Through their awards program, the AIA has a long tradition of recognizing individuals and organizations for their outstanding achievements in support of the profession of architecture and the professional organization.
“The Institute Honor Awards program recognizes achievements for a broad range of architectural activity to elevate the general quality of architecture practice, establish a standard of excellence against which all architects can measure performance, and inform the public of the breadth and value of architecture practice.” ~ AIA
We’re big fans of BIG Architects – sorry, couldn’t help it – which is very easy since every project they produce is not only fresh and out-of-the box but a shining example of ecological, site-specific and community-specific design.
“The 8 House masterfully recreates the horizontal social connectivity and interaction of the streets of a village neighborhood through a series of delightful accessible ramps in a mixed use, multifamily housing project. The skillful shaping of the mass of the facility provides an invigorating sculptural form while creating the ramped “pedestrian” street system and providing full depth dwelling units which are filled with light and views.
People really ‘live” in this newly created neighborhood with shopping, restaurants, an art gallery, office facilities, childcare, educational facilities and the sound of children playing. This is a complex and exemplary project of a new typology.” ~ 2012 Institute Honor Awards for Architecture Jury Comments
See all of the other eight 2012 AIA Awards Recipients here.
You’ll find three different types of residential housing and 110,000 ft² of retail and offices here, in the shape of a multi-level bow tie. And this mixed-use building comprises Denmark’s largest private development ever undertaken.
Plus, a building designed to allow its residents to bike all the way from the street up to its 10th level penthouses is pretty cool, but add a huge V-shaped sloping greenroof to it, and you’ve really got a spectacular structure!
“Having established ourselves in New York City this past year we are honored that the AIA has given this great distinction to the 8 House which is a further realized example of our approach called architectural alchemy – the idea that by mixing traditional ingredients, retail, row-houses and apartments in untraditional ways – you create added value if not gold. Housing projects are rarely brought out as world architecture. The fact that the 8 House has now achieved this honorable status, can be seen as a symbol of a piece of architectural alchemy that works. Moreover, I am genuinely happy that our long and inspiring cooperation with Per Høpfner and St. Frederikslund is rewarded in the other parts of the world.” ~ Bjarke Ingels, Founder & Partner, BIG in the January 9, 2012 Press Release
I wrote about 8 House or 8 Tallet last September, 2011 when we featured it as our Greenroof of the Week, or GPW – read all about it here where you can see all the stunning photography of the site and interiors, and see the profile in The Greenroof & Greenwall Projects Database.
Inspirational 8 House is “architectural alchemy” indeed! Congratulations to BIG and everyone else who worked on this beautiful and highly functional project!
Each week you can expect to learn What’s New here on Greenroofs.com through our “This Week in Review” video. Here is the transcript from December 16th and 9th, 2011 from our daughter, Anjuli – click on the photo below to see the video, or here. Enjoy!
- Hello, I’m Anjuli Velazquez and welcome to This Week in Review for December 16th and 9th, 2011 on GreenroofsTV.
- Our project of the week is the Orchard Central Mall Greenwalls built in 2009 in Singapore. Orchard Central Mall is Singapore’s tallest and first vertical pure-retail mall, and has a 160m façade featuring a faceted membrane which functions as a massive media wall, adding visual vibrancy to Orchard Road. The rooftop gardens offer a great spot for dining alfresco, sipping coffee, or enjoying afternoon tea, and feature three large living walls, a balcony rail on the 11th floor, and two lower green walls on the 12th floor roof terrace.
Orchard Central Mall is a winner of the Singapore Institute of Architects and National Parks Board Skyrise Greenery Awards in 2009. The award aims to promote skyrise greenery in Singapore and to recognize the greening efforts in high rise developments by owners/developers, architects, landscape architects/designers, and landscape contract managers. VersiCell sub-soil drainage modules were used in the landscaped areas and planter boxes to facilitate efficient drainage of water and the Elmich Green Wall systems were installed on the 11th and 12th floors of the mall.
- Our project of the week for last week was The Ramona Apartments, in Portland, OR. The Ramona Apartments is a new mixed-use, midrise apartment building consisting of six stories of wood-framed construction over a concrete podium. In addition to the ecoroof, the building’s courtyard contains permeable surfaces, plants, gravel and sand that are designed to filter and retain stormwater. Together with the roof, these elements treat one hundred percent of the property’s stormwater. Additional benefits of the ecoroof are the mitigation of the urban heat island effect and providing an environment for native habitat.
- Our 2012 Greenroofs & Walls of the World™ 12 Month Wall Calendar is now available for purchase! The Greenroofs & Walls of the World™ series combines two of our most popular destinations on Greenroofs.com: The Greenroof & Greenwall Projects Database and Upcoming Events. It’s a great way to highlight fabulous projects and our website Sponsors, our highest level of advertising. Kudos to all the sustainable designers out there as well as the companies and organizations who back us up with ecologically friendly products and services. You can get the perfect holiday gift for your family, friends, staff and clients for only $12.95 which includes shipping within the U.S, and Canada, or a special discount for orders of 10 or more!
- The City Planning Commission unveiled a proposal this week to amend New York City’s zoning code to make it easier for buildings to incorporate environmentally friendly additions such as solar panels, wind turbines and wall insulation. The package of rule changes, dubbed Zone Green, would permit solar panels, greenroofs, storm water detention systems, skylights and other green features on buildings, despite height restrictions, and would allow owners to install wind turbines up to 55 feet above rooftops on waterfront buildings and buildings taller than 100 feet.
- The Water-Harvesting Certification Training program in Phoenix takes place from February 24th to March 4th, 2012 and applications are due December 30th, 2011.
- Matt Hickman of Mother Nature Network blogs about “Evergreen homes: Green Roof House.” In his monthly series of spotlighting green residential building projects from his home state of Washington, Hickman talks about the Green Roof House and says, “When building up to accommodate a growing family, the owners of the Green Roof House not only added a second floor to their Seattle bungalow but neighbor-pleasing elements like a green roof and living wall.”
This House was showcased as part of the 2011 Seattle Green Home Tour and includes numerous green amenities like a solar PV system, a living wall, a rainwater catchment system and a greenroof. Working with a growing family who could only build up and not out, the design-build firm Batt + Lear, went up to the roof to see exactly how a 2nd story would impact the neighbors’ view. Not wanting to make any additional living space unfortunate for the neighbors or clash with the existing architecture, they decided to build the 2nd floor addition on the front half of the home and install the beautiful greenroof on the back half. Now when the neighbors look out their windows, instead of black asphalt to look at, they’ll have a lush colorful landscape.
- Robin L. Eschler of WomensRadio.com, talks about “Green Roofs and a 300 Year Old Business: An interview with Ed Snodgrass.” Traditional farming, raising corn, cattle, llamas, Christmas trees and now greenroof plants, Emory Knoll Farms has been around for over 300 years. Ed Snodgrass, current Emory Knolls Farm co-owner, international horticulturalist, author and avid conservationist, and contributing editor here at Greenroofs.com, is carrying on the success of the six-generations-family-owned business in northern Maryland.
Today the majority of Emory Knolls Farm is supporting indigenous trees, native meadow plants, native fauna and over ninety species of birds and the nursery is the only one in North America that is dedicated just to greenroof plants. Emory Knoll Farms is currently involved in over 800 projects and has incorporated as a B-Corporation, or Benefit Corporation, and actively uses the principles of the Natural Step process, a set of four principles developed in Sweden for sustainable manufacturing. You can learn more about Ed and Emory Knoll Farms at GreenRoofPlants.com.
To learn more about these stories and new ones posted daily, go to our In the News or newslinks section of our website.
- Send us your green articles, videos and images to editor@greenroofs.com and share your greenroof or green wall info with the world!
- This has been This Week in Review for December 16th and 9th, 2011 on GreenroofsTV. I’m Anjuli Velazquez and I’ll see you in a couple weeks with our This Year in Review!
- Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from all of us here at Greenroofs.com!
