The annual conference was in Philadelphia this year in December. Check it out: Cities Alive. I’m posting some photos of developments we saw happening all around the city, and some in NYC, where Chris Brunner and Amy Falder (New York Green Roofs LLC) let me check out a project of theirs.
NYC office on 3rd ave. 17th floor, which means 90 yards of soil were hauled up an elevator. Cables are for wind uplift.
Condo Complex in Philly. Owner maintained units
New Intensive Roof in South West Austin
Working on a new intensive (i.e. heavier, more elaborate) residential greenroof in Southwest Austin. It’s a limestone patio and we’re in the process of selecting native plants and flowers to fill it, using about 11 inches of soil. The drainage products will be from Green Roof Solutions. Tricky elements include the fact that this roof is on the third floor of a remodeling project— HOWEVER the weather has been merciful, so all is well. The aeomeba-shaped thing is where the tables and chairs will be, and we’ll be filling in the plants and living stuff in about a month. More pictures as we plant!
High Line, NYC
Best Recycling Project On Earth! Basically, New York City just recycled an abandoned, elevated railway into a roof-height aerial park space that runs through Manhattan’s lower west side. Beginning in the Meatpacking district (cool graffiti, supermodels, and designer boutiques made out of slaughterhouses, etc.), the line goes through Chelsea until 30th St.
It rules for many reasons. First, it’s exploding the neighborhood with new and innovative growth—once the high line was established, more than 30 development projects were planned in the neighborhood nearby, including some srsly cutting edge architects. Also crime around the neighborhood dropped, because the high line is so visible from surrounding buildings that one can’t really do anything secretive. Secondly, it’s a great example of integrated design, synergistically melding architecture and plants. The high line really epitomizes the direction of new green architecture, embracing green roofs, recycling, and innovative low-impact building. Utilizing 210 species, the plants look like the naturally seeded landscape of rugged meadow plants and clump grasses, and the architecture’s clean minimalist design makes the plants the main attraction. Thirdly, it was seriously the easiest thing ever. Developers calculated that it would actually cost way less to renovate the rail line than to tear it down. Giving it plants, a walkway, and some designer benches not only saved major demolition equipment from tearing through a neighborhood, but made it a huge and very clever attraction.
Austin is basically a city of outdoor attractions. With a little research and a little money, we could take any derelict old structure and make it something cool and filled with native plants.
So, we planted the first plants of the new green roof! Again timed perfectly because there was apparently some rain this weekend (seriously I BLINKED and missed it, but whatever). Casey checked the soil this morning and said it was saturated, which means the combination of rain and irrigation is looking pretty freakin’ promising for plants that were planted in the middle of July (18 month drought anyone?). Here are some pics:
Detail of engineered pavers (red stuff), gravel, perforated edging (silver), geotextile fabric (grey stuff), soil, irrigation, plants.
Irrigation
Mulch
Burying irrigation with mulch:
One bed before mulch, one after:
Watering!
Yeah, we’re crossing our fingers that the plants make it through the summer. So far so good! The rest of the planting will take place in September… so stay tuned…
Holler,
Lilly
So, turns out UT totally loves green roofs!!! We heard through the green roof grapevine about a garden just built on the roof of the Hackerman building (houses the experimental sciences — cool stuff) so went to check it out. Here is what we discovered….
That last photo is the room inside that overlooks the garden (with super striking neon furniture). We also noticed the roof uses reclaimed water! Apparently purple sprinkler heads/valve boxes indicate that. Right on!
We heard that ANOTHER green roof was built on the New UT Student Activity Center (affectionately known as “the nutsac”— yes really). So that one will be fun to check out, too. Interestingly, there’s a subtle difference between the Hackerman’s green roof and traditional green roofs: the planter set up makes it more of a “roof garden” where a “green roof” usually means soil is covering most of the area. That’s a small caveat, but pretty interesting. Both provide most of the same benefits and technically, both are green roofs.
Good times finding out about these green roofs! When it comes to sustainable design, UT means srs bsns!!!
Lilly
