Green Roofs for Healthy Cities has announced its design awards for 2013.
The Skyhigh Residence, Fairfax, CA
(Small Scale Residential Award)
SYMBIOS Ecotecture of Sebastopol, CA, designed and installed this 565 square foot green roof atop a residence that's built into a steep hillside with views of the natural landscape nearby and distant mountains.
The main living areas in the house are located on the upper floor, so that the second floor balcony and a dining room are directly adjacent to the green roof. The roof was designed to look like a ground-based landscape so it would look like a "garden in the sky."
The roof includes a dry-creek drainage channel constructed with lightweight stones and boulders, and it also serves as a maintenance path. The plant palette includes more than 20 species of perennials, succulents and California natives with staggered bloom times to attract local pollinators through the seasons.
The Visionaire, New York, NY
(Intensive Residential Award)
This roof terrace, designed by Mark K. Morrison Landscape Architecture, is on the 35th floor of this "green" condominium residence (certified LEED Platinum) in lower Manhattan.
The roof garden features more than 160 species of ornamental plants, plus a large vegetable garden composed of raised 4'x4' boxes and vertical screens for climbers. There's also a cold frame for continuous harvest, an herb garden in a knot design, and a patch for berries. Best of all, more than 30 species of bees have been identified on the roof terrace.
Olive Street, Winchester, MA
(Special Recognition Award)
Recover Green Roofs LLC of Somerville, MA, gutted the interior walls of this small ranch house and vaulted the ceilings so that a green roof could be installed to replace the existing roofdeck, which cracked in heavy snowfalls.
The homeowners wanted a green roof to help lower the sound from a nearby commuter rail line (it lowered the noise by 25 decibels) and for better insulation. The roof has four inches of growing media to support sedum mats that change colors with the seasons. GHRC said this project is an "outstanding example of how North America's suburbs can be reshaped with green infrastructure, given vision and leadership."
See all the award winners here.