Each week you can expect to learn What’s New here on Greenroofs.com through our “This Week in Review” video. Here’s the transcript from November 18th, 2011 from our daughter, Anjuli – click on the photo below to see the video, or here. Enjoy!
- Hello, I’m Anjuli Velazquez and welcome to This Week in Review for November 18th on GreenroofsTV.
- Our project of the week is the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital Rooftop Healing Gardens built in 2010 in Vineyard Haven, Massachusetts. The 90,000 sf LEED-Gold certified facility has other sustainable building elements besides the “wellness” area rooftop garden, including an array of over 200 solar photovoltaic panels that provide the hospital with 45 kilowatts of power and a Connection to the Natural World, Places of Healing and Respite. “Martha’s Vineyard Hospital was able to meet this innovative credit by incorporating many Planetree patient-focused elements into the new facility that enhanced patient healing; including views, natural light, privacy, and access to healing gardens.” Weston Solutions’ Northeast GreenGrid team provided a plant mix including grasses, perennials, and sedums that are proven to be reliable in the Northeast climate and that bloom at various times during the season, creating an always welcoming space for hospital visitors, patients, and staff.
To learn more about the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital Rooftop Healing Gardens, click on our project of the week photo on our homepage.
- The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) just released a new report, “Rooftops to Rivers II: Green Strategies for Controlling Stormwater and Combined Sewer Overflows.” It looks at 14 cities that are choosing to use green infrastructure as a cost-effective means to reduce the flooding and water pollution caused by both extreme and everyday storms.
- November 16th-23rd: Dusty Gedge will have Living Roofs Presentations & Workshops in various locations in New Zealand.
- November 28th-December 9th: is a Conference of the Parties COP17 2011 Climate Summit in Durban, South Africa.
- November 30th: is a Green Roofs for Healthy Cities Green Roof Professional Exam in Philadelphia, PA.
- November 30th-December 1st: is the GOVGREEN Conference and Exposition in Washington, DC.
- November 30th-December 3rd: is the CitiesAlive 2011 9th Annual Green Roof & Wall Conference in Philadelphia, PA.Greenroofs.com will be there – will you? Linda and Haven Kiers will be presenting their Top 10 List of Hot Trends in Greenroof & Greenwall Design on Friday, December 2, so don’t miss it!
- And December 1st: is a Green Wall and Roof Forum by Green Living Technologies in Philadelphia, PA.
- Gail Johnson of Globe and Mail, talks about how it’s “Easy to be green when your roof saves you money” in Port Coquitlam, Canada. She says, “Thousands of hand-planted sedums and succulents cover the roofs of Walmart and Canadian Tire, anchor tenants at the Onni Group’s Fremont Village shopping centre.” The newly opened outlets abide by the Canadian bylaw that requires buildings of more than 5,000 square meters to use greenroof technology. Mayor Greg Moore realizes that there was some resistance from developers to the city’s new sustainability initiative but the shift to green roofs is a sign of things to come. Developers are now expressing interest in using environmentally sound technology in smaller structures as well. We know that greenroofs help reduce stormwater run off and help offset the urban heat-island effect which they can do through daily dew and evaporation cycles, allowing plants to cool cities during hot weather. Energy savings continue throughout the life of the building, which typically would be twice as long as a traditional roof.
- Craig Welch of The Seattle Times, reports on “Vancouver, BC, works to be greenest of all.” Vancouver has announced its desire to become the greenest city in the world by 2020. Welch says, “The city is moving to reduce solid waste by 50 percent, cut residents’ carbon footprints by a third and dramatically increase public transit, walking and bike use. It is packing citizens in more densely, trying to encourage more locals to grow food and generally urging lighter living on the land.” One example of how the city is striving to be the greenest is in its drive to substantially cut the waste it sends to landfills. Canada is increasingly making industries take responsibility for disposal of the products they sell, which means that citizens can drop unwanted goods off at facilities paid for by their manufacturers. Vancouver has already achieved success as it continues to get attention from around the world for its efforts to be an eco-leader; and it is inspiring a new generation of innovators.
To learn more about these stories and new ones posted daily, go to our In the News or newslinks section of our website.
- Send us your green articles, videos and images to editor@greenroofs.com and share your greenroof or green wall info with the world!
Each week you can expect to learn What’s New here on Greenroofs.com through our “This Week in Review” video. Here’s the transcript from November 11th, 2011 from our daughter, Anjuli – click on the photo below to see the video, or here. Enjoy!
- Hello, I’m Anjuli Velazquez and welcome to This Week in Review for November 11th on GreenroofsTV.
- Our project of the week is the Master Builders Association Durban, Westville greenroof built in 2010 in Durban, South Africa. The Master Builders Centre was built in 1982 as a commercial building comprising about 3600 square meters of commercial space. Some of the finishes on the building were becoming old and unsightly, also the exhibition space had lost popularity, so it was time re-look at the utilization of this space and introduce new activities that would not only add beauty to the building, but also add energy savings. The greenroof is mainly comprised of indigenous plants, which require minimal water, are able to propagate themselves, and are less susceptible to pest outbreaks and harsh climates. Also, the green roof increases the vegetation on the property, promotes biodiversity and reduces the rate and volume of stormwater discharge. The roof podium area was planted with two separate systems designed by Green Roof Designs cc, one half using recyclable HDPE green roof modules and the other half using treated softwood timber boxes, which were constructed using both local timber source providers and workers from the area.
To learn more about the Master Builders Association Durban, Westville greenroof, click on our project of the week photo on our homepage.
- We’d like to welcome Kawasaki Greenhouses, a supplier of plants and pre-vegetated mats in East Moriches, New York as a new Greenroof Directory advertiser.
- We’d like to say Happy Veterans Day to those of you in the United States and Happy Remembrance Day to our Commonwealth and other friends from across the world!
- This weekend, November 12th-13th: is Green Festival – A Joint project of Global exchange & Green America in San Francisco, CA.
- November 16th: is Vegetative Roofs – Making Buildings Come Alive Seminar, NCBE Construction Training Center, in Santa Rosa, CA.This educational seminar on vegetative building systems as an effective strategy towards meeting green building requirements is presented by Kevin S. Falkerson and Kerrie Lee Cole of SYMBIOS and our own Design Editor, Haven Kiers.
- November 16th-18th: is Build Boston 2011, Seaport World Trade Center in Boston, MA.
- And November 18th: is Green Roofs for Healthy Cities Integrated Water Management for Buildings and Sites in Toronto, Canada.
- Brian Cross of the Windsor Star, says “U of W building to impress.” The $112 million Centre for Engineering Innovation is pretty impressive already with its greenroof and living wall but Phase 2 will add 75 foot long wood beams in the ceiling of a four-story atrium. The first phase was completed in the summer and has faculty and students working in research labs. The second phase has three art lecture halls, innovative heating and cooling systems and a rooftop that will become “an academic oasis.” The 10,300 sq ft green roof will be used as a park where students and faculty could eat lunch or relax between classes, and also some students will be studying how much water the roof will divert from storm sewers. Mark Beaulieu, a principal from the architectural firm overseeing the project, says, “I think this will be the greatest learning tool on campus…the building itself is Construction 101, 102, and 103. Structural, mechanical, electrical, the pneumatics of a building, it’s all going to be there to see.”
- Julia Flynn Siler of the Wall Street Journal, talks about “The Green Man Whose Gardens Defy Gravity.” Have you ever wanted to learn more about the personal side of Patrick Blanc, the Internationally-known French botanist and inventor of the vertical garden? Well, Siler has written an article all about him: from how he starts his day, “often with a glass of white wine or champagne,” to other daily activities like experimenting with plants and vertical systems in his home and drawing sketches about whatever project he is currently working on. Right now he is involved with a private San Francisco high school garden, which is his largest garden in the United States, using more than 4,500 plants. Drew School, in the lower Pacific Heights area, has only California native plants in its garden and small orange-red blossoms are starting to peep through the foliage. You can read more about this vertical garden, how “The Green Man” grew up with his love and inspiration of nature, and an exclusive Wall Street Video at the full article online.
