145 Biltmore Ave

Project
145 Biltmore Ave

Location
Asheville, NC

Award Winner
Living Roofs Inc

Project Team

Architect: MHA Works
Building General Contractor: Beverly-Grant, Inc
Roofing Contractor: Baker Roofing
Stormwater Analysis: Robinson Design Engineers
Green Roof Design, Construction, Maintenance: Living Roofs Inc

“Located in downtown Asheville, North Carolina, the green roof at 145 Biltmore Avenue is more than a beautiful, elevated meadow in an urban setting– it is a powerful piece of infrastructure that addresses the local and regional challenges of climate change, including diminished water quality and flooding, urban heat, and biodiversity loss.”

— Kathryn Ancaya, Living Roofs Inc

Stormwater Infrastructure as a Wildflower Meadow

The extensive green roof atop the downtown, multi-unit residential building at 145 Biltmore Avenue is more than a decorative element; it's infrastructure. This project sets a new standard of resilience for the future by reimagining stormwater infrastructure with the beauty of a wildflower meadow. The high-density residential project is a downtown infill building on a mostly impervious site previously devoid of vegetation. Although the project maximized the lot's buildable area, the site now has less stormwater runoff than pre-development. The custom dual media green roof system was designed to address the local and regional challenges of climate change, including diminished water quality, urban heat, and loss of biodiversity.

This project sits within a large and significant watershed of the French Broad River that is severely impacted by increased development, piped streams, and aging infrastructure. The green roof serves as a stormwater control measure to meet the city's requirements in its effort to reduce pollutants and flooding affecting the watershed. The green roof also allowed the developer to avoid a costly underground stormwater containment system and use this valuable space for underground parking.

The project site is also located in an area of downtown identified as having the highest heat vulnerability, and this green roof helps to cool air temperatures and reduce the building's contribution to urban heat island effect.

The project plans initially called for a green roof tray system to meet the city's stormwater requirement, but from experience and analysis of previous projects, the green roof company's design studio knew they could create a custom buildup that would be more effective at managing stormwater and deliver cost savings for the project. The custom green roof created more design flexibility to work around rooftop utilities already in place, and also reduced costs associated with planting. The flexibility and lower price tag helped increase the green roof's square footage, saving money in the long term while expanding the green roof's environmental benefits. The system was designed to support a biodiverse meadow and provides a tremendous stormwater benefit that helps reduce the negative impacts of development on existing public infrastructure and surrounding waterways.

This project was designed to maximize stormwater retention and ease the new building's impact on existing stormwater infrastructure and impaired local waterways. The types of growing media used on this green roof were selected for the quality of their hydrologic performance, and their depths were maximized. The resulting dual-media system performs very well as a stormwater control system. During rain events, the dual-media green roof system retains approximately 4,200 gallons of stormwater, thereby reducing the 2-year design storm runoff volume by an estimated 76%, and reducing the 10-year design storm runoff volume by an estimated 53%. The green roof also temporarily stores stormwater and delays the timing of its release, thereby reducing the 2-year design storm peak runoff rate by an estimated 84%, and the 10-year design storm runoff volume by an estimated 53%.

Through evapotranspiration, the vegetated roof system also prevents approximately 100,000 gallons of water from entering storm drains annually. To promote efficient use of irrigation, a rain sensor system bypasses the irrigation cycle when there is sufficient rainfall.

The landscapes in the surrounding southern Appalachian region are lush with plant life! The region's spectacular ecological and plant communities are an inspiration for discovering plant species that may thrive in the variable microclimates and conditions they will be subject to on a rooftop.

This vegetated roof is a highly diverse pocket of nature in the downtown urban environment. Prior to development, the site was mostly impervious. In addition to improving water quality by reducing stormwater runoff, the green roof supports a resilient assemblage of native and ornamental perennials and grasses that provide critical habitat and connectivity for permanent and migrating pollinators and birds.

The green roof company's maintenance team continues to care for this roof and skillfully manages the plant palette to ensure that it is healthy and operating at a high level through all seasons. This project is frequently used as an example of how a green roof can meet state stormwater requirements, and its ongoing high performance serves as a testimonial for green roofs as nature-based infrastructure.

When managing the plant material on this roof, green roof maintenance technicians closely consider the habitat value for permanent and migratory pollinators and bird species. This means leaving seedheads and winter foliage for food and shelter.

The Judges felt this project was an excellent example of how a custom solution by a thoughtful studio can replace and outperform a more generic commodity style green roof.

