Green Roofs - Living Architecture Monitor Winter 2020 - 1

FROM THE FOUNDER

MULTIPLE BUSINESS CASES
FOR LIVING ARCHITECTURE NOW AND IN THE FUTURE
P

rotect what is healthy, restore what is
degraded, and build living architecture!
These three principles are essential
to human survival and the survival of the
countless species that share our home.
During the covid pandemic, people have
a renewed appreciation of the importance
of greenspaces ability to maintain their
mental and physical well being. If we
channel this renewed awareness into
public policy decision making and private
decision making, we can protect, restore
and build green infrastructure to help
us weather future crises. Well into the
foreseeable future, climate change will
generate intense rainfall and flooding, heat
waves exacerbated by the urban heat island
effect, power failures, uncontrollable
fires, more frequent and more destructive
hurricanes and dare I say it, food supply
disruptions.
The business case for green
infrastructure is strong, and it is about the
benefits that are attainable today, as well as
the promise of future benefits. The " On the
Roof With " interview with Kirstin Weeks,
a cost-benefit consulting guru, scopes out
many of the public and private benefits
of living architecture, including several
that are rarely utilized or acknowledged.
A special edition of the Journal of Living
Architecture (JLIV) contains peer
reviewed papers that explore the impact

LIVINGARCHITECTUREMONITOR.COM

of heterogeneity on green roofs and how
designers can take advantage of differences
to maximize biodiversity and more.
On the public front, local governments
have many tools at their disposal to incent
these technologies and begin to reap their
many public benefits. Richard Hayden
discusses the benefits of using Floor Area
Ratio bonusing in Savannah, Georgia to
demonstrate the positive multiplier effect
of smartly conceived, low cost incentives
for green roofs.
Imagine for a moment that you are
drifting, stranded on the roof of a building
upon the ocean, hundreds of miles from
anyone, and think about the kind of roof
system you'd like to have. This thought
experiment led to the doctrine of " highest
and best possible use for roof space " which
I described several years ago. It posits that,
in an ideal world, existing roof space should
be used for the greatest possible public and
private good, based on the available loading
capacity. There is a place for solar panels,
but not if a vegetative roof is the only
option. Combining the two would be even
better. Reflective roofs have their place,
but not on structures that can support a
green roof. McLean's article on the rooftop
farm on the Avling Brewery is yet another
great example of the multitude of business
benefits that are achievable beyond the
vegetables and herbs.

Professor Bousselot's On Spec article
takes this thinking one step further. Her
call for support to examine the design
and economic parameters associated
with rooftop agrivoltaics is revolutionary.
Agrivoltaics, the combination of green
roofs, solar panels and food production
could turn out to be the highest and best
possible use. It could be the ultimate roof
raft to survive upon. The notion of rooftop
agrivoltaics suggests not only the need for
further research but the need to look at
new business models and public policies
that rapidly transform these spaces into
a force to future proof our buildings and
our communities. Combined with policies
that protect what is healthy, restore what is
degraded, building living architecture for a
multitude of benefits will yield the greatest
social, economic and environmental
returns. And what a great way to start a
New Year!
Sincerely yours,

Steven W. Peck,
GRP, Honorary ASLA
Founder and President

LIVING ARCHITECTURE MONITOR / WINTER 2020 / 1
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Green Roofs - Living Architecture Monitor Winter 2020

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