Construction Informer

During the depression in the 1930s people discovered their green thumbs. Now that we are facing higher food costs, and undoubtedly less food in general, it might not be a bad time to put some effort into growing our own. Of course you need a space and people who live in densely populated places like cities and apartment buildings often don’t have much space for gardening.

Of course, every building has a roof and I can see a time when entire apartment building roofs might be converted to garden space. The residents would share the space and the bounty. There are some side benefits to greening the roof. For one it cuts down on the heat buildup inside the building. That will be great for those times when we begin to experience power outages during peak periods. During the colder seasons the vegetation provides insulation and helps to hold in the heat. The roof absorbs and uses rainwater. So as the climate continues to change and rainfall becomes more unpredictable that would be a good thing. Plus, because it holds the moisture it eliminates much of the runoff that falls from building roofs. That in turn reduces erosion of not only soils but also of hard surfaces.

There are many more advantages to green roofs and you can find out a lot more at the HUD site. The costs are high, for intensive gardening perhaps as much as $25 per square foot and perhaps additional costs to retrofit the roof so it can bear the new load. So these projects have to be considered very carefully but should definitely be considered whenever existing structures need re-roofing and when new structures are in the planning stages.

This roof scape by Conran & Partners in association with Dan Pearson sits atop the residential Roppongi Hills in Tokyo.