“This is our fifth anniversary of the “Top 10 List” and an amazing amount of development has occurred over the past five years in the vegetative roofing industry. Projects that were once scoffed at and considered impossible to get built are popping up all over the globe, and greenroofs are no longer considered fringe architecture, destined to be the first sacrifice to value engineering.
“To honor the new ubiquity of architectural greening, this year our Top 10 will focus on greenroofs at all different scales, from micro to macro.
“As “vegitecture” increasingly becomes a mainstay of both sustainable and cutting edge design, the list of greenroof and greenwall trends continues to expand.
This year we’re showcasing greening at both the micro and the macro scale, from small scale DIY greenroof projects to towering skyscrapers stacked with fruit and vegetable crops, parks, and energy facilities atop sky gardens, walls and bridges.” ~ Haven Kiers and Linda Velazquez
I have to say that Haven and I had a blast putting this together, and especially filming it together! She flew to Atlanta last September just for the occasion, and I think you’ll really get a feel for our enthusiasm.
And, since we didn’t have any time restrictions like we normally do at all the conferences – where we have to speed through our project selections – here we took our time a bit more and, as a result, feature quite a few more projects that you would normally see.
Enjoy! Visit greenroofs.tv to see the “2011 Top 10 List of Hot Trends in Greenroof & Greenwall Design” or click below.
We’ll be working over the next few weeks to add most of the projects here to the Greenroof & Greenwall Projects Database so you can learn more about each. We appreciate your feedback, and welcome your thoughts on the new and newsworthy projects for our 2012 Top 10 Hot List! Feel free to contact Haven me directly at DesignEditor@greenroofs.com and me at Linda@greenroofs.com.
Didn’t get to see the Opening Keynote Address video by Charlie Miller yet which we featured last week? No problem – watch it after the Top 10 on the exclusive Virtual Summit greenroofs.tv play list. Check back next week on GreenroofsTV for our third installment from the Greenroofs & Walls of the World™ Virtual Summit 2011!
It’s hard to believe another year has gone by, but it’s time again for the Green Roofs for Healthy Cities’ 2011 Green Roof & Wall Conference – CitiesAlive 2011. Now in its 9th year, the gracious and increasingly green Philadelphia will be the host city on November 29 through December 3, 2011, held at the Sheraton Philadelphia Downtown.
Co-hosted by the City of Philadelphia and the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, CitiesAlive 2011 features over 50 expert design, policy, and research presentations, a trade show with the leaders of the green roof and wall industry, the Awards of Excellence, tours, and more!
This year the theme of the Green Roofs for Healthy Cities‘ Green Roof and Wall Conference is “Restoring Urban Waters” and the City of Philadelphia has committed to investing $2 billion in green infrastructure solutions to stormwater over the next twenty-five years.
Register here and Walk-in Registration is also welcome onsite! Your Registration options include:
• Full Delegate Pass: $549 / $449 (GRHC member rate), including:
o Access to all expert speaker sessions; o Access to the trade show; o Two cocktail receptions, two lunches, and breaks.
• Best Value Package: $648 / $548 (GRHC member rate)
o Green Roof Design 101: Introductory Course o Green Roof Infrastructure: Design and Installation 201 o Green Roof Waterproofing and Drainage 301 o Green Roof Plants and Growing Media 401
o Integrated Water Management for Buildings and Sites II: Case Studies in Performance (Launch!) o Green Roof Policy Development Workshop o Introduction to Rooftop Urban Agriculture o Green Walls 101: Systems Overview and Design (2nd ed.) o Advanced Green Roof Maintenance o Integrated Design Workshop (Launch!) o Integrated Water Management for Buildings and Sites
• One Day Pass (Dec. 1 or 2): $249 • Student Pass: $99 • Trade Show Pass: $45 • And More!
Remember that Green Roofs for Healthy Cities is an approved provider of continuing education through LA CES, USGBC/GBCI, AIA CES and RCI.
We hope to see you this week in one of the many excellent tours, sessions, Networking Receptions, or on the Trade Show floor – for the first time since 2003 that we’ve been participating in CitiesAlive (formerly Greening Rooftops for Sustainable Communities), Greenroofs.com will not have a trade show booth.
So you’ll see us strolling the Trade Show floor so we can visit with old friends and colleagues and get to know new ones, too. For those of you looking forward to receiving your copy of our 2012 Greenroofs & Walls of the World™ Calendar, look for it by late next week! We’ll let you know when it’s ready for holiday purchase.
If you’ll be at CitiesAlive this week, make sure to attend Haven Kiers and my session for our awesome “2011 Top 10 List of Hot Trends in Greenroof & Greenwall Design” this Friday, December 2 at the 2:30 – 4:00 pm Session 6 – “6D – From Spiders to Goats: More Extraordinary Projects and Top International Trends” in the INDEPENDENCE CD room. We’ll be inbetween the lovely Angie Durhman of Tecta America and Louise Clarke of the Morris Arboretum of the University of Pennsylvania.
Aramis and I will also be taking in two of the tours here – the Center City Section on Wednesday and Greening the Corporate Campus – Sustainability at Work on Saturday.
Roland Appl, Germany: The Technical Director of ZinCo and President of the International Green Roof Association (IGRA) will present “Combining Green Roofs with Photovoltaics.”
Jörg Breuning, USA and Germany: The principal of Green Roof Technology (Previously Green Roof Service) and co-founder of Green Roof Safari will present “Green Roof Technology Sails Around the World.”
Tanya Müller Garcia, Mexico: The founder of AMENA – Asociación Mexicana para la Naturación de Azoteas – (National Mexican Greenroof Association), Vice-President of WGIN, and Director of Urban Reforestation and Bikeways for the City of Mexico will present “Development of Greenroofs and Walls in Mexico and Latin America.”
Richard Hayden, RLA, ASLA, CLARB, USA: The landscape architect and Garden Roof Department Manager at American Hydrotech, Inc. will present “Sloped and Complex Green Roofs.”
Haven Kiers, LEED AP, GRP, USA: The founding partner of GreenSwell Design and Planning, trainer with Green Roofs for Healthy Cities, and contributing editor on Greenroofs.com will co-present the “2011 Top 10 List of Hot Trends in Greenroof & Greenwall Design” with Linda Velazquez.
Terry McGlade, Canada: The horticulturalist, landscape designer, and founder and President of Gardens in the Sky will present “Constructing Gardens in the Sky.”
Imagine a world of green: What are we doing to create organic architecture?
Next week I’ll highlight the rest of our stellar cast of greenroof and greenwall professionals and enthusiasts!
See the GGW Virtual Summit Speakers page and Agenda to learn all about each presenter and their presentations or the panel sessions.
You’ve got to admit that you can’t beat the super low registration fee of $99 for September 27 and 28 plus the 30 days archived on demand through October 28 to hear from all of these excellent speakers…
… but we want everyone to qualify for the even lower Associate Rate of only $49 (just type in the name of the non-profit/organization/constituency that you belong when prompted) or the Students/Faculty/Government Professionals Rate of only $25 (state the school/university or government).
And, you’ll be automatically entered for the chance at winning our second Apple iPad2 drawing, announced on September 30, 2011.
We hope you join us for this very interactive virtual experience – think film festival meets 2-day webinar and online expo extravaganza!
Brought to you by Greenroofs.com, we’d like to thank to our Virtual Summit Sponsors TREMCO (Rare Earth) and American Hydrotech (Emerald) and our Exhibitors, Associates, and Media Partners – make sure to visit them at the Expo Pavilions.
We had an awesome time with him and thoroughly enjoyed our short stay in the Windy City! Caroline goes first and then I’ll follow with my reflections:
Caroline Menetre: Last Thursday I had the fantastic opportunity and pleasure to go to Chicago with Linda and her son, Joey (known for his photography and film work – he’s also the director/videographer for the Sky Gardens – Greenroofs of the World™ videos), for her exclusive pre-summit interview with Patrick Blanc.
Most of you Greenroofs.com devotees know of the noted French botanist and artist and his spectacular green wall installations all over the world. I can honestly say this man’s work was (one of) the main impetuses for me going back to school in horticulture and to some day design like he does. (I can dream, can’t I?)
