Green Roofs Come to NYC
New
York is starting to push the concept of "Green Buildings," offering
incentives to designers and builders to include environmentally friendly
concepts into their structures. The "Green Roof" is a main feature of
this movement, providing a landscaped park on the top of the building as
a community space and also to help regulate water runoff and heat.
On the large scale, if enough buildings were to change their massive black-tar rooftops to "Green Roofs." it would both lower the temperature in the city by 2-3 degrees and significantly reduce the amount of rainwater runoff the sewage system needs to handle. Check out the article in Natural Health's July Issue for more information.
O C V Architects are one of the main proponents of the Green Building initiative in New York, and they're designing Common Ground's Christopher Nels Larson Residence. Presumably, once phase 2 of construction is complete, the rooftop will be refashioned into into a landscaped park. I can't wait to hang out up there and eat lunch, all while helping the environment. Mmm... Tasty activism.