President Obama is starting to get serious about climate change. In recent talks, he has mentioned the need for massive increases in green living. Anyone who lives in an urban core can tell you how hot and unbearable the summers can get. A great way to combat both air quality and spikes in urban core temperature readings comes in the form of green roofs.
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has been a leader in bringing green roofs to one of the largest cities in the world. The city even announced the rise of rooftop agriculture with the largest urban farm in the US currently under construction on a Brooklyn rooftop. Bloomberg, Obama, and politicians across the world are leading the way in reclaiming urban space for non-industrial use.
These green roofs serve a variety of purposes that are both helpful to those in the building, and everyone around. First and foremost, green roofs lower the temperature of the buildings roof by considerable amounts. Rather than having black tar or reflective tin roofs that can sizzle in with surface temperatures upwards of 130 degrees, green roofs rarely get hotter than the actual air temperature. Roof or rain gardens also help with rain water run off, something that is a major issue in coastal cities. Rain gardens filter excess water, and some can even store water to be used by the building tenants later on. A third attribute green roofs provide is fresh, clean air. Trees, plants, and other shrubs help clean the air and lessen ozone levels that so often spiral out of control in urban cities.
The super cool pictures below show how urban architecture can be infused with green design. Most of the pictures are taken from abroad, let’s incorporate them into US design!
Top of Chicago’s City Hall
Green Parking Garage in Namba Park, Japan
Vancover Convention Center
Vancover Convention Center (cont’d)
Life + Real Estate + New York 