There are numerous facets of Patrick’s knowledge and skills to admire, but as an artist I’m drawn to the design aesthetics, and well…he’s the master. Each installation is a magnificent work of art.
It was an honor to meet Patrick, and a thrill to sit-in and listen to such an intimate interview and conversation. He was enthusiastic and passionate about his work, understandably. I aspire one day to actually see some of his installations in person. And should Atlanta ever be the lucky recipient of his work, I’ll be the first one on-site. (Linda told him I would happily volunteer for any work!)
Linda will expound on the exclusive interview with Patrick, so I will just give a brief synopsis of our quick trip. We arrived early in the morning and went straight to the “magnifique” Hotel Sofitel for Joey (videographer extraordinaire) to set up for shooting later that day.
Patrick had two lectures that day – a master class to graduate students at the College of Architecture at the Illinois Institute of technology and the Alliance Française de Chicago (he had also given a lecture the day before at the Chicago Botanic Gardens), so we had some time in between sessions for a quick stroll around “the greenest, most environmentally friendly city in the nation.”
I could go on and on about all of the greening and environmental efforts achieved in Chicago, but the most obvious visual aspect is the lushly planted medians and storefront streetscapes. While the average Chicago visitor marvels at the upscale boutiques, restaurants, and hotels along “The Magnificent Mile” on Michigan Avenue, I strolled the stretch with head down, scanning from curb to curb, oohing and aahing at every plant and artful planting (shops? what shops?).
Of course, I had to photograph most of them for planting inspiration, and I also saw them as beautiful floral paintings – even did some effects on a few:
During our meandering travel towards Millennium Park, we did take a detour – into the Apple Store – to inquire if we could see their greenroof. Not accessible to the public, we were treated to a behind the scenes tour up on the top floor where the employees can enjoy overlooking their greenroof from the huge glass expanse of their conference room. Very nice!
And finally, before heading back to the hotel, we strolled the famous expanse of the 1 million+ sf greenroof that is Millennium Park, and the beautiful Lurie Garden – the featured nature component of one of the world’s largest greenroofs. The 2.5- acre garden is a combination of perennials, bulbs, grasses, shrubs and trees. It was a beautiful day to enjoy the park, and an additional pleasure to our trip.
Chicago and Patrick Blanc. These are a few of my favorite things…
Linda: Chicago was beautiful and we had a great day overall – neither Caroline nor I had been back here in a few years, and Joey had never been, so it was great roaming around like tourists. When we passed the Apple Store and Caroline suggested we stop in and see if we could actually visit the roof, I thought she was crazy – but, after showing my card – we were in! Very cool GreenGrid modular greenroof! The employees love it.
Believe it or not, I had never made it previously to Millennium Park – wow, what a great job the City of Chicago and all the excellent designers did on creating such an interactive and attractive space for all to enjoy!
Of course the highlight was capturing Patrick Blanc on film and creating an interview to remember. When Patrick agreed to speak at our Greenroofs & Walls of the World™ Virtual Summit 2011 last June, we weren’t sure what format he’d be using because of his hectic travel schedule. So when we were offered the chance to interview him here in the U.S., we jumped at the opportunity. What a charmer he is, and what a pleasure we had!
“As a botanist, Patrick Blanc is at home in the jungles from Bali to the Amazon. As a landscape artist, he has brought breathing walls and biodiversity to the grandest hotels, restaurants and stores of Le Tout-Paris and worked with French designer Jean-Paul Gaultier on the catwalk. But what the man with green hair is best known for is the “vertical garden”, an idea seeded in the heart of Paris on rue d’Alsace that spread to Jean Nouvel’s Quai Branly Museum before being exported all over the world.” ~ Chicago.Cervantes.es
Very charismatic, “The Green Man” had on his customary green accents – flowered shirt, gorgeous brocaded paisley Indian jacket, shoes, streaks in his hair…
A genuinely nice guy, Patrick is best known for creating the hydroponic Le Mur Végétal or the Vertical Garden living wall system. Also a botanist at the French National Centre for Scientific Research, he specializes in plants from subtropical forests and spends several months out of each year combing lushly foliated jungles and other exotic landscapes in search of new species for testing and additional research for use in his creations.
Of course, his work is highly popular and he is insanely sought out as a botanist, artist, and designer. We talked about some of his current projects, like Central Park in Sydney, Australia, with architect and long time collaborator Jean Nouvel, where over 12 vertical gardens envelope the façades with garden boxes and vertical wires incorporated into the loggias that wrap the towers in plant life.
Although Aramis and I met Patrick last November when I spoke at the International Skyrise Greenery Conference in Singapore, the only work of his that I have seen live is the gorgeous living tapestry at the Musée du quai Branly in Paris, which we also talked about – these are a few of my photos from May of last year:
Yet over the five years of our Top 10 List of Hot Trends in Greenroof & Greenwall Design, Haven Kiers and I have highlighted many of his projects – whether conceptual (top below) or real (bottom below), they simply are all stunning! Look for some more of Patrick Blanc’s works during this year’s Top 10 List, which we’ll be inaugurating at the Greenroofs & Walls of the World™ Virtual Summit 2011.
Patrick is very passionate about his work and very optimistic about the future of ecological design. We spoke about his early inspirations and aspirations – and I mean early. He was into tropical aquariums and plants at the tender age of five and started creating and manipulating designs at eight! Clearly, his scientific mind was off and running, and it hasn’t stopped since.
After my interview, Patrick signed my copy of The Vertical Garden: From Nature to the City, 2008 – a big, beautiful coffee table book that just happens to capture his spirit, work, and purpose in glorious color. But, stay tuned – the upcoming revised edition with profiles of all his new projects is coming in October, 2011! I guess I’ll just have to buy it, too…
Patrick’s integration of the huge number of plant species he always includes in his work is a testimonial to his belief in the value of plant community biodiversity.
His quick smile and easy laugh plus his open sharing of ideas made our interview very pleasant and fun – look for about 30 minutes of my exclusive interview with him on September 27, 2011, interwoven with film from one of his recent lectures.
If you haven’t registered yet for the Greenroofs & Walls of the World™ Virtual Summit 2011, please do so here.
Each week you can expect to learn What’s New here on Greenroofs.com through our “This Week in Review” video. Here’s the transcript for May 6, 2011 from our daughter, Anjuli - click on the photo below to see the video, or here. Enjoy!
- Hello, I’m Anjuli Velazquez and welcome to This Week in Review for May 6th, 2011, on GreenroofsTV.
- Our project of the week is the Growing Up – also known as 131 Queen Street – greenroof built in 2010 in Melbourne, Australia. Melbourne’s skyline is now a little greener with the completion of the world’s first fully-funded, competition-designed, retrofitted green roof. The Growing Up project was launched to retrofit a green roof on a Central Business District building and to demonstrate the environmental and social benefits of green roofs on city buildings. BENT Architecture won the design competition established for the project, and the 10-story office building at 131 Queen Street was chosen as the site. KHD Landscape Engineering Solutions and Green Roof Technologies were involved in creating the green space as part of the $300,000 project, working together to provide end-to-end design, construction and maintenance services for green roofs. The Growing Up project won the Melbourne Design Award for Commercial Architecture for 2010.
- To learn more about the Growing Up (131 Queen Street) greenroof, click on our project of the week photo on our homepage.
- The Winner of our 2011 “Love the Earth, Plant a Roof!” Earth Day Photo Contest is the Aqua in Chicago, Illinois! Congrats to Linda Smith from Barrett Company who submitted this lovely project which received the most votes from all the entries! You can learn all about the Aqua at the Sky Gardens Blog.
- Read Haven Kiers’ latest Sky Gardens post “American Institute of Architects Select their 2011 COTE (coat) Top Ten Green Projects.” Now in its 15th year, the AIA and its Committee on the Environment, or COTE, have once again selected their top ten examples of sustainable architecture and green design solutions that protect and enhance the environment. See the three great 2011 Top Ten Award Winners that have incorporated greenroofs into their design.
