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Living roofs covered with vegetation
are becoming key elements in environmental design. Throughout the country, more
and more companies are turning to living roofs when they design new buildings.
Ford Motor Company, The Gap and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan are among many
companies that decided to go green.For these and other companies, living roofs
make sound business sense. Living roofs aid in water runoff, help insulate buildings
to save energy and create habitats for insects and birds. 
The
world's largest living roof can be found in an unlikely place - Ford Motor Company's
Dearborn Truck Assembly Plant. Located along the Rouge River, it is part of a
massive 600 acre complex known as The Rouge. The entire complex opened in 1917
and it is Ford's largest manufacturing facility.
In 2000, the company gave
the go-ahead to a $2 billion renovation of the Rouge complex. Instead of merely
renovating, Ford decided to make this a greenfield to remediate the site.
Company
Chairman Bill Ford brought renowned environmental architect William A. McDonough
on board to design the new assembly facility. Part of the design was a living
roof made of sedum plants. At 10.4 acres, it is the world's largest living roof.
Ford
Motor Company is not the only Michigan business to have a living roof. The first
living roof in the city of Detroit is on top of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan's
new downtown parking deck.
The roof features 52,300 square feet of sedum plants
and is on top of the company's nine-story parking deck. The company will seek
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification for the new
parking deck as a "green building." The United States Green Building
Council created a rating system and certification in 1995 to recognize and promote
environmentally friendly buildings.
"Our
decision to install the green roof is based on the fact that it is an environmentally
responsible design," said Ray Warner, director of facilities management for
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan. "The roof vegetation acts as a sponge
to filter and slow rainwater runoff in sewer systems, controlling the overflow
of sewers into our rivers and lakes."
"Green roofs have been used
for decades in Europe but have only recently gained popularity in the United States.
Between 2004 and 2005 the total square footage of green roofs increased 80 percent
in the United States," explains Brad Rowe, Ph.D., associate professor of
horticulture at Michigan State University.
"As
our forests and agricultural lands are replaced with impervious surfaces due to
urban development, the necessity to recover green space is becoming increasingly
critical for the health of our environment as well as our well-being. Green roofs
are one potential remedy for this problem. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan's
parking structure is an excellent example of the value of a green roof in an urban
environment," added Rowe.
The 52,300 square-foot vegetated system - approximately
70 percent of the 75,000 square-foot roof area - makes the Blues' roof the second
largest continuous green roof in Michigan according to Xero FlorAmerica, the company
that supplied the patented vegetated system materials.
Neumann/Smith Architecture
of Southfield designed the project in conjunction with the landscape design firm
of Grissim Metz Andriese, Landscape Architects of Northville and Turner Construction
Company of Detroit.
In 1997, when the Gap built its headquarters in San Bruno,
California, its plan included a green roof. The roof, in addition to providing
a home for wildlife, keeps the building well insulated.
This 69,000 sq. ft. roof also was
designed by McDonough, a leader in the field. The roof is covered with grasses
and wild flowers and was one of the first large commercial buildings to have a
living roof.
More and more companies are realizing the benefits of living
roofs it will be a staple in the future.
John
A. Russell is a freelance writer and frequent contributor to The New York Post.
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