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Materials and Plants Research


Below you will find brief descriptions of the various components of a green roof. You can click on any component title to get a list of the summaries that pertain to that category. If you want to see all the summaries that relate to Materials and Plants Research click here.

 

Plants
Plants are the most visible component of a green roof, and are the primary contributors to the roof's aesthetic functions - providing a pleasant viewscape or an environment for leisure activities. Plants also help achieve bio-physical benefits in that they absorb greenhouse gases, create habitat, retain storm water, and act as a fire retardant.

 

Growing Media
The growing medium is the particulate matter or substrate that anchors plant roots and sustains the growth of the plants. Growing media differ in their composition (e.g., minerals, aggregates, organic matter), grain size distribution, density, water and air content, depth and weight. Different growing media contribute in varying degrees to achieving the various benefits of green roofs, e.g., retaining storm water, acting as a fire retardant, and providing insulation to the building.

 

Other components
This includes the waterproofing assemblies (which prevent water from entering building), drainage systems (which discharge storm water and prevents drowning the vegetation), and irrigation systems (which bring water to the plants during dry periods).

 

Standards and guidelines
Standards and guidelines ensure that green roofs attain health, safety, and durability goals. Green roof standards can be performance based (which lay out goals that have to be fulfilled without determining how they are met) or prescriptive (which lay out the methods of achieving a desired goal).