Green roof design

Landscape and Garden Product Directory

Sustainable cities , Sustainable gardens, Sustainable landscape architecture, Green building, Hundertwasser, Green roof planning, Solar panels, Landscaped Architecture, Walls and roofs,  See blog post on the landscape architectural theory of green roof design

The technology of green roofing is sophisticated but their planning and design is comparatively neglected. The following alternatives are put forward for discussion, based on the pioneering work of Hundertwasser:

• Communal roof-gardens: green roofs can slope down to ground level, to make them accessible to pedestrians. Hundertwasser used this roof design for a spa hotel - an unusually protected environment. It could be used for campus-type environments (eg business parks and universities). Private building owners are likely to consider this a security risk on typical urban street. The risk could be managed with a wall at the base of the slope or by allowing access to the green roof only from within the building.
• Public roof-parks: a green bridge can be used to join green roofs on separate buildings, thus creating a continuous public or private greenspace at roof level. This greenspace planning idea is described elsewhere as a skyway .
• Nature conservation roofs: it is often more appropriate to use vegetated roofs as wildlife habitats than as amenity green roofs for people
• Private roof gardens: roofs designed as living space have been made since ancient times. Unlike the roof garden types described above, private roof gardens benefit from (1) a surrounding wall, at least to waist height, for safety (2) an overhead shelter, or pergola, to provide spatial security and shade when required