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Green Rooftops?

Hi there,

I saw this article “Integrate Food Production and Green Building” in our rss feed one or two days ago, and it brought some old pictures to mind.

Maybe you have never seen this, but in many developing countries around the world, there are huts in the fields that have grass growing on the roofs, or, more correctly, as the roofs. Why did the people living there do this? First and foremost, protection against the elements! A soil roof with something to hold it in place is not a bad idea – it requires no maintenance, it is resiliant, it insulates against unpleasant heat and cold, doesn’t blow away easily, and it’s cheap and readily available almost everywhere. I have a mental picture (I’m sure from photographs in National Geographic) of a goat on top of a grass roof, busily “mowing the lawn”. It is an unusual picture, but one that sticks in my mind.

A few years ago, when I was living in Switzerland, I ran across the same principle in commercial use. There are a few companies there that specialise in providing grass roofs for buildings with flat roofs. At that time I was curious enough to enquire into their systems, and it is exactly what you would expect – a flat roof is built somewhat stronger (to hold the additional weight of the soil plus maximum snowfall), is – as usual – made watertight with some additional retention wall, if necessary, and this area is then filled with soil, planted, and potentially even watered with an automatic sprinkler system (more about these in a later website). Assuming that someone looks after it from time to time, it provides exactly what those earlier mental pictures were providing: no maintenance, resiliancy, insulating against heat and cold, cheap and readily available. I have not seen any goats on the modern roofs, but I suppose that’s not out of the question.

The photograph below shows an example of the direction in which green architectural design thinking appears to be going. The building is the Library at the Technical University of Delft, Holland.

The Library at the TU Delft

The question, however, is competition! Think about all the things that are done on roofs now – without a green roof – the obvious things are the equipment rooms for elevators, electrical transformers, heating and airconditioning ducts and units, skylights, solar thermal collectors and photovoltaic cells, not to mention automobile parking and helicopter landing spaces. Now, some of these things are not inconsistent with a grass roof, but there is more competition for the space up there than you would first think. Remember also that there are already buildings with the roof space being used for human outdoor activities, such as swimming pools, tennis courts, golf putting ranges, restaurants, exercise areas, running tracks, relaxing, and sunbathing.

I have to agree that the last items I mentioned above are the exception, rather than the rule. The article in the feed was using the massive amount of commercial building roof space that is not used for anything except keeping the weather off the contents of the buildings. And I also agree that the travel distance for our food these days is excessive, if amazing. Using rooftops for crops would be an interesting innovation done on an industrial scale. If you think about it, it should also improve our air as well, with various things like CO2 consumption, moisture retention and release, and even particulate retention. Not a bad idea! On the other hand, you might not like the particulate retention in your collard greens!

In any case, this represents another way that you can go green, not only at home, but at work as well. It’s important for you to use your imagination – you would be surprised what you can think up with a little mental jogging.

Ciao for now,

Craig
for
Sue & Craig Websites

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