Green Roofs - Living Architecture Monitor - Fall 2013 - (Page 26)

PROJECT PROFILE ON THE ROOF WITH… GREENWALLSFORGREENERCITIES A SELECTION OF INNOVATIVE GREEN WALL POLICIES AND PROJECTS ACROSS NORTH AMERICA POLICIES VANCOUVER: The City of Vancouver’s 2020 Greenest City Action Plan has made energy conservation in buildings a key priority. Building operations generate 55 percent of Vancouver’s overall greenhouse gas emission footprint and the City’s green building team has developed a set of tools aimed at cutting this back significantly. One of these tools is passive design, which aims to conserve energy by reducing a building’s reliance on mechanical heating and cooling. The passive design approach harnesses climatic effects such as the sun and wind to improve energy efficiency. The City published two “Passive Design Toolkits” in 2009 to help designers and builders implement more passive design strategies in their projects. Vancouver also amended its Zoning and Development Bylaw to remove regulatory barriers to using specific passive design strategies, such as green walls. Conflicts may arise if green walls are designed to project into required yards and setbacks (the required distance between the building and the property line). To address this, the City’s bylaw amendment states that the City will allow green wall projections into yards and setbacks, provided that: (a) the wall is demountable and not permanently affixed to the building; (b) the wall does not exceed a 254mm projection. Hundreds of projects have been permitted through Seattle Green Factor since its introduction to Seattle’s zoning code in By: Rachel Moscovich, green building planner, 2007. Of these, dozens have included green City of Vancouver wall elements, with a wide variety of support systems and planting schemes. Cities around the country are looking to Seattle’s code and adopting similar scoring systems. Washington DC adopted a citywide version of Green Factor, Portland has Passive Design Toolkit: http://goo.gl/FYk8g launched a pilot version, and many other municipalities are considering this approach. Demountable Green Wall Bylaw: http:// goo.gl/N9omv By: Dave LaClergue, urban designer, City of Seattle SEATTLE: Seattle Green Factor is a scorebased code requirement that increases the amount and improves the quality of landscaping in new development. Based on European precedents, it applies to multifamily residential, commercial and mixed-use Seattle Green Factor: http://goo.gl/FXOMO development throughout the city. To receive permits for new development, applicants must earn credits through various 4,000 SQUARE FOOT LIVING WALL: Most landscape features, including trees, shrubs, concrete parking structures are gray, cold rain gardens, green roofs and green walls. and often designed to not be showcased. These credits are weighted to favor aesWith the Aqua Felt green wall system thetic and environmental functions. Bonus by Seasons Natural Engineering, a 4,000 credits are available for plantings that are square foot living wall was designed to visible to the public, use native or droughtturn the new parking structure at Edwards resistant plants, incorporate food producLifesciences’ Irvine, California headquartion or irrigate using harvested rainwater. ters into a focal point for the employees FIND OUT MORE FIND OUT MORE PROJECTS Image provided by: Seasons Natural Engineering 4,000 SQUARE FOOT LIVING WALL DESIGN LIVING ARCHITECTURE MONITOR / FALL 2013 / 26 READ THIS ISSUE ONLINE AT WWW.LIVINGARCHITECTUREMONITOR.COM http://www.goo.gl/FYk8g http://www.goo.gl/N9omv http://www.goo.gl/N9omv http://www.goo.gl/FXOMO http://WWW.LIVINGARCHITECTUREMONITOR.COM

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Green Roofs - Living Architecture Monitor - Fall 2013

Green Roofs - Living Architecture Monitor - Fall 2013
Inside
From the Founder
Bookshelf – Eat Up: The Inside Scoop on Rooftop Agriculture
Green Roofs Boost Efficiency of Solar Panels
Grey to Green a Great Success
New & Upcoming GRHC Courses
On the Roof With… Industry Leaders
West Coast Green Innovation
Industry Research Collection
The Green Façade Inquiry
Creative Stormwater Landscaping
Leadership – Green Roof Leadership
Plant – Selecting Plants for Living Walls
Conference Agenda — CitiesAlive in San Francisco
Project – Green Walls for Greener Cities
Project – Living Architecture That Feeds
Project – Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
New Corporate Members
GRHC Buyers Guide
Hey EPA

Green Roofs - Living Architecture Monitor - Fall 2013