Kiawah Island Residence

Project
Kiawah Island Residence

Location
Kiawah Island, SC

Award Winner
Living Roofs Inc

Project Team

Architect: Thomas Denzinger Architects
General Contractor: Koenig Construction, Inc
Green Roof Construction & Maintenance: Living Roofs Inc
Landscape Architect: Wertimer + Cline

“These second-story green roofs utilize grasses and natural textures to minimize delineation between the residence’s roof structure and its surrounding environment, creating a harmonized view of the coastal marshland. The green roofs provide outdoor living space for gathering or quiet reflection with a restorative connection to nature. Winding pathways of natural bluestone pavers are flanked by fluffy grasses that visually and tangibly engage with the landscape and create a feeling that one is simply sitting in the middle of the marsh.”

— Kathryn Ancaya, Living Roofs Inc

Saltwater Marsh Inspired Generational Retreat

This coastal residence, located on the outskirts of a saltwater marsh in Kiawah Island, South Carolina, serves as a luxe generational retreat. Together the project's talented team of architects and landscape architects designed an inspired project in a beautiful and ecologically sensitive setting. The home's thoughtful use of natural materials and generous glazing throughout creates continuity and a connection with the surrounding environment. This use of natural materials extends to the living roof areas, which provide a unique vantage point from which to observe and experience the marsh.

The landscape architect for this project designed the amenity space --which includes a deck, winding pathways, and green roof layout-- with the intent to mimic the home's stunning natural setting. The green roof installer provided assistance with plant selection, green roof system technical consultation, and performed installation and green roof maintenance throughout the plant establishment period. These two teams worked closely during construction to achieve the project vision.

The home's guest house and main house support living roofs that cool the buildings, support habitat, and increase biodiversity as well as significantly reduce storm water runoff and protect the vital coastal buffer zone just feet away. These green roofs create an accessible rooftop garden composed of natural materials and plant species selected for both their visual and biological compatibility with the environment-- an ideal space for taking in the views of the surrounding salt marsh. The diversity of plant material not only creates a lush and beautiful outdoor area, it also creates a migratory refuge and habitat for a wide array of species. The plants and underlying green roof system reduce stormwater runoff volume and peak flow from entering the surrounding salt marsh.

Tidal salt marshes are coastal wetlands between land and open saltwater that flood and drain with the tides, creating dynamic and unique environments. The Kiawah River ecosystem is home to an enormous amount of biodiversity including bivalves, crustaceans, fish, and over 140 species of birds.

In response to this very special ecological context, plant species for this project were chosen with intent to blend in visually with the surrounding environment while thriving in the substantially different microclimate the roof offers compared to that of the native salt marsh grasses. The inhabitants of the marsh don't seem to mind the diversity, as they thrive in the grassy landscape which provides shelter, nesting materials, and food. A large piece of cedar driftwood brought up to the green roof for aesthetics creates additional habitat for a range of creatures. The resulting established green roof serves as a curated extension to the salt marsh ecosystem.

The two green roof areas on the second level of the residence provide outdoor living space for social gathering or quiet reflection with a restorative connection to nature. Winding pathways flanked by fluffy grasses lead to an elevated covered sitting porch situated between the green roofs. As one meanders through the vegetation on natural bluestone pavers, they visually and tangibly engage with the landscape. The elevated perspective provides long-range views of the marsh while adjacent green roof vegetation adds to the feeling that one is sitting in the middle of the marsh. These direct connections to nature both visually and sensorially reduce heart rate, allowing one to relax and be present in the space. This has both physical and mental health benefits for indivduals interacting with the green roof.

The materials used are all natural materials that blend into the landscape and coexist harmoniously with the at-grade environment. Materials were sourced locally to the extent possible. Salvaged dead trees were gathered and saved from the site's marsh edge and are placed within the vegetation to visually connect the green roof to the surrounding salt marsh landscape.

During construction, materials had to be develivered to the site in small batches since acesss to the site was through a sensitive environment and there was a small building envelope and limited access around the building. Close attention was taken during construction to limit disturbance to the surroundings.

The green roof installation company is minority-owned, Living Wage certified, and places organizational emphasis on the wellbeing and continued professional development of its employees.

Due to the close proximity of the salt marsh, with an awareness of the cascading effects of runoff in environmentally sensitive areas, green roof maintenance practices for this project included avoiding pesticide and fertilizer use. Maintenance for the critical plant establishment period focused on plant health and included replanting and moving species to adapt to microclimates rather than use of chemicals. Once the green roof was established and poised for success, its maintenance was handed over to the homeowner to care for and enjoy.

