Green Roofs for Healthy Cities Take Over Boston
Green advocates flock to Boston for Green Roofs for Healthy Cities conference. GRHC sets new record for conference attendance.

Green Roofs for Healthy Cities and the city of Boston co-hosted the Greening Rooftops for Sustainable Communities Conference last week, drawing a record number of green roof advocates looking to bring healthier, more sustainable communities to North America. The conference included more than 35 speakers from 10 countries who were all knowledgeable experts in different aspects of green roof design, policy, or research.

Sasaki Associates Inc. received a Green Roof Award of Excellence in the Intensive Industrial/Commercial category for its work on the Manulife Financial building in Boston's Seaport District.

In addition, the trade show featured more than 65 booths, all displaying a wide range of products, services, and examples of green roofs. ASLA also staffed a booth at the Expo, which featured a slide show of the newly installed green roof at ASLA headquarters. Thanks in large part to the new green roof, the ASLA booth saw a steady stream of traffic, which included several members who were attending the meeting.

One of the highlights of the conference was the Green Roof Awards of Excellence, which received a record number of submissions this year. ASLA Executive Vice President Nancy Somerville served on the jury and presided as the master of ceremonies at the gala awards luncheon honoring the recipients.

Green Roof Awards of Excellence
One of the highlights of the conference was the Green Roof Awards of Excellence, which received a record number of submissions this year. ASLA Executive Vice President Nancy Somerville served on the jury and presided as the master of ceremonies at the gala awards luncheon honoring the recipients.

Traditionally these awards have recognized outstanding green roof projects in six categories. Projects are categorized by building type, distinguishing between residential, institutional, and commercial. These three categories are then subdivided into green roof type, with an extensive category defined as having six inches or less of growing medium and an intensive category having six inches or more of growing medium. The award recipients are:

In the Extensive Residential category, Eco Housing Corporation of Bethesda, Maryland, was recognized for its work on the Eastern Village Condominiums. This structure is an adaptive reuse of an office building that was abandoned for several years and now houses 56 units in a thriving urban community. The design objectives were to reduce property flooding, reduce energy costs, and create new amenity space. Lila Fendrick Landscape Architecture & Garden Design is the landscape architect for this project.

The Extensive Institutional winner, American Hydrotech Inc., made Seattle’s Ballard Library a model integrative building design by engaging the community with highly visible features such as a green roof. This 20,500-square-foot green roof provides an opportunity to generate community interest in green design by turning this facility into a dynamic teaching tool. The landscape architect for this project is Swift & Company.

The high visibility and well-conceived design of the Philip Eco-Enterprise Center makes it an excellent project for educating the public and earned the Kestrel Design Group Inc. an award in the Extensive Industrial/Commercial category. This green roof provides the perfect opportunity to demonstrate the benefits of green roofs while simultaneously researching them. Currently being researched at this facility is the effect green roofs will have on stormwater runoff, lifespan of roofing membrane, plant survivability, and temperature directly above the roof.

For the reconstruction of a historic green roof on Seapointe Village Deck Restoration, Jeffrey L. Bruce and Company won the award for the Intensive Residential category. New laboratory testing protocols were designed to evaluate and test the new media created for this project, which included a lightweight growing media, contoured structural foam, and a sand-based sod. Edgewater Design LLC served as the associate landscape architect for this project.

Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center was awarded the Intensive Institutional award for its magnificent design fusing function with culture. In an effort to help mitigate this green field development and to create a seamless transition with the surrounding forested landscape, a green roof was constructed to cover all of the permanent exhibits in the museum.

The recipient of the Intensive Commercial/Industrial award was Sasaki Associates Inc. for its beautifully designed green roof in the Boston Seaport District. One of the major design objects of the project was to achieve a U.S. Green Building Council Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification. The result was an 11,000-square-foot green roof that provides both environmental benefits and a beautiful new amenity space.

New this year is the Special Recognition award, which is given to a project that is deemed by the judges to be worthy of recognition based on a distinct feature that may not have been highlighted by the traditional scoring system. Koch Landscape Architecture won this award for its 10th @ Hoyt Apartment green roof project, which was creatively designed to capture and convey stormwater runoff. Multiple water features are integrated with the landscaped areas, planters, and sand-set paving, which captures and filters additional stormwater.

The Civic Award of Excellence went to Deputy Mayor Joe Pantalone for his contribution to the broad range of new green roof policies implemented in Toronto this year.