Green Roofs - Living Architecture Monitor - Spring 2011 - (Page 4)

STRATA LIVING BUILDING CHALLENGE UPDATE By Vicky Fellowes Image by Benjamin Benschneider, courtesy of Living Future Institute PROJECTS ON BOTH SIDES OF THE CANADA-U.S. BORDER DEMONSTRATE THE SEEMINGLY IMPOSSIBLE T he race is on between two British Columbia projects to become the first certified Living Building in Canada, as part of The International Living Future Institute’s ongoing Living Building Challenge (LBC). The VanDusen Botanical Garden Visitors Centre, Vancouver and The Centre for Interactive Research on Sustainability (CIRS) at the University of British Columbia (UBC) were both scheduled for completion in Spring 2011. Hoping to excite and educate visitors about the world of plants, the $19.4 million orchid inspired VanDusen visitor centre will feature an undulating nearly 14,000-squaremetre extensive green roof, injected with colorful bulb plantings. The captivating roof will direct rainwater into underground cisterns for use around the centre, satisfying zero water requirements in the Living Building Challenge. Keen to create a “living laboratory” on its campuses, the CIRS building at UBC is just another example of the Centre’s commitment to green building. Conceived in 2000 by Dr. John Robinson, and on target for completion in June 2011, the building’s green walls, deciduous plantings and 4520-square-foot green roof will blend seamlessly against the B.C. coastline backdrop. On the other side of the border, the development of the Science Wing of Seattle’s SEATTLE'S BERTSCHI SCHOOL Bertschi School, which opened in February 2011 and is already in LBC evaluation – was a truly collaborative effort. The school joined forces with the Restorative Design Collective (a group of Seattle design professionals who provided free design services) to become Washington’s greenest building and, they hope, the first LBC-certified building in the state. The garden grows food for the school and greywater is treated by the green wall comprised of tropical plants. A serene mossmat roof completes the look. Also of note, a handmade stream running though the science classroom that is fed with rainwater from a nearby roof (pictured at top left). “Some project teams pursuing the Challenge are taking advantage of the benefits that vegetated roofs and walls have to offer, including planted areas as part of their strategies to achieve the Net-Zero Energy, Ecological Water Flow, and Biophilic Imperatives,” says Eden Brukman, vice-president, International Living Future Institute. “And since they are often prominent and visible elements for both the building's occupants and the general public, vegetated roofs and walls also serve as an educational tool to express place-based solutions and reinforce the need for evolved humannature relationships.” Vicky Fellowes is a freelance writer based in Toronto, Ontario. THE UNDULATING GREEN ROOF OF THE VAN DUSEN BOTANICAL GARDEN VISITORS CENTRE BLENDS INTO THE B.C. LANDSCAPE Image courtesy of Perkins+Will Canada 4 LIVING ARCHITECTURE MONITOR SPRING 2011

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

Green Roofs - Living Architecture Monitor - Spring 2011
Contents
Adaptation Through Innovation
Award-Winning Leader
Living Building Challenge Update
On the Roof With...
The Black Arts
Green Walls
Stormwater Policy
Root Repellent Standards
Growing Media
Green Building Codes
New Corporate Members
The GRP Turns Two
Professional Calendar
My First Year as a GRP

Green Roofs - Living Architecture Monitor - Spring 2011