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!
We’re very happy with the beautiful projects highlighted and hope you will be, too. See the Press Release here.
The 2012 Calendar has 78 events posted from across the globe and the cover features the luscious, top to bottom plant-enveloped Private Brussels Residence Vertical Garden & Greenroof by Patrick Blanc and Philippe Samyn. Inside you’ll find full color glossy photos of projects from Honolulu, Long Island City, Chicago, Culpeper, St. Louis, Indianapolis, Atlanta, San Francisco, Delft, New York City, Beachwood, and Baltimore.
By the way, if you’d like to see all the previous years’ calendar projects, click here.
The 2012 Greenroofs & Walls of the World™ Calendar will make a perfect holiday gift for you, your staff, and your green architecture like-minded friends and family, so order now in time for all the upcoming holidays and the new year.
This year marks the 41st anniversary of Earth Day, and there are tons of events planned on and around April 22 to raise global awareness about the environment – I say let’s celebrate the entire month of April!
Last year our inaugural “Love the Earth, Plant a Roof!” Earth Day Photo Contest was a lot of fun and a big success! We had a great response with 30 contest entries (see the Top 10 here) and over 1,500 votes for our readers’ favorite greenroof. We’re pleased to offer it again in celebration of Earth Day 2011:
What is it?
The “Love the Earth, Plant a Roof!” Earth Day Photo Contest is a great way to create interest in beautiful living rooftop architecture and highlight some outstanding designs. It’s designed to be quick, simple, and fun, and is basically is a popularity contest among our international readership. Any and all types of greenroofs are eligible, any place on Earth.
Submit a photo and your friends and colleagues vote for your favorite greenroof! This year we’ll be using Facebook to post entries and track votes plus keeping everyone updated on our Greenroofs.comFacebook page. The contest is open to everyone, not just the roof owner or the designers of record. And voting is open to everyone, too, as many times as you like – but only once per day – so tell your friends to vote for your submission!
Here’s an example for inspiration, although you can certainly vote for it, too:
When is it?
Photo Submission Dates: April 8 – 22, 2011 Voting Dates: Earth Day, April 8 – April 29, 2011 Announcement of Winner: April 30, 2011
Then read the Official Rules, and click on the “Submit an entry” tab and follow the directions: Post your photo – remember this is a photo contest and it should be gorgeous! In the caption field, start with the Project Name and Location. Tell us how this roof is a living example of loving the Earth to let everyone know why they should vote for this particular greenroof project photo. Make sure to credit the photographer if it’s not yours (also make sure you have permission). Then tell your friends!
The project doesn’t have to be listed in The Greenroof & Greenwall Projects Database, but we’d love to have it included so people can read more about it. (For example, see the Heinz 57 Center/Gimbels Building Restoration profile here.) Check to see if one already exists, and if not, you can use the online submittal form here, or just send us info and up to 11 photos and/or graphics to projects@greenroofs.com.
Requirements:
~ You can enter as often as you wish, but only one photo per project for the Contest (send more photos and project description for the blog post if you win or the Projects Database profile). ~ Entries must be color digital images, and less than 5 megabytes in size. ~ It has to be a real vegetated roof project, and no graphics or Photoshopping! ~ You must be the sole owner of the copyright of any image submitted. Didn’t take the photo yourself? Make sure you check for any copyright issues - we’re not liable! Send us written permission from the copyright holder if it’s not yours. ~ State the date photo was taken or at least the year. ~ Don’t break any laws or bones while taking the photos! ~ And, obviously, by submitting the photo you agree to its being published.
What do I get if “my” project wins?
The photo with the most votes will be announced as the winner. The winner will have “their” project highlighted on Greenroofs.com as an upcoming Greenroof Project of the Week and we’ll feature you in a Sky Gardens interview so you can really tell us more about this living roof and why you love it so much.
And, as a humble token of our esteem, the winner will also receive $100.
It’s easy – just hit the Vote now button at the bottom of the page. To vote for your favorites, click “Comment to vote.” Your comment is your vote for that entry!
We all know that airports occupy and consume huge areas of land mass, destroying ecosystems and creating massive urban heat islands of impermeable, hot surfaces. Take, for example, the Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport (ATL) shown below -notice how the highest temperatures, shown in red, are the roof surfaces of the ATL terminal and concourses, followed by runways, parking and cargo areas:
You may remember that back in 2005 I wrote the paper “European Airport Greenroofs – A Potential Model for North America,” which looked at impacts of using a greenroof within airports as well as some of the potential barriers to greenroofs. I highlighted three massive and highly successful examples of greenroofs in place at the Amsterdam,Zürich, and Frankfurt International Airports.
At the time, only one greenroof had been installed at aviation facilities within the U.S. or Canada - at the King County International Airport Terminal Building (2003). The FAA and others had been hesitant given wildlife management issues, in particular the real threat of bird strikes.
