Green Roofs for Healthy Cities presented its annual design awards for 2011 recently at its annual conference last month. This post describes a selection of winners, but you can see all of them and read about them in more detail at the Green Roofs website here.
click to enlargeThe Extensive Residential award went to Hadj Design for a 3200 square foot roof on a coastal residence in Quilcene, Washington. Plants and soil were selected carefully with the objective of supporting local birds that live on the water nearby and in the surrounding forest. According to the designers, the residence has already become home to a variety of local insects and birds.
click to enlarge Intensive Residential award: Durante Kreuk Ltd, for Milennium Village in Vancouver. Covering eight city blocks, the project is the first LEED gold certified neighborhood in North America. The green roofs are actually a series of courtyards that allow residents to relax, featuring a variety of elements from fountains and waterfalls to ponds and fragrance gardens. The design also incorporates many edible plants, many native varieties with a high tolerance for drought, and others that attract wildlife.
click to enlarge Green Walls award: Ten Eyck Landscape Architects Inc for a living "wall" and water garden at the Phoenix Convention Center. Condensed water from the air conditioning system irrigates the wall, which was inspired by sheltered canyon habitats in the Sonoran Desert. The wall was planted with a native seed mix, along with agaves, yucca, chuparosa and brittlebrush. Water runoff from the wall is then diverted into a sunken water harvesting garden.
Intensive Institutional award: Kelco Construction for the High Line in NYC designed by James Corner Field Operations. Almost everyone's heard of the 1.5 mile elevated park that runs through NYC's west side, built upon a decaying rail line. The park essentially functions as a green roof, with plantings by Piet Oudolf that are reminiscent of the wild ones that once grew on the abandoned site.
(photos: Green Roofs for Healthy Cities and Hadj Design, Durante Kreuk Ltd, Ten Eyck Landscape Architecture Inc, Kelco Construction)
Lovely! Wish there'd be a bigger picture though >.>
Posted by: Yasmien Nirvana | January 11, 2012 at 10:19 PM