The Judges felt this project was a beautiful showcase of how a green roof can blend into the local landscape and engage the surround ecology and context

Carle Foundation Hospital - Will's Garden

Project
Carle Foundation Hospital - Will's Garden

Location
Urbana, Il

Award Winner
Omni Ecosystems

Project Team

Architect: Shepley Bulfinch
General Contractor: J.H. Findorff & Son Inc
Green Roof Supplier & Installer: Omni Ecosystems
Landscape Architect: Omni Ecosystems
Owner: Carle Foundation Hospital

“This project was jumpstarted with emotion and clarity of meaning and it was riddled with challenges regarding logistics and implementation. Yet, it brings us joy as a team of designers and installers to push the boundaries and bring the most benefits and make sure all client needs were met”

— Michael Skowlund, Omni Workshop

“All of our green roof projects are important to us, but an immersive, people-centered and wheelchair accessible rooftop with significant technical requirements and in only 6 inches of media is really special”

— Jesse Rosenbluth, Omni Rewild

A Place for Healing

Will's Garden, named after a former nature loving patient, is a new therapeutic garden at the Carle Foundation Hospital, a world-class, regional healthcare provider in Urbana, Illinois. Located on the facility's sixth floor, the garden provides a transformative, tranquil oasis for patients, family, and healthcare workers to escape the intensity of the hospital in a relaxing, nature-filled environment.

The garden is an accessible, year-round space offering fresh air, views, respite, healing, and restoration. It consists of brightly colored trees, shrubs, perennials, and potted plants intertwined with an immersive looping path that enables wheelchair and hospital bed access. Private seating nooks line the path allowing numerous parties of varying sizes to enjoy the space in solitude.

Design criteria included consideration of the existing hospital building’s extremely low structural load capacity and the site’s location above a neonatal intensive care unit. Wind uplift criteria also had to be met, so conforming to stringent loading parameters required careful tuning. Project goals were achieved using an ultra-lightweight horticultural growing media as the rooting substrate supporting plant growth. The result is a lush ecosystem growing in six inches of growing media.

Unlike typical growing media, the unique horticultural growing media contains the biological components essential for sustaining life. Through colonization, biochemistry, and strategic ecosystem development, the media supports microbial communities and plant life within a naturally occurring, contaminant-free geological substrate. Concurrently, this substrate promotes exceptional stormwater management.

The landscape architect led design team comprised specialists in microbiology, ecology, and horticulture.

This project relies on the special horticultural growing media to exist. The unique growing media has a high porosity, which makes it lightweight - essential to creating this project on an existing structure with limited surplus capacity. The high porosity also yields significant stormwater management service. This means better stormwater management and better retention for plant use. A project-specific, efficient irrigation system was designed and installed to support long-term plant health while balancing water conservation and efficiency.

The design addresses the emotional challenges faced by patients, families, care-givers, and healthcare workers by providing private, peaceful spaces in nature, allowing opportunity for healing, compassion, and grief. The intentionally crafted therapeutic garden offers respite from the facility’s clinical aspects with a highly accessible, natural setting.

Routine application of pesticides is not required by the maintenance plan. Pesticides are unlikely to be used on this project when the maintenance plan is correctly followed. Annual growing media testing for fertility is included in the maintenance plan. A once-annual application of slow-release fertilizer may be recommended in future years, depending on growing media test results. But the maintenance plan does not mandate fertilization, only calls for its consideration depending on what the ecosystem needs on a periodic basis.  An efficient irrigation system provides additional water as needed and is activated each spring and winterized each fall. The team's horticultural experts collaborated with facility maintenance staff to develop a meticulously crafted maintenance strategy, ensuring long-term success.

The Judges felt this project was aesthetically captivating and an engaging adaptive reuse retrofit application, as well as representing a great example of innovation in growing media.

Guildwood GO Station

Project
Guildwood GO Station

Location
Toronto, ON

Award Winner
Elias+ Landscape Architecture + Interiors + Design

Project Team

Architect: RDH Architects
Civil Engineer: WSP Canada Inc
Electrical Engineer: Moon-Matz Ltd
Engineering Services/Project Management: WSP Canada Inc
General Contractor: Kenaidan Contracting Ltd
Landscape Architect: Elias+ Landscape Architecture
Landscape Contractor: SNIPS Landscape & Nursery
Owner: Metrolinx
Vegetated Roof Manufacturer: Hydrotech Membrane Corp

Additional Participants

Architectural Metalcraft Industries Ltd.
BASF Canada Inc.
CDS Construction Distribution &; Supply Co. Inc
Euclid Chemical
Gilbert Steel Limited
Ironworkers Local 721

OSC Seeds Company
Ontario Redimix
PRE-CON Limited
Specs-R-Us
W.R. Meadows Inc.