Since then, many additional greenroofs have been constructed at airports worldwide with, not surprisingly, the City of Chicago leading the pack as part of their O’Hare Modernization Program (OMP).
I had the pleasure of revisiting the issue last week at the Atlanta Aero Club at the beautiful Capital City Club in downtown Atlanta, where I was invited to give a short 5-minute presentation for their bi-monthly luncheon by the Club’s President, Steve Champness.
Steve and his better half, Nancy Petroline, (both pilots) are friends of ours and felt the mixture of my passion for greenroofs and the very important fact that the President of Delta Air Lines, Ed Bastian, was the Keynote Speaker was prime for me to address greenroofs as sustainable design at airports here. Plus, the President of Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation, Joe Lombardo, was also on hand and both airline leaders received awards to celebrate their unique and important contributions to the airline industry.
“The Atlanta Aero Club is dedicated to providing a forum for matters affecting aviation in the Atlanta area, both commercial and general; recognizing and awarding those making the greatest contribution to furthering aviation in the Atlanta area; communicating and disseminating information affecting aviation; and promoting all aviation and recognizing its importance to the metropolitan area and to the State of Georgia.”
It was great to hear Ed Bastian again, and he shared his own passion for Delta Air Lines as a successful company coming through restructuring as well as a firmly dedicated hometown company (the number 1 employer here in Atlanta), highly invested in both its customers and employees. In fact, last month Delta marked 70 years in Atlanta with a celebration for employees and partners, and a $1.4 billion profit profit sharing payout was distributed on February 14.
Regarding investments, Delta’s plan is to allocate more than $2 billion in enhanced global products, services and airport facilities through 2013. In addition to improving Sky Clubs and upgrading its domestic fleet, Delta will offer full flat-bed seats on more than 100 widebody aircraft, feature personal, in-seat entertainment for both BusinessElite and Economy class customers on all widebody flights, and complete new terminal facilities for international customers at its two largest global gateways – Atlanta and New York-JFK.
I was excited to speak to the approximate 150 members and guests of the Atlanta Aero Club, who were mostly pilots. Although I’m not a pilot, many of you who have been following me for years know that greenroofs is my second career ~ in January, 1996 I went back to school and received a Bachelor’s of Landscape Architecture from The University of Georgia in 2000 ~ while flying internationally as a flight attendant for Delta Air Lines (which I still do, at a minimum). I feel very fortunate to be able to combine my two careers – so you can see my particular interest in greening our airport roofs!
After some additional research and feedback, I began to add to the list of aviation profiles we have listed in The Greenroof & Greenwall Projects Database. Here’s the scoop:
We know that Chicago has led the way in North America in greenroof implementation for the past decade, including its airports. Above is an an aerial photo with ”Urban Heat Island Priority Tiers” superimposed which identify hot spots at the O’Hare International Airport (ORD) while showing current and proposed greenroofs here.
Although Frankfurt International Airport (FRA) has a combined coverage of over 500,000 sf, the largest individual continuous greenroof at any airport in the world is found on the 4-acre FedEx Main Sort Building at O’Hare.
Located next to an active runway, the 174,442 sf roof was installed in May of last year and is just one of four buildings with vegetated roofs comprising the massive FedEx Cargo Relocation Project, totaling about 190,000 ft.
O’Hare also boasts the first FAA Control Tower in the U.S. with a greenroof, so we must be feeling pretty good about constructing them now at airports, now, don’t you think? According to the Chicago Department of Aviation, there is currently 229,355 sf of green roof space at O’Hare International Airport, with an additional 108,816 sf proposed at the United Airlines Cargo Facility (as of February, 2011).
Chicago’s Midway Airport (MDW) currently has 3,179 sf of greenroof space on the parking garage, with another 17,640 sf of greenroof proposed for the Consolidated Rental Car Facility. To learn more about Chicago’s greening initiatives at airports, see their Airports Going Green website (where you can even see PowerPoint presentations of the last two annual Airports Going Green Conferences), the Sustainable Airport Manual, and visit the Chicago Department of Aviation’s FlyChicago.com website.
In the U.S., we now have at least 17 airport area greenroofs totaling almost 300,000 sf, and Chicago’s not the only government leader, either. Take Portland Oregon (PDX), above, for example, the U.S. Army and Air Force, and Heritage Flight, below:
Here are some other cool living roofs atop airport buildings found internationally:
See what we have by searching The Greenroof & Greenwall Projects Database by selecting “Aviation” under Building Type > Application Type – if you want to define it, select a county, city, etc.
Does this mean that’s all there is? Of course not. This Projects Database is a living research document and because it’s community driven, we reply on everyone to help us keep it up to date. In fact, I have seen airport greenroofs myself at Narita International in Japan (NRT), Madrid (MAD), and Paris’ Charles de Gaulle (CDG) – (see a couple of photos below) – that aren’t included because I don’t have enough info.
