Manhattan's Green Roofs Grow

New York City, and Manhattan in particular, has a great collection of buildings with green roofs. Now, the city can add another series of green roofs found in Clinton Park.

Ten Arquitectos and Enrique Norten have designed a unique mixed-use structure that not only puts housing units on a diagonal, but also puts a green roof on top of each floor. Mountain House Freeze-Dried Food

World Architecture News.com writes,

Each floor steps up from the one below, allowing for unobstructed views to the park and Hudson River and providing private roof terraces with green roofs on every floor.

As one can see from the picture, the amount of green roofs would appear to cover the entire footprint of the building. A green roof of this size will improve storm water runoff management, as well reduce fine particulate matter air pollution. Water Barrels and Storage

The building itself, as mentioned above is mixed-use. Again, from WAN,

...the building fills a void in the urban fabric by integrating multiple commercial uses... providing 900 housing units in the 27 floors above. The base include(s) a 50,000 sq-ft auto showroom with 250,000 sq ft of service floors below grade, a 30,000 sq-ft horse stable for the NYPD Mounted Police, a 7,500 square-foot market, a 30,000 square-foot health club, and 200 parking spaces.

The diagonal layout allows not only for multiple green roofs over a single footprint, the design also reduces the urban heat island effect by moving mass away from its neighboring buildings. This building will not only architectural interest to city, but provide much needed environmental benefits as well.

Zurich's Green Roofs

Ah, the Swiss. Known for their precision, understated elegance, and natural beauty, it is only fitting that two of their public use facilities have green roofs. Built in 2002, both the Zurich Airport and the Zurich main rail station have green roofs. $20 Off AeroGardens

According to Greenroofs.com,:

One of the largest green roof building sites in Switzerland, the new dispatch building at Kloten International Airport is Dock E, ... Sporting an extensive green roof measuring 4,000 m2 (43,056 sf), ... Completed in November 2002..., the planning group decided to install ZinCo green roof systems.

As for the train station:

During the preparation... a problem surfaced... The whole area was mapped as a ...living space for different endangered insects and reptiles whose natural environment consisted of desert-like spaces...these animals used the space between the tracks as their living space. Swiss law prohibits the destruction of such biotopes without replacement. In the search for a solution the idea of using the rooftop as a replacement was suggested and accepted...

In both cases, the Swiss were able to incorporate green roofs to reduce heating and cooling costs, improve storm water runoff, and also to create habitat. The next time you are Zurich, keep your eyes open for these green roofs. As they were completed in 2002, they should be beautifully grown in by now. Discover Top Rated Mighty Leaf Herbal Tea. Tea lovers love our delicious herbal tea blends. You will too. Save 25% on your first order!

A Green Roof for Istanbul

Istanbul's Shopping Square Meydan has a very large, extensive green roof. The 54,000 square meter roof, "...is designed to provide much-needed breathing space for the city’s 14,000,000-strong population." according to Flatroof Design Technology (FDT).

The center was designed by Foreign Office Architects, of London. The center includes other very significant green features, specifically, air conditioning provided by a geothermal plant and skylights to provide natural lighting to the concourse walkways and retail stores. Cheap? No. 100% Free. Trade stocks for free on Zecco.com. The Free Trading Community. www.zecco.com

The green roof provides efficiencies in heating and cooling as well as helping to reduce air pollution. Further, the green roof helps to manage storm water runoff. Finally, the green roof also offers some of its space as a walkable park.

Green roofs for retail is not a new concept, as it is seen in Lima, Peru in the LarcoMar shopping center. Large shopping areas offer great opportunities for green roofs. In both examples, Meydan and LarcoMar offer both aesthetic beauty for the cities, as well as increased green space, and a welcoming environment for social gathering. Mountain House Freeze-Dried Food

Sao Paulo Green Roof - The Enkyo Project

As green roofs grow in popularity for their ability to reduce heating and cool costs, as well as reduce storm water runoff, they are becoming more popular in tropical climates.

The Enkyo Medical and Social Center in Sao Paulo, Brazil is one such building. Recently recognized with a Holcim Award for sustainable building in 2008, this building combines extensive passive features, such as a green roof, to reduce energy costs by approximately 80% of traditional buildings.

