Green Roofs by Shape Architecture
As Shape Architecture enters its nineteenth year of practice there are many areas of design and construction which we have developed an expertise in over this period.
We will review a number of these areas over the next few weeks and describe how they benefit our clients. Our first area is the design of green roofs. Here as with most of our work we have designed green roofs to a wide range of buildings both in type and scale.
Our Director, Jason Wren established Shape Architecture having already designed and worked on many green roof projects over the previous decade and brought that experience into the practice.
Our first green roof was brown. A rubble roof in Hammersmith . Having previously designed a community project for the Hammersmith Community Garden Association which featured a Green Roof at his previous practice the Charity came back to Jason at the newly formed Shape Architecture to design a second community building for them. This building, set in the corner of a park, followed a sustainable brief and a large part of this saw the rubble excavated from building works retained on site and put on the roof. The roof, overlooked by a number of houses forms an appealing composition, particularly with the addition of a circular roof light.
Many of our green roof projects have been to Client’s homes such as to side and rear extensions. Rather than looking down onto a felt roof, a green sedum roof provides a much better outlook. The advantages are many and we describe these below. Our project at Rugby Road in Brighton incorporates a green sedum roof to a side extension and again combines sedum with glazed elements to form an attractive combination.
Other projects have seen green roofs applied in a green belt setting such as our ‘Dragonfly’ early years building for the Anthony Roper school in Kent. Here located next to the River Darent the ‘body’ of the dragonfly is formed as a green sedum in contrast to the metal roofs over each classroom forming the wings.
A proposal for an office in another green setting saw the combination of shipping containers forming walls with a green roof punctured by a striking glazed roof light. This again shows how sedum can sit in contrast with other materials in a considered composition.
There are many advantages of a green roof other than its appearance and we set out several of these below,
Increase Biodiversity
A Green Roof will increase the biodiversity of a project, providing a habitat for birds, butterflies and insects. This helps reduce the volume of surface water being discharged into the drainage system. An ever more important issue for us all as we address more frequent flooding.
Reduces Water Run Off
A Green Roof absorbs up to 70% of rainwater falling on it.
Extends life span of roof
A green roof protects the roofing material from external influences such as the sun, rain, wind and temperature fluctuations and doubles or triples the life span of your roof to up to 60 years or even longer. You will recoup the investment in your green roof within 8 to 21 years.
Purifies the air
The plants in a green roof filter particulate matter from the air and convert CO2 into oxygen. With a green roof you are contributing to air purification.
Direct-green, low maintenance
Using vegetation blankets you can create a green roof with a direct-green result. The mats are carefully pre-cultivated and on delivery boast 90% coverage. This means that weeds hardly get a chance to establish themselves and the maintenance required is negligible.
If you are considering a project with a green roof please feel free to contact us at Shape Architecture. We would be happy to give you the benefit of our nineteen years of experience.
