Green Roofs - Living Architecture Monitor - Fall 2012 - (Page 1)

FROM THE FOUNDER Images provided by: Steven Peck Learning from “ The good, The Bad & The UgLy” eehaw! Thank you to everyone who made our 10th Annual CitiesAlive celebration in Chicago a big success and look forward to seeing you in San Francisco in October 2013. As we continue to mature as an industry, we will need to take stock, and learn from past mistakes while Y also planning for a better and greener future. Your valuable input in Chicago will help us to continue to develop programs, like the Living Architecture Performance Tool (pg. 8), that are so vital for the continued development of the industry. This issue of the Living Architecture Monitor magazine not only celebrates “the good”—our award winning projects and people and the fantastic work they have achieved; but also “the bad and the ugly”, by looking more closely at the notion of “failure” and what can or could be done to avoid it. Congratulations to all of our award winners! We asked a number of experts to share with us their ideas about what constitutes “failure” and to reflect on potential solutions (pg. 4); Patrick Carey, our longest serving professional trainer and award winning designer also shares his views on failure (pg. 18); while Marguerite Wells describes some of the hardiest plants available (pg. 16). Paul Sheehy, vice-president of sales for North America with Tremco Canada also reflects on the current state of warranties, and their inability to substitute for wise design and smart investment in quality waterproofing. As the industry continues to grow and expand, it will inevitably attract more and more players. Many of those players may not share the same degree of care and stewardship as the early adopters have. They may not invest in professional training, research and development, or be able to provide the client support and guidance required to secure the long term perfor- mance of their green roof or wall projects. Hence, it is more important than ever to bring to light “failures” and what we have learned from them, all the while continuing to trumpet our best and brightest through our annual awards program. It can be tough in the wild west of the construction industry. There is a lot of misinformation and bad business practices out there. But if we focus our collective efforts in the next decade on developing performance standards, better business models, more effective policies, training and best practices that are aimed at long term performance, then we will surely secure the long term future of living architectural technologies for generations to come. Thanks for comin’ along for the ride, partners! Hope you can overlook the reference to the famous Clint Eastwood western and still enjoy this issue—“the good, the bad and the ugly!” Sincerely, Steven W. Peck Founder & President, GRHC LIVING ARCHITECTURE MONITOR / FALL 2012 / 1

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