- Tafline Laylin of Inhabitat.com says “It’s Always Play Time at Henning Larsen’s Beautiful Green-Roofed Day Care Center in Denmark.” Its tall windows let in lots of light while a special climate zone allows the children to play without gloves despite the cruel winters. Wedged into a hillside, this building keeps energy consumption to a minimum and also features a small herb and vegetable garden for the kids. As usual, Inhabitat has more stunning photos, so go to the article and browse their gallery.
- Another article with beautiful pictures is “House Ocho with a Lively Green Roof.” Preston Koerner of Jetson Green talks about this project in Carmel, California designed by Feldman Architecture, whose most notable detail is its dynamic greenroof that blends in with the hillside of the Santa Lucia Mountains. House Ocho has additional green aspects which include the integrated photovoltaic skylights, custom windows to optimize passive solar heating, thermal mass in the form of concrete floors, radiant heat floors, recycled denim insulation, and sustainably harvested wood floors. You can read more about this project in our Greenroof & Greenwall Projects Database at the link below (http://www.greenroofs.com/projects/pview.php?id=1116) or just type in Project ID # 1116 on the Projects Database search screen under Keyword.
- To learn more about these stories and new ones posted daily, go to our In the News or newslinks section of our website.
- Have something you think we should know about and post on our website? You can send us your green articles, videos and images to editor@greenroofs.com.
Aramis and I were excited to attend and exhibit at CitiesAlive!, the 8th Annual Green Roof and Wall Conference on November 30 through December 4, 2010 in this beautiful harbor city of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, co-hosted by Green Roofs for Healthy Cities (GRHC) and the British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT). Neither of us had been here, and we really had been looking forward to seeing this naturally gorgeous city surrounded by majestic snow covered mountain peaks, and we weren’t disappointed!
Celebrating its 125th Anniversary on April 6 of this year, Vancouver, B.C. is “Canada’s Cultural capital.” Originally inhabited by the Coast Salish people – the ancestors of the Squamish, Burrard, Tsleil-Waututh, Musqueam (Xw’muthk’i'um), Tsawwassen, Coquitlam (Kwayhquitlam), Katzie andSemiahmoo Indian bands, Spanish explorers first “discovered” Canada’s west coast in the early 1590’s. Captain George Vancouver arrived 200 years later, and fur trading, gold mining, and tree logging soon followed by the mid 1800’s. Vancouver’s cultural diversity is reflected everywhere – you have a huge selection of shopping, restaurants, bars, pubs, and nightclubs in various locales throughout the city.
Vancouver also has professed a steadfast commitment to sustainability – their long term goal is to lead the world in green building design and construction, and it promises to be “the greenest city in the world” by 2020. Vancouver’s targets include requiring all buildings constructed from 2020 onward to be carbon neutral in operations and reducing energy use and greenhouse gas emissions in existing buildings by 20% over 2007 levels. Reportedly, Vancouver has the greenest building code for new homes in North America, but they don’t plan to stop here - they believe the technology already exists to support a more ambitious new construction requirement: net zero or carbon neutral new buildings. Read the “GC 2020 Draft Green Building Action Plan” here.
“These green building innovations will create thousands of new jobs, create a significant economic stimulus, increase the value of buildings, reduce property owners’ operating costs, help Vancouver become more resilient to climate change and energy price fluctuations, and position Vancouver as a global leader in green building technologies and expertise.” ~ Talk Green Vancouver/ City of Vancouver
As you may know, Corporate Knights, Canada’s magazine for clean capitalism, recently ranked Victoria and Vancouver, B.C. at the top of the list of Canada’s most sustainable cities – see the 2.9.11 Press Release.
Our hotel and venue were both beautiful and green. The luxurious Pan Pacific Vancouver Hotel is situated atop a pier at the magnificent Canada Place complex on Vancouver’s dramatic waterfront. And its iconic white sails have made it a prominent landmark for the city (currently being renovated).
Part of the Green key ECO – rating program (rated 4) itself, the Pan Pacific is conveniently located just a short walk above or below ground to the multiple award-winning venue, the LEED® Platinum certified for New Construction Vancouver Convention Centre. This expansion project is also known as the Vancouver Convention Centre West, and last year it served as the international broadcast and media center for the XXI Olympic & Paralympic Winter Games. (Haven and I included it in 2007’s Top 10 List under the #2 category, Bigger is Better – Mega Greenroofs.)
In addition to its massive 261,360 sf living roof – the largest in Canada - seawater heating and cooling, on-site water treatment and fish habitat are built into the foundation of the Convention Centre’s West Building, making the expansion project one of the greenest convention centers in the world. Located both on land and in the water, the views were breathtaking and spectacular! The floor-to-ceiling glass allow for maximum viewing pleasure of the North Shore mountains and the harbor, its boats, and even sea planes landing at will.
Planted with more than 400,000 indigenous plants and grasses from the Gulf Islands, the roof provides a beautiful flowering natural habitat to birds, insects and small mammals. Many people worked on this project- see this gorgeous video taken by David Buge with Bruce Hemstock of PWL Partnership Landscape Architects narrating on top of the Vancouver Convention Centre:
Although the greenroof is inaccessible to the public, the designers cleverly have allowed glimpses of the various angles and vegetated planes on two separate levels for visitors to enjoy, see below:
And the interior is just as cool andeco-friendly as the massive six-acre native plant greenroof overhead. For example, a phenomenal mosaic of cedar and hemlock pieces covering the interior walls creates a warm glow and adds multi-dimension to the expansive space.
Kudos to GRHC and BCIT for securing this fabulous, uber-sustainably designed venue!
Back to the CitiesAlive! Conference and Trade Show: We arrived on Tuesday, November 30 to make sure we were on time for the following day’s pre-conference activities (this was also the first day of tours, but we were too late to make it).
On Wednesday, GRHC offered five half-day education classes and one anticipated new one, the Introduction to Rooftop Agriculture – a topic that is really hot right now. Additionally, they had four 1.5 hour education sessions which all sounded interesting! But since I had to choose, I attended the 4-hour “Integrated Water Management for Buildings & Sites” seminar presented by Jeffrey Bruce, FASLA, GRP, President of Jeffrey L. Bruce & Company (and Chair of GRHC), while Aramis set up our exhibitor booth and attended the Corporate Members Committee Meeting.
I had heard mixed reviews about the course from its initial launch in Washington, D.C. last year, that it was certainly informative but a bit dry. But as someone with a degree in landscape architecture and a fairly good background in stormwater management, I enjoyed it. It wasn’t particularly dry, just quite technical and very in-depth in terms of definitions, policies, and procedures – although it said it was an introductory class, I would say it was definitely not for beginners! Developed by GRHC and the Association of Irrigation Consultants (ASIC), with leads Jeff Bruce and Lynda Wightman of Hunter, it embraces new approaches to design for Net Zero Water consumption.
The course covered water types and sources, and how we may manage water and energy resources more effectively including application and recapture methods. Jeff is a very good instructor – patient and extremely knowledgeable (his company also developed the course) -and the class was very interactive. We had some lively discussions from a really multi-disciplinary group of professionals from across Canada and the U.S., both from private practice and government at various levels. And the 98-page “Integrated Water Management for Buildings & Sites” Participant’s Manual is a veritable Bible of Integrated Water Management information.
Greenroofs.com was proud, once again, to be a Media Sponsor for the 8th year. The CitiesAlive! Opening Plenary on Wednesday night, sponsored by Architek.ca, was extremely interesting as we were greeted with a lovely traditional Coast Salish welcome from Elder Rose Point of the Musqueam First Nation and welcome song from Gerry Oleman, photo above from BCIT.
GRHC President Steven Peck was the Master of Ceremonies and he spoke about the many efforts and accomplishments of the industry association in the past year, including many firsts. We also heard from City of Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson, who proclaimed his city would be the greenest in world, and from Rod Goy, the Acting Dean of the School of Construction and the Environment at BCIT, who spoke about their commitment to greening the built environment.
