Release “First Green Roof Professionals (GRPs) Announced” of July 21, 2009 here. These hardy 100+ represent the inaugural group of professionals across multi-disciplinary fields to sit for and pass the GRP exam, held in Atlanta on June 5, 2009 at the 7th Annual Greening Rooftops for Sustainable Communities Conference, Awards & Trade Show.
The purpose of the GRP exam is to establish greenroof professional viability in our growing industrial sector. Jeffrey L. Bruce, Chair of Green Roofs for Healthy Cities, whom I interviewed in May said, “We are very pleased with the caliber of the new GRPs and the fact that they come from both the green arts side, i.e., the living components of a green roof, and the black arts side, i.e., the nonliving components. Industry experts from both the black and the green arts have worked hard over the past six years to develop training materials and a professional exam that covers best practices across the spectrum of professionals, in order to improve multi-disciplinary knowledge and practice in the field.”
Congratulations to the new designees and so many people involved in the whole process! Many of our friends, colleagues, and several of our Contributing Editors received their GRP designtion, including Kelly Luckett, The Green Roof Guy; Patrick Carey, The Architecure Editor; and Haven Kiers, The Design Editor. In fact, Kelly was on the GRHC Training and Accreditation Committee which developed the Green Roof Professional Accreditation program, and he can attest to the countless hours put in by all to ensure quality, integrity and equity. But don’t feel too badly for them as, of course, everyone on the GRP Training and Accreditation Committee was grandfathered in and didn’t have to take the actual test!
So what about me? Remember when I said I was going to take it, too, and to join me? Yeah, well that never happened. Long story, but kind of typical for me, I waited too long to actually sign up for the exam and when I tried, it was closed. It was probably a blessing in disguise, because I hadn’t studied at all and was going to cram for the test at the last minute… Now I can plan accordingly, study like a normal person and take the GRP exam in any of these North American cities this fall: Chicago (Sept. 18), New York (Oct. 16), Toronto (Oct. 19), and Seattle (Oct. 30). And since I am also a greenroof designer, I do think it will be a good thing for me to have, along with my BLA and LEED AP.
So, did you take the test? What do you think about it? Share your comments here with us.
See the complete list of Green Roof Professionals in the latest issue of the Living Architecture Monitor online or download a PDF from Green Roofs for Healthy Cities here. Once again, a job well done to all!
I hope many of you are traveling to southern Germany to particpate in the 2nd International Green Roof Congress in Stuttgart-Nürtingen on May 25-27 – it’s sure to be amazing. Please send us your thoughts, comments and photos for posting afterwards!
It’s hard to believe Green Roofs for Healthy Cities (GRHC) has put on this event yearly since 2003, debuting in Chicago – a great city with a great visionary mayor in Richard Daley, Jr. We’ve participated every year by exhibiting, I’ve sometimes presented papers or a poster session, attended a class (or facilitated one in the case of Portland, OR with the inaugural Green Roof 101 in 2004). This year we’re really proud to be a Sponsor of the Conference along with The Home Depot Foundation, American Hydrotech, Tremco, Green Roof Blocks and Sweetwater Brewing Company. I think the industry has come a long way through the hard, dedicated work of many, and although there is still much to do, I’m confident the greenroof community will continue to thrive within the eco-friendly world of planning, design, and construction.
It’s been fun (and time consuming, although I have had to miss some of the meetings) to have participated on the Local Atlanta Host Committee, specifically the Tours Sub-Committee, but it’s been time well spent at Southface Energy Institute. In fact, I’m attending the last meeting before the conference this afternoon to go over last minute items, including the tours, which I’ll be talking about in detail in a few days – but you should sign up for one of five guided tours, four on Tuesday, June 2 and one on Saturday, June 6 (another option is a Walking Tour at your leisure) – and I should point out that I’ll be your host on Tour #2: Goodbye City, Hello ‘Burbs, on Tuesday, June 2, 2009, from 1:00 pm – 5:00 pm.
Tours, Golf and the Launch of the GRP
The varied tours are a great highlight, as is the first annual GRHC Golf Tournament at the Bobby Jones Golf Course, the many education courses and workshops, not to mention the awesome speaker line-up, and the opportunity to become one of the first to receive your GRP – Green Roof Professional – designation! The launch of this long-awaited accreditation program will be on June 5, and I plan to take it, too.
In fact, I just interviewed Jeff Bruce, FASLA, LEED, ASIC of Jeffrey L. Bruce & Company, who is the Chair of the GRP. Look for his insightful interview early next week, where I asked him about his company, his involvement with Green Roofs for Healthy Cities, and specifically the lengthy process he and the team experienced – the vision and initial plan; reasons why we need an accreditation program; overall considerations and requirements; how things evolved…all leading up to the Atlanta Conference and the inaugural testing.
Have you looked at the Agenda yet? It really is a full line up of experts from across North America and the world. The three-day conference will consist of plenary and specialized sessions focused on four main topic areas:
1. Policies and Programs to Support Green Roofs
2. Green Roof Design and Implementation
3. Research and Technical Papers on Green Roof Performance
4. “On the Roof With …” Networking & Information Forums on Current Green Roof Topics with Industry Experts
Note: Make sure to see the 2009 installment of Haven Kiers, our Design Editor and my Top 10 List of Hot Trendsin Greenroof Design, held on the morning of June 5 in Track 1 – Case Studies and Design, SESSION 4, from 8:00 am – 9:30 am in Room: Hanover C – E.
The 2009 full-delegate pass includes:
• Access to over 50 presentations by green roof industry leaders
• Free pass to the Industry Trade Show featuring more than 75 exhibitors showcasing Green Roof Products and Services
• Access to more than 15 Poster Sessions
• One Copy of the Official Conference Proceedings CD-ROM featuring the peer-reviewed Speaker Papers (retail value $75)
• Browse and Lunch (June 4) and Awards of Excellence Luncheon (June 5)
Missing some classes? Take your pick here (additional charge):
Wednesday, June 3: GRHC Training Courses (8:30 am — 5:-00 pm)
Green Roof Design 101: Introductory Course
Green Roof Infrastructure: Design and Installation 201
Green Roof Infrastructure: Waterproofing and Drainage 301
Green Roof Infrastructure: Plants and Growing Medium 401
Friday, June 5: Green Roof Profession (GRP) Accreditation Exam — 4:00 — 6:00 pm
A Trade Show not to be Missed!
Also, don’t miss out on the largest industry Trade Show in North America. Talk to the experts about their products, projects, benefits and solutions for common greenroof and wall challenges. And please come by and visit us on the Trade Show Floor at Booth #310.
For a complete overview of the Conference program, and to register for any of the events, please visit the Green Roofs for Healthy Cities website at www.greenroofs.org. For sponsorship and trade show opportunities please contact Jennifer Sprout jsprout@greenroofs.org or (416) 971-4494 Ext 229. Come join the learning and celebrations of excellence at GRHC’s 7th International gathering!
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.
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 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. 
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