“Sensitivity of design elevates what might have been a utilitarian suburban public transit station. Successful design elements such as a broad sheltering canopy, rich materiality, and precisely detailed monumental stairs contribute to an emboldened transit experience and memorable public realm. Pollinator gardens are visible from the clearstory level in the station and enrich the experience of the station landing… The potential represented here to create pleasant experiences along an everyday commute enhances potential ridership and points to a future that includes a rich experience of public transit throughout Toronto.”

— Toronto Urban Design Awards Jury 2021

Ecological Succession in Public Infrastructure

Guildwood GO Station, located in Toronto, Canada, intertwines with the city’s ravine system. It is an innovative project, the first station to integrate green roofs with architecture and ravine ecosystems. Our team used an urban ecology approach as an intervention on the embankment slopes, green roofs, and roof courtyard.

Straying from Metrolinx’s traditional designs involving precast, the redeveloped station features a multi-purpose utility building incorporating a long cast-in-place design, and a green roof that blends in with the landscape. The utility buildings and tunnel entrances, which are traditionally utilitarian structures are hidden by the green roofs and embankment slopes.

Ecological succession, a design intervention, has the potential to influence related design disciplines and engage the public. At Guildwood GO Station, with its unique mix of inviting architecture, ecological succession and traditional landscape aesthetics, commuters can once again engage with nature. All plant species were chosen to create a meadow, continue the surrounding ravine vegetation, initiate natural succession. Ecological succession is a biotic self-generating ecosystem that evolves from meadow to deciduous climax forest over a hundred-year period.

The green roofs and embankment slopes serve as a bridge for non-human community movement and species biodiversity within an industrial corridor. The meadows screen the view of the industrial tracks from the bordering subdivision. Today, thousands of the bees and butterflies can be found within the goldenrod and dense flowering meadow.

The roofs and slopes were hydroseeded with grasses to initiate stage one of ecological succession. Local plants and seeds are continually supplied from the ravine by animals, trains, and wind travelling through the green corridor. After five years, the team found that the meadow had been penetrated by thousands of plant species from the ravine, including shrubs and small trees such as Goldenrod, Sumac. and Ailanthus. The dominant meadow species changed yearly, depending on soil conditions, plant resilience, and climate.

Embracing architecture and ecological succession enabled us to envision the landscape as a bridge for human and non-human community movement and a green oasis amid an industrial corridor.

Track embankments create a linear topography echoed in the architecture. The geometry and materiality are repeated in the landscape through linear hedges, grasses, 18-meter-long stainless steel and Ipe wood seating planters. Granite strips embedded in the concrete plaza continue the lighting/flooring pattern of the interior and canopy. The green roofs and roof courtyard integrate vertically with the architecture.

Inside views to the green roofs and roof courtyard at every point of commuter movement further establish an architectural connection with the landscape. Upon exiting the tunnels, commuters are greeted with panoramic views of borrowed landscapes merging into the roof meadows and slopes on both north and south platforms. The landscape atmospherically changes each season, from spring’s vibrant green to the warm colours of summer and fall to the whites of winter.

The Garden Roof® assembly retains 50% to 90% of a typical rain fall on the surface. The irrigation controller has Cycle+Soak water management software installed. This software can operating each station for a maximum cycle time and a minimum soak time to reduce water run-off. Furthermore, the controller incorporates a FloManager which provides real-time flow, power, and station management. FloManager manages the number of stations operating at any point in time based on the water source capacity, station flow rate, and number of valves per station. Additionally, the controller's ETC-LX ET Manager Cartridge receives weather servce singals and adjusts day cycles and station run times to apply the minimum amount of water based on the current plant water requitrements.

Maintenance of the infrastructure involves a number of considerations

• Mowing the site at a height of 8 inches once a year to prevent tree growth. Early November, before the arrival of snow is ideal for this task in Greater Toronto Area (GTA)

• Collecting the larger residues to activate sprouting in the following spring

• Consider implementing an overseeding plan if the vegetated surface displays reduced vigour or experiences a decline in biodiversity

• Following the other tasks for example weeding, fertilizing, irrigating etc.

The Judges felt this project was a stunning integration of ecology, nature, and systems thinking into a large and highly trafficked public infrastructure project, reinvigorating an otherwise utilitarian space.