The always popular Paul Kephart of Rana Creek Living Architecture was the eloquent keynote speaker and shared his vision as a restoration ecologist and designer of living architectural systems. He also spoke about several of his collaborations with unique and large scale projects including the Gap Headquarters, Transbay Terminal Bay, the California Academy of Sciences, and the Croton Water Treatment Plant (Mosholu Golf Course) in New York which, when completed, will be the largest continuous greenroof in North America at nine acres.
Afterwards the Trade Show opened, the socializing started and didn’t stop until late. Thursday dawned overcast but the sessions started bright and early at 8:30 am. As usual, there was a huge number of expert international speakers in every track, with four tracks in all – Policy, Design, Research, and Expert Discussion Panels. In my opinion, it’s almost too massive a program, since it’s impossible to experience even a fraction of all the excellent presentations. What most people did was jump from session speaker to another to ensure they could hear their favorites. I think the ideal would be to send four people from each company or organization to attend each and then get together and debrief, but, really, who could afford that.
I found that I ended up splitting the next two days worth of sessions between the Design Track and the Expert Discussions. I started off the first day, Thursday, December 2nd, with the Barriers and Opportunities to Advance Collaborative Design Practices panel and heard from Paul Kephart, landscape architect David Yocca of Conservation Design Forum, and environmental engineer Greg Allen from Sustainable Edge. Jeff Bruce moderated, and these four highly seasoned professionals provided an intense interplay of personal opinion and practical experience, with plenty of audience interaction adding to the pot of working with disparate professionals.
The Temperate Green Roofs session followed and we learned about The Ted & Lois Hole Green Roof Healing Garden in Edmonton, Alberta. Designed by the wonderful Kerry Ross, Project Architect with IBI Group Architects and Ernie Webster, Landscape Architect with IBI/Landplan, this 22,500 sf hybrid extensive/intensive green roof is located at a new facility for holistic healing, the Royal Alexandra Hospital. Designed to commemorate Lois Hole, the former Lieutenant Governor of Alberta, and her husband Ted, it serves as a passive healing garden and visual amenity. The trees, shrubs, tall grasses and flowers were selected to represent the natural flora of Alberta, and were supplied by the family nursery. Some of the beautiful features include lots of seating areas, a water fall and reflecting pool, colorful glass screens, and places for art.
I hopped over to Expert Discussions – Standards Development for Green Roofs and Walls – Future Directions, Challenges and Needs with Mike Curry of Midwest Trading, Dr. Robert Berghage of Penn State, Kelly Luckett of Green Roof Blocks, and Blair Bennett of Soprema. Moderated by Zachary Williams of CarlisleSynTec, it was pretty interesting. There was a lot of candid sentiment about the process and practical issues from from what appeared to be an audience of mostly engineers, architects, city planners and the likes. Everyone wanted to know how their product or system might fare and how to get involved, and maintenance issues and ensuring maintenance contracts were included in deliverables were also a hot topic.
But I hopped back after about 20 minutes because I didn’t want to miss Nate Griswold from American Hydrotech and his presentation about the Lincoln Center for the Performing Artsand some of their unusual challenges with this project shaped like a hyperbolic paraboloid. Problems arose with the varying slopes as well as the high amount foot traffic and as a result, a new steep slope product and assembly for this type of greenroof was developed.
Unfortunately, I missed out on most of The Hugh Garner Green Roof Project – an integrated process, presented by Monica Kuhn of Monica E. Kuhn Architect, Inc. and Carolyn Moss of Moss Sund Architects, Inc., but I learned more about it when we featured this great multi-unit residential Housing Co-operative in downtown Toronto as our first Greenroof Project of the Week for 2011:
The GRHC 2010 Awards of Excellence Luncheon followed and twelve awards were given this year – eight for awesome buildings withgreenroofs andgreenwalls, including local favorite, the Vancouver Convention Centre Expansion Project. Below is Peter MacDonagh, one of the principals of The Kestrel Design Group, who received a Special Recognition Award of Excellence for their work withThe City of Minneapolis Target Center Arena, which we featured in our 2010 Hot Trends Top 10 List in the #9 category, “Green Sporting Venues.”
There were some other really cool projects, see them all here, as well as four deserving individuals honored within our industry.
One of these was Kelly Luckett, above, AKA The Green Roof Guy, who won a Civic Award of Excellence for his hard work on the RP-14 Wind Design Guideline (read his Green Roofs, a Civic Award of Excellence, and a Lifetime of Memories article). Talk about someone who really should have been recognized! He has put in years of his life (not to mention probably tens of thousands of dollars from his own pocket) to further this important issue for our industry. And he was really excited and humbled about receiving it, too. I can only say how humble and proud I felt when he acknowledged me for giving him a platform to write. Way to go, Kelly!
The Lifetime Achievement Awardsceremony was truly poignant and inspiring as a special tribute was held for two legends of the roof garden/greenroofing industry. Author of “Roof Gardens, History, Design and Construction,” W.W. Norton, 1999, the late Theodore Osmundson, FASLA, was honored. Theodore Osmundson became a Fellow of the ASLA in 1963 and was ASLA president from 1967-1969. We heard about his lifelong passion for landscape architecture, and roof gardens in particular, from his son, Gordon.
Inspired by the Rockefeller Center Roof Gardens in New York City, industrialist Henry Kaiser hired Osmundson in 1958 to design the beautiful 3 and a half acre public park, the Kaiser Center Roof Gardenin Oakland, CA, which became Osmundson’s best known work. Gordon Osmundson, also a successful landscape architect, has taken on the task of working on a second edition of his dad’s highly successful “Roof Gardens” book.
Cornelia Hahn Oberlander, OC, FASLA, FCSLA, LMBCSLA then graced the stage and spoke about “Reflections of six decades designing natural sites.” Educated at Harvard University, she expressed her love and gratitude for landscape architecture where she has shone brilliantly as a leader in garden roofs, and spoke about her early work while raising a family. She shared the visions of some of her numerous important projects, including the stunning Visitor Centre Green Roof at the VanDusen Botanical Gardens.
Designed by Busby Perkins + Willand Cornelia, the center is slated to meet the Living Building Challenge 2.0 (as per the Cascadia Green Building Council) as well as LEED Platinum standards. To receive its Living Building certification, the center will have to operate for 12 months with net zero energy while providing all of its own water.
Thursday afternoon was spent in and out of our Exhibit Booth on the Trade Show Floor, popping into a variety of sessions, and simply catching up with lots of people!
The Trade Show floor had a good turnout, and most exhibitors we spoke to were pleased with the quality of visitors to their booths (meaning designers and specifiers). I have to say our Greenroofs.com booth was hopping most of the time, and we had tons of visitors – thanks to all of you who came by to say hello!
This may have been due to our lively and lovely in-house booth mates, Contributing Editors Patrick Carey (and GRHC Trainer), Haven Kiers (also a GRHC Trainer), andCaroline Menetre, above, who camped out here off and on. We had some interesting booth neighbors, including the vivacious Kathy of BusyBee Gardening across from us, seen below, as well as neighbors Craig of MYKE® Pro Premier Tech Biotechnology andGenevièveNöel of Mubi Regenerative Consulting, below her:
Dr. Clayton Rugh of Xero Flor America, above, andXero Flor Canada were also close by and I have to say Thank you! to Joy Schmidt for giving me a copy of the lovely book “Vancouver 2010.” All about the 17 Olympic and 10 Paralympic Games days, it features stunning photos of Vancouver and their Xero Flor greenroof technology that covers approximately 56,000 sf of the Millennium Water Project - Vancouver’s Olympic Village. Here are more Trade Show pics:
That evening, Green Roofs for Healthy Cities put on a really nice, invitation-only GRP Reception for the first year’s class (2009-2010) of graduating Green Roof Professionals. It was casually elegant and beautifully set up - the beverage and food selection was wonderful and the service was excellent. Aramis and I saw a lot of our friends and colleagues here, and met quite a few new ones, too.
We heard Sara Loveland and Ashleigh Uiska (with Dusty Gedge) threw an awesome afterparty, but we had our own much smaller version with our band of Contributing Editors and colleagues. By the way, Sara won our free yearly Premium Listing in The Greenroof Directory.
