Green Roofs - Living Architecture Monitor - Summer 2016 - 18

INTERVIEWS campus as a whole. We wanted our project to sit in a grey area within the figure-ground of the campus. It's lifted off the ground so you can pass underneath it, and also has a green roof on top. So, it's almost as much a part of the landscape as it is a building on the campus. We wanted a particular relationship to the nature of campus and beyond - to the gorge that lies to the north. WR: Do you design for visual beauty or sustainability, or both? JL: The two are interlocked. A green roof is a beautiful design feature, and it also gives us a palette to work with. With the green roof on the Cornell architecture building, we responded to the conjunction of the manicured campus with the wild nature of the gorge - by creating a gradient pattern of differently-colored plantings on the roof. We always design with an eye toward sustainability. But I have to say that, typically, our main drivers are program, functionality and aesthetics in general; then we coordinate those things with a sustainability agenda - using aspects such as façade-performance, building orientation, and a green roof. We're not typically putting in green just for the sake of it. For us, we have to see a clear benefit to the users, and a clear conceptual purpose. LAM: What do you see as the main obstacle to more widespread use of greener or more sustainable building approaches? JL: I would say there's not a lot of resistance, typically, because the systems have been so proved out. There are sometimes concerns in terms of more intensive green roof applications, where you potentially have to compromise a program on the interior in order to get more soil depth, or face more areas of risk in terms of tree roots and roof stability. But the main thing I see hampering more widespread use of green roofs is the same thing that makes clients hesitate to create any roof terrace - it's a cost that is to some degree tangential to the key function of the building. So when budgets start getting tight, the owner asks: "Do I really need this roof terrace?" or "Can't we just do something cheaper?" LAM: Do you have any advice for your architects hoping to feature green building approaches? JL: I have two things to suggest. One, on a practical level you need to incorporate things like growing media depths, and ceiling heights, and ceiling packages early in your thinking. When you think of an accessible roof, for example, know that you will immediately face problems of egress and security. You need to be realistic, and know from the outset what you want to achieve. Secondly, a green roof can really help a building engage and have a dialogue-like relationship with its own exterior THE FORM OF THE BRIDGE, AND THE X IT FORMS IN ELEVATION, ALSO CREATES A LAYERING - OF MOMENTS WHERE YOU CAN SEE AND BE SEEN, MOMENTS WHERE YOU CAN LOOK DOWN INTO THE RIVER AND BACK INTO THE CITY. LIVING ARCHITECTURE MONITOR / SUMMER 2016 / 18 READ THIS ISSUE ONLINE AT LIVINGARCHITECTUREMONITOR.COM

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