Greenroofs.com Projects

328 Euclid

Project Name: 328 Euclid
Year: 2005
Owner: Jana Levitt and Dane Goodman
Location: Toronto, Canada
Building Type: Single-Family Residential
Type: Extensive
System: Single Source Provider
Size: 2000 sq.ft.
Slope: 2%
Access: Accessible, Private
Submitted by: Gardens in the Sky

Designers/Manufacturers of Record:
Architects: Jana Levitt and Dane Goodman,
Greenroof Design/Build & Contractor: Terry McGlade, Gardens in the Sky

328 Euclid is a residential house designed by two architects (Jana Levitt and Dane Goodman from Levitt-Goodman Architects) who are also the residents of the house. Gardens in the Sky was called in to design the green roof while they were still in preliminary design stages for the house; this allowed us to have some influence in both the design and size of the parapet walls, as well as choice of the roof membrane and how the roof membrane would fold and interact with the parapet wall.

Due to this detail, we could plant right up to the parapet wall not needing any gravel separation barrier between the green roof and the parapet; the total effect would then be a roof that was completely green from parapet to parapet. This was especially important on the second floor roof because the client/architect had designed their bedroom to open onto the green roof, giving them a sense of living in a garden.

The roof is composed of three different sections: the lower roof which is in total shade is comprised of Equisetum (Horse Tail Grass) and Sedum Autumn Joy, the second floor roof is composed of plants that do well in either full sun or half sun half shade and they include: Switch Grass (heavy metal), Carex (Black), Coreopsis, Lavender, Berginia Cordefolia, and Hosta Sieboldiana, and the top roof is composed of all Sedums (Sedum Album, Acra, Kamschatum, Metronia, Spurium and Autumn Joy).

The top roof is watered through drip irrigation three times a week, the second floor is watered by hand once a week and the lower roof is watered occasionally, but because it is in the shade is does not have a consistent need for watering.

There have been many benefits for the house, they do not use air conditioning and if watered consistently the owners find that the roof is cooling at night, as there is no build up of heat from the day, which is generally common on east west facing city houses.

Additional thumbnail photos:

All Photos Courtesy Terry McGlade, Gardens in the Sky

Read about Gardens in the Sky (now Flynn Canada Ltd. Gardens in the Sky) in The Greenroof Directory here, and to see all of Gardens in the Sky's projects, visit their website. 328 Euclid Avenue was included in the 2007 Doors Open Festival. Read the May 25, 2007 "Building a recognition of environmental costs" in the Globe and Mail which includes an interview with one of the architect homeowners, Janna Levitt.

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