The Friday sessions were just as bustling and varied. I sat through (and thoroughly enjoyed) Green Wall Case Studies II, starting withInterior Living Wall Biofilter Projects – Lessons Learned from Pioneering Experience from Dr. Alan Darlington of Nedlaw Living Walls and Birgit Siber of Diamond andSchmitt Architects. They shared stories of years of research and project monitoring, and how living walls have the capacity to break down hundreds of different kinds of contaminants found in indoor air; they demonstrated how a biofilter can substantially reduce the need to bring in fresh air by generating its own clean air indoors.
One of my favorite presentations was next, Innovative and Cost Effective Biofilters for Residential Applications from Robert Cameron and Dr. Robert Berghage from Penn State University. They have an experimental site on campus as well as the one Rob Cameron built at his home using a combination of materials on site, some donated, and some leftover from experiments from other Penn State projects. They conducted studies showing that living systems do not need to be highly sophisticated to work beautifully.
Rob Cameron asks, How can we take wasterwater and make it a resource? Using plants, from food crops to ornamentals, he showed us how the living wall with “Living Columns” – basically vertical plastic corrugated tubes – act like a constructed wetland and can filter out pollutants from an entire household. At his own residence he integrated these living columns with a greenroof for downspouts and rain water harvesting, and combined a living wall with an extensive greenroof to provide a vertical garden for tomatoes, peppers, herbs, and other veggies.
By the way, George Irwin of Green Living Technologies (GLT) was scheduled to speak during this session, and was deemed a no-show. Since he’s a Contributing Editor here, Caroline texted him to see where he was – he answered that he had indeed let GRHC know early in the week that something major had come up and would not be able to make it.
That morning I also sat in on a couple of sessions from Local Interest – From Barn Raisings to Green Roof Raisings: Community-Built Green Roof was presented by Bryce Gauthier, Director of the Projects In Place Society. What a great story! Projects In Place has taken the concept from the old community-based barn raisings and applied it to building sustainable projects. Using almost 100 volunteers including BCIT students, this small non-profit installed a 500 sf greenroof in two days on top of a business on the edge of Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. Projects In Place Society posted their CitiesAlive PowerPoint on their website, make sure to see it.
I skipped Retrofitting Existing Buildings With Green Roofs by Dr. Karen Liu of Xero Flor International because I had already seen and loved her similar (I hope) presentation at 2009’s CitiesAlive! in Toronto. Instead, I listened in on the Expert Discussion- How Green IS Your Green Roof: Devising a LEED Style Credit System for Green Roofs – Challenges and Opportunities with Steven Peck, Kerry Ross, Dr. Robert Berghage and Chuck Friedrich of Carolina Stalite.
Talk about a charged subject! Some argued that we should not create yet another rating system, but should rally to make the highly universally accepted (yet sometimes controversial) U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC)’s LEEDprogram work better for our industry in terms of rating greenroofs. Others argued that GRHC knows our subject best and that starting new made the most sense rather than trying to fix another existing product. Having both my LEED AP andGRP designations, I have opinions, but will share them in another post.
So even though I was extremely interested in this subject, I returned to the Design Track andLocal Interest to hear about The Visitor Centre Green Roof at the VanDusen Botanical Gardens from Ken Larsson of Sharp & Diamond Landscape Architecture and the lovely Cornelia Hahn Oberlander, which was a treat, indeed!
Cornelia is a force to be reckoned with, and her exuberance shone through the entire presentation. It is a fascinating project – 3/4 of the 20,000 sf roof is greened, while 1/4 is “blue;” the undulating roof is based upon the shape of a native orchid – this project would have fit nicely in our Top 10 List as an example of the #3 position,“Biomimicry as Eco-literacy and Holistic Design.” Maybe for 2011. Lunch on the Trade Show Floor followed, along with the Poster Sessions.
Next up was Haven’s and my session where we were right in the middle of The Big Picture View, and we were very pleased at the turnout. Kerry Ross started with her extremely informative Nordic Adventures: a field study of green roofs in Norway. She highlighted cold climate greenroofs from a recent Scandinavian trip; through her research and documentation of projects has been able to better promote greenroof design and maintenance within Canada.
We followed with our Top 10 List presentation, and it was jam packed! This was the first time we had co-presented together, and Virginia (Jennie) Russell from the University of Cincinnati, our moderator extraordinaire, kept us in-line with methodical announcements for us to pick up the pace. So, it was a bit rushed, but fun (see our PowerPoint here). So many great projects to show, so little time!
We were honored to be in the same session as Cornelia Oberlander, who followed us and presented along with Ross Dixon of Phillips FarevaagSmallenberg. They shared their experiences with the Rooftoptop Renewal – The Redevelopment of Robson Square – An Intensive Green Roof in Downtown Vancouver.
This iconic rooftop civic center courthouse complex and public plaza was originally completed in 1983 by Arthur Erickson Architects and landscape architect Cornelia Hahn Oberlander; replacement of the original waterproofing membrane and restoration of the plantings is currently underway, and is expected to be completed sometime within this year. Refurbishments included surveying to see which tree specimens would be saved and evaluating the best methods for removal, safe keeping during construction, and then replanting.
The Closing Plenary opened with its own lively Top 10 List invitation to join GRHC at the 9th Annual CitiesAlive 2011 in Philadelphia by members of the Philadelphia Local Host Committee. Co-hosted by the City of Philadelphia and the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, the next Green Roof and Wall Conference will be held in the City of Brotherly Love from November 29 to December 3.
The Panel Discussion Peak Oil, Urban Farming and the Roofs and Walls of Our Cities: Creating a Future We Desire wrapped up the Conference. Delivered by visionary yet practical Keynote Speaker Greg Allen, PE, LEEP AP, of Sustainable Edge, the presentation was forward thinking but set in a very grim reality – we must release our bonds with oil and embrace sustainable energy strategies as well as develop local urban farming on our rooftops and walls to ensure food security – basically we need to explore alternative food options more intelligently.
Panelists included Thomas Mueller of the Canadian Green Building Council, Vancouver Councilor Andrea Reimer, KeithAgoada of Sky Vegetables and Jeff Bruce, and a lot of people raised their own concerns about food supply and quality control, organics, and infrastructure for urban agriculture in the sky. Greenroofs.com was definitely in sync, as Haven Kiers and I had Tower Oases as Skyrise Urban Ag in the 2010 #1 category for our Top 10 List of Hot Trends in Greenroof and Greenwall Design.
We enjoyed our Habitat Havens Tour the next day on Saturday, and especially our tour guide, the lively and informative Tyrel Sutton from Flynn Canada. We had a beautiful, clear day to roam around four rooftops (really three, more on that later) that were selected because they were designed to either replicate a specific ecosystem or to provide food for birds, butterflies, or bees. We were lucky because the tours on Tuesday were rainy – in fact, at least one was cancelled.
There are quite a few publically accessible projects around Vancouver, and the Local Host Committee put together a 9-stop Self-Guided Green Roof and Wall Tour list that was included in the program. We didn’t see much, but Caroline did – this is her photo of the ING Green Wall, left, designed by CitiesAlive exhibitor Green over Grey – Living Walls and Design Inc.
I would say there were maybe 700 people at CitiesAlive. With the exception of a few hiccups – spotty snacks, flimsy conference program, tour time changes - overall, I felt that Steven Peck and Green Roofs for Healthy Cities did a fantastic job of planning and executing this first “international” conference. Kind of funny since they’re Canadian, but this was the first time the conference was held outside of the U.S. Plus it was the first time under its new name – CitiesAlive. (As you’ll recall, the previous seven incarnations were titled “Greening Rooftops for Sustainable Communities.”)
