Green Roofs - Living Architecture Monitor - Fall 2019 - 13

HOSPITAL FARMING TAKES ROOT IN BOSTON

he Boston Medical Center rooftop farm,
built in 2016 on BMC's power plant building, revitalizes the previously underutilized
roof space with a farm meant to benefit the
whole community. The farm was designed for
agricultural productivity, accessibility, water
savings, and to minimize the building's negative
effects on the surrounding urban environment.
For example, the green synthetic turf layer
between planting beds reflects more light than
the underlying black waterproofing, emitting
less heat throughout the day and night, reducing
its contribution to urban heat island effect. The
farm has also reduced the hospital's energy
consumption by increasing its local food consumption and decreasing its "food miles".
This rooftop farm supports 25 different
crops and 2 bee hives. The diversity of crops
supports local pollinators, which, along with the
hives, pollinate nearly 75 per cent of the food
on the farm. The farm has flowers in continual
blossom throughout the season creating habitat
for beneficial insects and pollinators.
The rooftop farm grows food for use in the
hospital's cafeterias, patient plates, food pantry,
teaching kitchen and in-hospital affordable farmers market. The farm location was chosen because
of its visibility from the Shapiro Building; a glass
backed building housing many of the hospitals
main clinics caring for hundreds of patients each
day. These patients have excellent visual access
to the farm, directly across the street from where

they are receiving care.
The irrigation system is a remote-monitored
smart drip irrigation system that can be controlled
by a smart phone. The system saves water by
monitoring weather conditions and shutting off irrigation when rain is in the forecast. Drip emitters
deliver water sub-surface directly to the roots to
minimize water usage and evaporation.
The local community has many opportunities
to engage with the farm through weekly tours and
volunteer opportunities as well as free educational
events for patients and employees. Additionally
summer camps are offered in partnership with the
teaching kitchen offering 2 weeks of free summer
camp for patient and employee kids and 4 weeks of
summer camp programming with Boston Public
Schools and Boston Public Health Commission.
The farm is integrated with the Nourishing
Our Community program which includes the
rooftop farm, Teaching Kitchen, and Preventative
Food Pantry. The Teaching Kitchen holds classes
for patients and staff, topics include: 'cooking for
cancer survivors', 'cooking on a budget', 'cooking
with diabetes', ' cooking 101,' to name a few. The
Preventative Food Pantry supports individuals
with special nutritional needs that are referred to
the Pantry by BMC primary care providers. The
Pantry is often used by patients with cancer, HIV/
AIDS, hypertension, diabetes, obesity, heart disease and other chronic conditions. Both the Food
Pantry and the Kitchen receive fresh produce
from the rooftop farm.

CATEGORY
Urban Agriculture
PROJECT
Boston Medical Center
Rooftop Farm
LOCATION
Boston, MA
AWARD WINNER
Recover Green Roofs
TEAM MEMBERS
Designer &
Installer/General Contractor
Recover Green Roofs
Client
Boston Medical Center
Farm Manager
Higher Ground Farm

"The goal with our rooftop farm is to provide fresh, local produce to as many of our patients,
employees, and community members as possible...This initiative supports our mission to address
social determinants of health by improving access to healthy fruits and vegetables, and is a
perfect example of BMC's dedication to sustainability and green efforts."
David Maffeo, Senior Director of Support Services, Boston Medical Center

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Green Roofs - Living Architecture Monitor - Fall 2019

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