Green Roofs - Living Architecture Monitor - Fall 2012 - (Page 25)

Image provided by: Swift Company team CATEGORy: Extensive Institutional pROJECT: Center for Urban Waters, 12,000 square foot green roof LANDSCApE ARCHITECT: Swift Company (Award Winner) ARCHITECT: Perkins + Will CIVIL AND STRUCTURAL SURVEyOR: AHBL, Inc. MECHANICAL, ELECTRICAL, AND pLUMBING: WSP Flack + Kurtz IRRIGATION DESIGN, CONSULTANT fOR SWIfT COMpANy: William Brown Landscape Architects DRAINAGE SySTEM, WATERpROOfING: Soprema GROWING MEDIUM: Soprema IRRIGATION SySTEM COMpONENTS: WeatherTRAK, Netafim, Rain Bird EDGING: Permaloc GeoEdge research and ecoLogicaL restorations in an industriaL setting T he Center for Urban Waters is a new shared research facility for the City of Tacoma, University of Washington Tacoma and the Puget Sound Partnership. The site is located on the north eastern side of the Thea Foss Waterway, in what is the first non-industrial development in a currently heavily industrial area. As a LEED Platinum facility, this project integrates sustainable building and site design. The green roof is one of the components in the overall project strategy for energy savings and stormwater management. The four-inch growing medium supports a variety of groundcover, perennials, grasses and sedums including Coastal Strawberry, Yarrow, Mexican Feather Grass, Golden Moss Stonecrop and many more. Larger areas, meant to accommodate future photovoltaic panels, were planted with sedums to provide the greatest drought and shade tolerant coverage. Combined with other energy reduction elements, such as: sunshades and natural ventilation for cooling, ground-source heat pump for heating, natural daylighting of interior spaces and the aforementioned use of photovoltaic panels for solar power generation, the green roof contributes to the whole story for this project of energy reduction and careful resource management. Being on a shoreline, the roof’s stormwater management is an important priority. Stormwater that does not evapotranspirate from the roof is drained and collected and stored (in two 41,000 gallon cisterns) for reuse as part of the site and roof irrigation systems and building toilets. This makes the site almost entirely porous when the green roof, pervious pavement, rain gardens and other planting areas are combined. Efficient irrigation, only required during the hottest part of summer, is distributed via dripline and is controlled by an evapotranspiration-adjusted irrigation controller. The Center for Urban Waters provides a number of educational opportunities as part of its institutional mandate. Not only does the facility provide signage and other educational communications about the green roof and green building as a whole, it also provides tours. Energy and water consumption is constantly monitored and visually displayed in real time in the lobby. Another layer of the educational function is the research and studies on topics such as stormwater pollutes, that are carried out on a daily basis as the primary mission of the laboratory. The green roof has been wildly successful from the initial installation to today. The plantings are an integral part of the sustainable message of the facility and key point for educational tours of the building. the center for urban Waters green roof is a part of an integrated ecological system in the middle of an industrial waterfron…this is not just a pretty object. Barbara Swift, Swift Company LLC LIVING ARCHITECTURE MONITOR / fALL 2012 / 25

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Green Roofs - Living Architecture Monitor - Fall 2012

Green Roofs - Living Architecture Monitor - Fall 2012
Contents
From the Founder
Letter From the Editor
The World’s First Bio-Façade Ready to Grow
Save the Dates for the Greenroofs & Walls of the World™ Virtual Summit 2013
On the Roof With…
Policy and Standards
Current Research
Leadership
Product
Plant
Project
2012 Awards of Excellence
New Corporate Members
Professional Calendar
GRHC Buyer’s Guide
On Spec

Green Roofs - Living Architecture Monitor - Fall 2012