Green Roofs for Melbourne / 1:1 architects
1:1 Architects shared their design idea for retro fitting high-rise buildings in Melbourne with a modular system of independent green roof structures. The new roof is designed to be installed, modified or even dismantled quite easily. “Our green roof concept is a flexible modular system, designed to adapt to varying scale rooftops and respond to differing site conditions and functional requirements,” explained the architects. The roof provides a new atmosphere for the existing buildings where a variety of activities, such as an informal meeting or a simple lunch break, can be held.
More about the roof after the break.
The roof unit’s components can be assembled by hand, eliminating the environmental impacts of and the need for special lifting equipment. The components are flexible to adapt to a variety of roof sizes, making the green roof attractive to existing as well as new buildings.
The green roof is a completely separate entity from the existing structure. The structural timber frame, which sit upon the ‘Versijack’ footing system, provides a platform for users to access the planting crates. These crates create a shelving system that displays different plants. The packing crates, comprised of a CHEP recycled material and usually filled with indigenous Australian grasses that can tolerate high temperatures, vary in depth depending on the plant density and type. The plants help filter the airborne particles that pass over the area, creating a space with cleaner air for its occupants.
In addition to the roof providing a sheltered area for monitoring equipment and a canopy to provide runoff collection, the unit “provides healthier spaces for building owners, tenants and visitors principally by providing external space….a place for relaxation and contemplation,vegetation,…and providing fresh air and occupant comfort,” explained the architects.
Images provided by the architects.
in my opinion, this “green solution” is not very helpful at all. Its just as bad as a design intent similar to slapping on solar panels on top of a roof. More importantly, is the timber recycled lumber and does the water collected by the plans and structure filter back into a gray water recyclable tank? I feel the intent towards sustainability was not fully explored and thus the concept of the project suffered.
I think that the Green Roof’s for Melbourne initiative is positive development not because of its physical impact on the environment, but more because of its psychological impact on society. By using good architectural design we can encourage people to ‘want’ eco-design to be a part of their buildings and lives. If we can successfully design an environmentally integrated relaxation area on the top of several buildings in a single city, then the local society will recognise that the potential of eco-retrofitting is not only for the benefit of the environment; but also holds value in individual health and the wellbeing of the society at large. When society at large ‘wants’ more solutions, then we have successfully paved the way for more serious eco-retrofitting in the future. This is the first step, to manipulate society as architects, to ‘want’ what they ‘require’. I hope this project gets done by another architect soon and is pitched and better designed with this understanding in mind.
perhaps you should read the text first
well done… its high time we integrate features like these in our dead AC offices.. such green areas can prove relaxing in our offices..
Good Work. The Community need something that can motivate them to be more sensitive to the environment