This Earth Day, let’s talk about green roofs.
MWA Principal and Director of Sustainability Jean von Bargen Root presented at the GRiT Green Roof Educational Symposium, walking us through three of her green roof projects for public infrastructure clients.
To inspire you this Earth Day, we are reflecting on how green roof policy has developed over the last twenty years for public infrastructure and sharing some of our key takeaways.
city of portland Green Building Policy 1.0
The Swan Island Pump Station
MWA’s first green roof project was the Swan Island Pump Station in the early 2000s. This project was part of the “Big Pipe Project” for the City of Portland, which reduced the amount of stormwater entering the Willamette River. The Swan Island Pump Station, completed in 2005, was one of Portland’s first projects using the Green Building Policy 1.0.
Jean credits this project as one of her most significant learning opportunities with sustainable architecture. OSHA’s 2005 access rules highlighted the importance of creating safe and easy access points for maintenance staff. Jean’s greatest takeaway is that green roofs are also spaces that need to be designed for the people who take care of them.
city of portland Green Building Policy 2.0
The Interstate Renovation Project
As people became more aware of climate change, the Green Building Policy evolved. In 2010, MWA was awarded the Interstate Renovation Project, which implemented the city’s Green Building Policy 2.0. The project also incorporated House Bill 2620, which required 1.5% of the budget to be allocated to green energy technology for all public building construction. This broadened MWA’s possibilities for solar and green roofs. The Interstate Renovation Project, completed in 2016, taught Jean that green roofs can contribute to a comprehensive stormwater system solution located onsite.
To meet green building policy requirements at the Interstate Renovation Project, the team placed solar panels on one building and a green roof on the other. Showing how far we have come in the past decade, policies have evolved to allow solar panels and green roofs to coexist. In 2018, Portland adopted the Green Roof Requirement in the Central City 2035 Plan, which includes green roof requirements for buildings in the Central City over a net of 20,000 square feet. With the passing of this requirement, GRiT pushed for the combination of solar panels and green roofs on the same building so that this new policy would not interfere with solar panel applications. The two are complementary, as green roofs cool solar panels to keep them from overheating, and the solar panels can be used to shade green roofs.
Hannah Mason Pump Station
The green roof design at the Hannah Mason Pump Station, completed in 2017, taught Jean how to maximize benefits for the community. Green roofs bring aesthetic, insulation, and decarbonization benefits to our projects, highlighting the potential of incorporating biophilic design into functional buildings.
Biophilia is a requirement for humans to thrive. Our public policies must continue prioritizing and aligning human and planet health with architectural interventions.