And I know there’s more at Paris’ Orly International Airport (ORY), Bordeaux (BOD), Stuttgart (STR), Münich (MUC), Bremen (BRE) and Düsseldorf (DUS), with many others planned or on the boards. So, I’d like to ask our greenroof community to please send in your photos and info on greenroofs across the world and I’ll share the profiles for all to see, like Jörg Breuning, of Green Roof Service, has been doing for years – see below Fire Brigade at Stuttgart International Airport:
Because of time constraints, I couldn’t get into key design considerations with regard to the correct site selection of growing media and plants, but just touched on the importance of having a multi-disciplinary team on the Airport Wildlife Landscape Management team. Here’s my updated version of the “An Overview of Greenroofs at Airports: Greening Rooftops as Sustainable Design” Power Point which I presented last week to the Atlanta Aero Club:
And since I wasn’t limited to just five minutes, I added a few more slides of examples, plus ended with a couple about combining photovoltaics with greenroofs – hey, if we’re going to be sustainable, we may as well go all the way!
I’d like to give Steve Champness another big Thankyou! for offering Greenroofs.com and me this great opportunity to introduce vegetated roofs to many, and encourage sustainable design with greenroofs (and walls) at our public, private, and military airports worldwide. We need more leaders such as the City of Chicago, the City of Portland, OR, and others to continue to push building integrated greenery forward.
It’s easy to understand how Atlanta’s largest urban heat island, Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, can be significantly mitigated by incorporating living, breathing, greenroofs. Maybe Hotlanta won’t be so hot any more with some local support, strategic planning, and government and corporate visionaries.
As you know if you’ve been following us for a while (this is our 4th year of printing), the Greenroofs & Walls of the World 2011 Calendar™ combines two of our most popular destinations on Greenroofs.com: The Greenroof & Greenwall Projects Database and Upcoming Events. It’s a great way to showcase fabulous projects and our website Sponsors, our highest level of advertising.
Newly redesigned by Caroline Menetre, 2011 has a sleeker look ~ her years in graphic design have helped us present a more streamlined calendar that is still bursting with colorful glossy photos of awesome projects plus all the international green events you could ever plan on attending in one year.
Also new for 2011 is the inclusion of greenwalls ~ the newest architectural darling in the living architecture world. And as always, our Calendar is eco-friendly, printed on 50% recycled paper with 25% post consumer waste using soy inks.
Building types are represented with projects from single and multi-family residences and the corporate world to an airport cargo facility, botanical garden, hospital, community college, municipal, federal research library, and even an elevated green street!
Check out the projects highlighted for 2011:
Pricing: Only $12.95 which includes free shipping within the contiguous United States and Canada – and we have discounts for orders of 11 calendars and above. Remember that shipping rates will vary with international destinations. Visit our Calendar page for all the specifics and ordering information here.
If you’re attending the the 8th Annual Green Roof and Green Wall Conference – CitiesAlive! in Vancouver, B.C. on November 30 – December 3, 2010, the first 50 visitors to stop by the Greenroofs.com booth (#416)will receive a freeCalendar, so make sure to stop by early! When we’re out we’ll be offering them for sale at a special Conference rate of only $10 – first come, first served. Afterwards, of course, the Calendar will be available for purchase and shipping at any time.
And thanks to all of the rest of Greenroofs.com’s Sponsors who weren’t featured this year, but whose support makes our website possible (along with all of you who are listed in The Greenroof Directory):
The 2011 Greenroofs & Walls of the World™ Calendar will make a perfect holiday gift for you, your staff, and your green architecture like-minded friends and family, so order now in time for all the upcoming holidays and the new year.
Formerly the Gimbel’s Department store, the Heinz 57 Center in Pittsburgh, PA, is a wonderful example of urban renewal. Closed and neglected for about 14 years starting in the late eighties, the now restored building has been put to reuse not only in a sustainable, but beautiful way. In 1998 architects Burt Hill Kozar Rittlemann Associates (now Burt Hill) were brought on board to redesign the historical but ailing structure.
Along with McKnight Development Partners, the architects incorporated a dramatic 50′ diameter octagonal atrium which runs from the roof down through seven floors. Suddenly flooded with natural light, the Heinz Corporation was enticed to occupy the top seven floors for their North American headquarters. Yet curiously, environmental concerns were not driving factors for the greenroof then; aesthetics, however, definitely were.
Although the building itself was surrounded by a spectacular city panorama featuring a soaring cathedral amidst an eclectic mixture of towering skyscrapers, the views from the lovely floor-to-ceiling windows of the fourteenth-floor penthouse suite were less than exciting or acceptable: a hot black rubber roof under an equally unappealing nine-foot-high brick parapet wall greeted Heinz occupants. So the architects decided a pleasing landscape atop the roof would do the trick.
