Eco Factor: Green roof used to grow vegetables for the restaurant below.
The Flat, an old Holiday Inn Motor hotel, which was converted into luxury apartments with an attached restaurant three years ago, has gone through a green makeover in the form of a green roof, which not only retains storm water runoff but also grows vegetables used by the restaurant. Designed by a team of architects led by Alexis Rochas, SynthE, as the installation is being referred to, had to be lightweight to ensure that the roof of the 1967 building doesn’t cave in. The architects were forced to use aluminum for construction and a specially engineered soil, which only weighs, with water, around 15 pounds per square foot.
Rochas believes that the system absorbs 80-90% of all precipitation and has no trouble sustaining plants that are the produce of the roof. Moreover, the tiered structure offers maximum solar exposure, growing room and also promises efficient irrigation. Over 20 types of plants are grown here, which are rotated by season. Working 90-day crop cycles, the team grows all manner of organic veggies including tomatoes, herbs, greens, berries, wheat grass and even some monster cabbage.
Via: Treehugger