And the Vancouver Local Host Committee (Rod Goy, Marita Luk, Andrea Martinello, Blair Bennett, Nicholas Rousseau, Dr. Katherine Dunster, Helen Goodland, Andrea Linsky, Andrea Kausel and Lyn Ross) should be commended, too, for their outstanding accomplishments and participation in this successful conference! Visit Green Roofs for Healthy Cities’ Acknowledgements page, where I borrowed this photo below:
In general, people were very happy with everything, with minor grumblings about not enough food at the Opening Plenary and dessert on the Trade Show floor after the Awards of Excellence Luncheon. Also, for the first time, CD’s of the conference proceedings were not available, but you can purchase video recordings of the over 60 speakers that go along with each’s PowerPoint presentation (“Full Compilation Streaming Media – Audio Synched to PPT”) from GRHC for $120.
In reflection, we should be happy the conference agenda is so big – I’m sure Greenbuild had similiar growing pains, talk about a massive, multi-day, multi-track program! Or ASLA, or AIA, for that matter. It simply, very clearly, illustrates the tremendous growth of our greenroof and greenwall industry, and acceptance of building integrated greenery into mainstream design. It is impossible to attend each presentation, so it’s great that GRHC developed the Living Architecture Academy – an online learning center with technical papers from all the past conferences and proceedings. Having such a resource at our fingertips is inmeasurable.
Regarding the Trade Show, we’ve all noticed a trend of some past exhibitors not exhibiting lately, sometimes due to the challenging economy, scheduling conflicts, or feeling resources could be better used elsewhere. So, I would also just like to add that all of us who are members of GRHC should pay a big thanks to all of the companies who have exhibited in the past, and who faithfully continue to do so. Being international for many of us, for Vancouver it was more cumbersome and expensive to ship everything, but conferences couldn’t be held without the support of exhibitors and sponsors. I would encourage everyone doing business within our industry to exhibit and work together to make our committment and exposure even better. Here are a few more Trade Show pics:
One of the very best things about all these conferences is the chance to meet new colleagues and see old friends from across the world and catch up on each other’s lives and happenings – we were happy to do this with the always effervescent Dusty Gedge of Livingroofs.org, Kerry Ross and her husband Bob, Chuck Friedrich and Ernie Higgins of ItSaul Natural – Mr. Natural (also from Atlanta), Contributing Editor Dr. Bill Retzlaff of SIUe, and too many other folks to mention! Many of our “usual” German colleagues were missing (Manfred Köhler and Roland Appl, among others), probably due to the numerous previous international congresses where we saw them, but it was great seeing several folks from the City of Portland’s Beaurau of Environmental Services and lots of international students, too.
I wish I had had more time with a bunch of people – the always wonderful Maureen Connelly from BCIT, Jennie Russell, and Andrea Martinello of N.A.T.S., for example, but there will be other conferences!
I’m sorry I couldn’t attend Maureen’s panel session of Expert Discussion: Taking Green Roofs and Walls to the Next Level in British Columbia – A Pathway to the Future! because it conflicted with our Top 10 presentation session. It included the fanstastic Deputy City Manager of the City of Vancouver, Sadhu Johnston – previously Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley’s Chief Environmental Officer and Deputy Chief of Staff, where he headed up much of their greenroof program.
In my opinion, Maureen Connelly is the true greenroof champion in Vancouver with her many years of dedication and research at British Columbia Institute of Technology’s Centre for the Advancement of Green Roof Technology, and should be commended for an outstanding job – keep up the great work, and thanks BCIT for all that you do! (See their project profile in The Greenroof & Greenwall Projects Database here.) Their Mission Statement:
“The mission of the BCIT Centre for Architectural Ecology – Collaborations in Green Roofs and Living Walls is to conduct world-class, innovative research on green roof and living wall systems and to provide research-based education across disciplines, to students and practitioners.”
The BCIT Centre is evaluating the function and performance of extensive greenroofs and living walls in the rainforest climate of coastal B.C. Through collaborations with industry, government and academic partners, their vision is to help advance the widespread adoption of these technologies in this region. It would have been great to have visited the research facility, but, just like any working trip, there simply wasn’t enough time. Make sure to read BCIT’s “750 attend BCIT-co-hosted green roof conference” of December 13, 2010, where you can also see a huge gallery of photos.
We were here five nights and every day was devoted to conference events – although we didn’t get out to see the city and surroundings, many of our friends did (like Caroline and Janet Faust of JDR Enterprises). Caroline was fortunate enough to go up on a seaplane and took this wonderful aerial photo of Vancouver, above. Like most people, she also visited Whistler Mountain, one of North America’s top ski and snowboard resorts (and snapped this fun snow picture left).
The two greenroofed places I really wanted to visit but didn’t was the awesome Vancouver Public Library (also known as Library Square Building) with its pioneering rooftop built in 1995, and the fantastic 2010 Olympic andParalympic Winter Games Olympic Village, also known as Southeast False Creek and Millennium Water with about 287,000 sf total of greenroofs.
Read my 2.17.10 Sky Gardens post about it here. We featured Millennium Water in 2007’s Top 10 List in the #1 category – Visionary Proposed Projects since the City of Vancouver mandated that at least 50% of the buildings should be covered in green. Next time!
Not content to leave things alone, upon leaving the Vancouver International Airport (YVR), I had to take a bunch of photos of the 17-meter high YVR Canada Line Station 4 Living Wall, designed by the talented Randy Sharp of Sharp & Diamond Landscape Architecture. As you may know, the Canada Line is Vancouver’s new rapid transit rail link connecting YVR to downtown Vancouver, and visitors are greeted by this beautiful green wall of green and silver euonymus, mondo grass, and licorice fern. Read my 3.26.10 Sky Gardens post about it here.
We will defintely return to Vancouver, B.C. as a vacation destination, where we can take in all the sights and locations of this gorgeous city at our leisure! That’s it for now.
If you haven’t already, make sure to read our December, 2010 Guest Feature Article by Janet Faust of JDR Enterprises, “CitiesAlive! 2010,” where she did a great job in describing her reflections of this eighth yearly conference. Her account of compares the experience to a fine wine and Janet comments how these Green Roofs for Healthy Cities’ conferences have gotten better with age! If you’d like to present at the 9th Annual CitiesAlive! Green Roof and Wall Conference in Philadelphia, the Call for Paper Abstracts will be released in a few weeks.
Next up will be a series of posts about individual tour sites from each of these unique cities we had the pleaure of visiting last year: Mexico City, Singapore, and the lovely Vancouver, B.C., Canada.
“This is our fifth anniversary of the “Top 10 List” and an amazing amount of development has occurred over the past five years in the vegetative roofing industry. Projects that were once scoffed at and considered impossible to get built are popping up all over the globe, and greenroofs are no longer considered fringe architecture, destined to be the first sacrifice to value engineering.
“As “vegitecture” increasingly becomes a mainstay of both sustainable and cutting edge design, the list of greenroof and greenwall trends continues to expand.
Roland Appl, Germany: The Technical Director of ZinCo and President of the International Green Roof Association (IGRA) will present “
Jörg Breuning, USA and Germany: The principal of Green Roof Technology (Previously Green Roof Service) and co-founder of Green Roof Safari will present “
Tanya Müller Garcia, Mexico: The founder of AMENA – Asociación Mexicana para la Naturación de Azoteas – (National Mexican Greenroof Association), Vice-President of WGIN, and Director of Urban Reforestation and Bikeways for the City of Mexico will present “
Haven Kiers, LEED AP, GRP, USA: The founding partner of GreenSwell Design and Planning, trainer with Green Roofs for Healthy Cities, and contributing editor on Greenroofs.com will co-present the “
Terry McGlade, Canada: The horticulturalist, landscape designer, and founder and President of Gardens in the Sky will present “
Chris Wark, MSME, LEED AP, USA: The engineer, Senior Energy Analyst for Viridian Energy & Environmental, and contributing editor on Greenroofs.com will present “
In reflection, we should be happy the conference agenda is so big – I’m sure 
I’m sorry I couldn’t attend Maureen’s panel session of Expert Discussion: Taking Green Roofs and Walls to the Next Level in British Columbia – A Pathway to the Future! because it conflicted with our Top 10 presentation session. It
Not content to leave things alone, upon leaving the Vancouver International Airport (YVR), I had to take a bunch of photos of the 17-meter high 