Completed in the fall of 2001, the Heinz 57 Center was the first vegetated roof in downtown Pittsburgh, where executives enjoy sweeping meadow vistas wrapping their offices and blanketing the thirty-foot-wide terrace. Four informal seating areas constructed with high-density recycled plastic lumber decking and concrete paving blocks provide informal gathering spots; by all accounts the colorful corporate roof garden is a hit!
Last year I was interviewed by Carmen J. Lee who was writing for h – The Magazine of the Heinz Endowments, reporting how “Pittsburgh roofs are the new fertile turf for environ-mentally sustainable construction projects that aim to dig in and blossom” in her article “Top Soil” (pages 24-31). The Heinz 57 building was, of course, one of the sites featured and you’ll see I was quoted with more of an inspirational bent rather than specific to the project. Carmen also profiled the local environmental group, 3 Rivers Wet Weather, which is responsible for utilizing $525,000 in federal funding plus a $125,000 Heinz Endowments grant to sponsor a 2005 project to create more greenroofs here.
In a city with an over-burdened sewer system with frequent overflows, Pittsburgh officials and researchers cite the greenroof project often as a fine example of sustainable redevelopment. Situated within a pedestrian-friendly mixed-use business district with shops, restaurants and businesses, the Heinz 57 Center is worker friendly as well as eco-friendly, providing their 800+ employees with a variety of alternate forms of transportation. Although Heinz executives may not have initially specified the extensive greenroof for ecological reasons, they certainly appreciate the many noticeable environmental benefits, such as the cooling respite from the city canyon and the reduction of stormwater runoff; it’s estimated that the roof retains 55% of yearly rainfall.
Charlie Miller, P.E., and his company Roofscapes, Inc. have been responsible for a large number of award-winning greenroof projects, including this one. His private and public portfolio runs the gamut from municipal to corporate, institutional to retail, and even includes some single-family residences. Charlie won the 2005 Green Roof Award of Excellence with the Heinz 57 Center/Gimbels Building Restoration in the Extensive Industrial/Commercial category, and we featured it in the 2009 Greenroofs of the World Calendar™ by Greenroofs.com for the month of March:
Over 18,000 plants were selected by Roofscapes, who used their Type III: Savannah Roofmeadow® system. Landscape architect Steven L. Cantor researched this project in depth, and you can read his extensive case study including complete plant lists on pages 139-142 in the excellent book “Green Roofs in Sustainable Landscape Design,” 2008, available for purchase on Amazon.com.
Steven relates how the Heinz 57 Center plant selection encompassed “32 xeric species from nineteen plant genera, including six North American natives; approximately one-third of the plants are sedums, and the balance is a range of herbs, meadow grasses, and meadow perennials that provide differences in plant height, texture, and bloom color.”
It’s hard to believe, but the roof is not irrigated and has flourished with minimal maintenance, which includes twice yearly weeding and an annual light application of fertilizer.
Pittsburgh has really come along way from its gritty industrial Steel Town roots, emerging as a leader in green building. According to the Green Building Alliance, as of July, 2009 the City of Pittsburgh is home to 39 LEED-certified buildings, ranked eighth in the United States for overall number of projects.
About two dozen more eco-friendly greenroofs are found within metro Pittsburgh; read the May 19, 2009 article ”More city buildings cultivate savings by covering roofs with plants” by Sally Kalson of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette to learn about additional living roofs in the area.
We only have a handful of those references listed, so remember to send us case studies of these other projects so we may share it with all of you in the greenroof community in The Greenroof & Greenwall Projects Database.
Kudos to the designers, corporate leaders and all the stakeholders of this inspiring city-core Heinz 57 Center renovation for their foresight - environmental, aesthetic, or otherwise - to successfully integrate a greenroof into the overall design for the benefit of the building’s occupants!
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!
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Steve and his better half, Nancy Petroline, (both pilots) are friends of ours and felt the mixture of my passion for greenroofs and the very important fact that the President of 
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Completed in the fall of 2001, the Heinz 57 Center was the first vegetated roof in downtown Pittsburgh, where executives enjoy sweeping meadow vistas wrapping their offices and blanketing the thirty-foot-wide terrace. Four informal seating areas constructed with high-density recycled plastic lumber decking and concrete paving blocks provide informal gathering spots; by all accounts the colorful corporate roof garden is a hit!
Steven relates how the Heinz 57 Center plant selection encompassed “32 xeric species from nineteen plant genera, including six North American natives; approximately one-third of the plants are sedums, and the balance is a range of herbs, meadow grasses, and meadow perennials that provide differences in plant height, texture, and bloom color.”
