![]() ![]() Click through these spectacular examples from San Francisco to Singapore to discover how top architects-including Pritzker Prize winner Renzo Piano and AD Innovator Weiss/Manfredi-are incorporating green roofs into their projects. Factor in lower heating and cooling costs, extended roof life, and tax incentives (depending on the city), and it’s easy to see why this building trend continues to grow. The sky-high functional gardens also have a wide variety of ecological benefits, such as the ability to absorb carbon dioxide, reduce stormwater runoff, limit heat absorption, and provide habitats for insects, birds, and other wildlife. Made with hardy varieties of succulents, grasses, wildflowers, and herbs atop several structural layers-including a waterproof membrane and levels for drainage, insulation, and filtering-these self-sustaining living architectural features can bring natural beauty to urban buildings or connect rural structures to their surrounding landscapes. And the building went right back to the earth with very little overall impact.Green roofs are sprouting up more and more on buildings around the world, from private residences and schools to cultural institutions and businesses. There was no expense energy in transportation or manufacturing of the building materials. The sod house was easy to heat, and cool. I would suggest that no one takes the LEED rating as proof positive. The long and the short every consumer needs to do their homework before assuming they are building green. They are just jumping on a bandwagon to profit. The deeper I look into LEED I’m finding a lot of builders and manufactures of products that are anything but green but still hold the LEED certificate. In other words from extraction, to construction, to energy used to heating and cooling, to longevity, to eventually demolishing and disposing. To truly build green you have to think of the building materials from cradle to grave so to speak. However, I have also seen a lot of green washing and hope this is not one of those cases. Considering all the green grassy roofs popping up in Seattle, maybe Ma & Pa Ingalls' little soddy by the banks of Plum Creek was architecture way ahead of its time. The new Gates Foundation headquarters will be completed in 2010 and visitor center will open in 2011. Iincluded among it's key "green" components are living roof systems like the one on the new multistory parking structure for Seattle Center, which is already finished and now open. The $500 million project includes a brilliantly planned visitors center and two six story office buildings. It's the 900,000 square foot campus of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. from Seattle Center to begin construction of Seattle's newest complex to be built to LEED Gold specifications. Just yesterday ground was broken at the parking lot across 5th Ave. ![]() Yes, that is grass on the roof (the same architects helped plan the Ballard branch of the library, which also has a living roof). I've shown you other features of this civic complex from time to time, but this gives you the full picture of this Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design "LEED" Gold certified "green" campus. No, it's not the architect's model this is Seattle City Hall seen from the top of the Smith Tower. All rights reserved, including reproduction or republishing. Photo & Text Copyright 2008 Seattle Daily Photo. ![]()
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