The building will be located in the Asian Quarter, known as Liberdade, and be half medical center and half social center. This locality will support both the Brazilians of Japanese origin and not. Further, the social center is designed to bring older, non-Portuguese speaking Brazilians in closer contact with their Portuguese speaking neighbors.

The building is also unique for its use of ground water in the cooling system which otherwise would have been pumped away. Additionally, the use of perforated metal screens on the building allow maximum sunlight with minimum glare, reducing the electricity costs for lighting. The architectural firm who designed the building, Shieh Arquitetos Associados, hopes these passive elements will be replicated throughout Brazil.

Green Roofs Provide Benefits in Winter

Can green roofs provide benefits in climates with strong winters? According to Karen Liu of the National Research Council of Canada's Institute for Research in Construction, the answer is "Yes!"

In an article posted in EnviroZine, green roofs provided a 10% improvement in the heat loss of tested buildings in the winter. The results of the first round of testing were so significant the NRC-IRC began performing a multi-year study on green roofs to verify the results.

Once the benefits were confirmed, the article indicates that NRC-IRC designed green roofs specifically for winter climates. From the article:

"... green roofs are often planted with drought resistant plants ...which grow in a six-centimetre thick layer of a light weight growing medium (such as volcanic rock), the winter green roofs were composed of juniper shrubs... The purpose was to reduce the effect of wind speed (which draws heat from the building) and to increase the building's resistance to heat loss. Junipers were particularly well-suited for the experiment because they are evergreens and spread easily."

The research on both traditional home structures and homes built specifically for cold climates found that the juniper-based, winter green roofs increased heating efficiency by 10 and 8.5% respectively. Additionally, the winter green roofs helped to reduce the fluctuation in roof temperature, thus improving the life of the roof itself.

It would be very interesting to see if cities such as Chicago could benefit from the addition of junipers to their large number of green roofs.

Beautiful and Edible Green Roof

Although this blog is dedicated to green roofs, I couldn't resist this piece about a green rooftop garden in Los Angeles called SynthE, on a building known as The Flat, which, by the way, is home to the famous restaurant, Blue Velvet.

Inhabitat.com reports in a story titled: "SYNTHe: An Urban Rooftop Garden Prototype in Los Angeles," by Haily Zaki, about this new green roof. $20 Off AeroGardens

The roof was designed by Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc) professor Alexis Rochas. As one can see from the pictures, there are furrows which are filled with edible plants such as herbs, lettuces, etc.

Inhabitat explains that the garden will be maintained and enjoyed by both the residential tenets as well as the chefs and patrons of Blue Velvet. Additionally, the waste products from the garden and produce will be composted and returned to the garden.

Rochas's plan was to use the space to reduce the heating and cooling costs of structure, as well as better management of the storm water runoff this building produces. Instead of using regular soil, the garden uses a synthetic growing medium, which I assume is much like Suntory's Pafcal. FREE SHIPPING on orders over $50.00 at InhabitLiving.com

Here is another of picture of the roof without the plants. It is quite a sight and I hope it encourages Los Angeles property owners and developers to consider a green roof in the future.

Hyderabad's Greenest Roof

Many of the green roof projects I have written about are designs that haven't been completed, like Dongtan in China and
the Eco Bay Complex in Abu Dhabi.

However, the CII-Sohrabji Godrej Green Business Centre (GBC) opened in Hyderabad, India in 2004! I found a press release at the Indian Brand Equity website discussing the opening of the project.

At the time of its opening, it was the only LEED Platinum building outside of the US.

One of the key aspects of the building is its zero discharge of water. In India, where clean water is not readily available and the monsoon season overwhelms the limited water treatment facilities, the ability to capture and recycle all water is exceptionally significant. Additionally, the green roof helps reduce the cost of air conditioning, desperately needed in such a hot climate.

Other elements of green building used for the GBC include the use of recycled materials, such as fly ash, as well as photovoltaic cells for solar energy.

This project received funding support from the US taxpayers in the form of a matching grant of $1.2 million over three years.

According to the US Embassy in New Dehli, "The grant will assist the centre as it develops detailed plans for each major area, including green buildings, green business incubation, and water and energy conservation."

India has demonstrated its desire and capacity to build green buildings. Let's hope to see more green roofs like the Chennai Airport and the GBC in the future!