Green Roofs - Living Architecture Monitor - Summer 2011 - (Page 28)

PROJECT SPECS Project: Sky Island at the Visionaire Green Roof Terrace Location: 70 Little West Street, Battery Park City, New York Green Roof Size: 2,000-square-feet total (1280-sq.-ft. intensive. 580-sq.-ft. extensive, (Remaining areas include bamboo decking and gravel.) Completion Date: August 2010 Owner/Client: Frederic C. Rich Landscape Architects: Mark K. Morrison Landscape Architecture PC; Principal in Charge: Mark K. Morrison, RLA, FASLA, GRP Planting Design: Mark K. Morrison, RLA, FASLA, GRP Landscape Designers: Melissa Ix (Director of Design), Anne Vaterlaus RLA (Project Manager) Architects: Fradkin & McAlpin Architects LLC (pergola design), New York, New York; Principal in Charge: David McAlpin, AIA; Architectural Designer: Hannah Wong Structural Engineer: Robert Silman Associates; Principal in Charge: Nat Oppenheimer, PE Fountain Design and Fabrication: Eve Vaterlaus, New City, New York General Contractor: Windsway Construction LLC, Sharon, Connecticut; Principal in Charge, Mark K. Morrison, RLA, FASLA, GRP; Project Manager: Blake L. Morrison Roofing Contractor: Eagle One Roofing Contractors, Inc., Astoria, New York Metal Fabrication: Museum Productions, Inc.., Brooklyn, New York Lighting and Irrigation Specialist: National Lawn Sprinklers, White Plains, New York Growing Media: McEnroe Organic Farms, Millerton, New York Plant Suppliers: Hardscrabble Farms, North Salem, New York; Oliver Nurseries, Fairfield, Connecticut; Young’s Nurseries, Wilton, Connecticut; Rosedale Nurseries, Hawthorne, New York; Claire’s Garden Center, Patterson, New York; Ward’s Nursery, Inc., Barrington, Massachusetts; Hollandia Nursery, Bethel, Connecticut; Fall’s Village Flower Farm, Fall’s Village, Connecticut; Twombly Nursery, Monroe, Connecticut; and McEnroe Organic Farms, Millerton, New York 28 LIVING ARCHITECTURE MONITOR SUMMER 2011 nterior and exterior surfaces of buildings are being redefined by landscape architects, architects and engineers to maximize their productive abilities and minimize our ecological footprint. An intensive agricultural-themed green roof terrace at the Visionaire, a condominium building in Battery Park City, New York, offers an ecologically dynamic example of this emerging paradigm. Developed by the Albanese Corporation and designed by Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects, the Visionaire achieved LEED-Platinum certification through a variety of methods including solar panels on the exterior skin and sustainable building materials. Condominium owner Frederic C. Rich decided to take sustainability a step further. Rich, actively involved in environmental causes and possessing extensive plant knowledge, wanted a productive and aesthetic garden. “My primary goals were threefold,” says Rich. I model to urban dwellers interested in augmenting their diet with specialized local food production. Since the roof terrace is private, Rich planned to publicize his vegetable and fruit yields and selected varieties through a blog site (see the blog at www.batteryrooftopgarden.org.) Rich selected our firm, Mark K. Morrison Landscape Architecture PC (MKMLA) to implement his vision. MKMLA has been an advocate in embracing a more complex system of roof greening, as outlined in Mark K. Morrison’s (MKM’s) and Chris Syrett’s paper “Moving Beyond Sedum: Challenging Ourselves to Create Better Roofscapes,” presented at GRHC’s 7th Annual International Greening Rooftops for Sustainable Communities conference in Atlanta in 2009. Morrison’s research explores the limits of Sedums – the primary plant material used in extensive green roof construction – for a variety of reasons including: visual/aesthetic (Sedum is low growing, providing no canopy variety); DUE TO THE CLIENT’S WILLINGNESS TO EXPERIMENT AND ACCEPT LOSS, THE PLANTING PALETTE IS COMPRISED OF 160 SPECIES OF ORNAMENTAL PLANT MATERIAL WITH NUMEROUS URBAN FARMING OPPORTUNITIES INTERSPERSED THROUGHOUT THE LANDSCAPE. “First, I wanted to experiment with the growing of a wider variety of food plants than is typically attempted on a green roof. Second, I sought to enhance the ecological impact of the green roof by converting it from extensive to intensive, varying the growing media depths and introducing a highly diverse range of trees, shrubs and other plants. My third goal was to create a highly functional outdoor venue for personal use, small dinners and large events – a space that could also provide an intense and aesthetically pleasing year-round experience of nature in the city.” Rich also hoped the garden would serve as a resiliency in the face of climate change as monocultures in general are less able to adapt to changes in temperature and precipitation; and ecosystem diversity. On this last point, Morrison’s firm advocates a patch dynamics approach to urban greening, in which green zones, even if separated by concrete urbanized areas, can act as viable wildlife habitat. In this model, canopyfocused green roofs offer complex habitat islands for a variety of bird and insect species. Also, because of increased biomass, intensive green roof systems are more effective than extensive green roofs in ameliorating the urban http://www.batteryrooftopgarden.org

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Green Roofs - Living Architecture Monitor - Summer 2011

Green Roofs - Living Architecture Monitor - Summer 2011
Contents
Water Worries
Cities Re-Imagined
Design Strategies for Wild Bees
Special Section: Cities Alive 2011 Conference Guide
Thin Flats
Sky Island at the Visionaire
Welcome New Members
New Corporate Members
Professional Calendar
Seven-Year Pitch

Green Roofs - Living Architecture Monitor - Summer 2011

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