42 — Sunday, January 31, 1999 - North Shore News

THE view, when look- ing out over the city’s rooftops from a tall building is generally not.a pleasant sight.

In most cases, one is looking across a tarand gravel desert populated by vent pipes, chimneys and air conditioning structures,

This elevated landscape is not only an. ugly site but the stool tops are also.a vast area

- of wasted space in the city,

Creating more roof top

gardens and green spaces in

this wasteland would make a.

huge difference in the live- abilicy of our cities. "Residents in offices and apartments would be able to look out ona greener and more pleasing landscape. The additional greenery would generate oxygen and absorb carbon dioxide from our polluted city atmos- phere. _ ¢. Plants have the ability to filter out airborne particles -and pollutants which might help to’reduce the dramatic increase in asthma and other bronchial related problems. We know that plants ». absorb light energy and don’t reflect it back as heat _ energy the way black roots do, ° ’ 2. Plants also release water ‘vapour and this can cool the , air. significantly. Additional ..

green space could be‘an

grows

important factor in reducing summer temperatures and changing some of the micro climates in our city,

Layers of soil and vegeta- tion would also act asa

“Imagine having fresh hothouse — peppers and tomatoes coming straight from the roofs to the local residents

good roof top insulator in both summer and winter.

A city environment, unlike a forest area, has almost no capacity to absorb and hold back the enormous cunoff of water during a heavy rain storm.

A high percentage of “green roofs” would reduce

the potential for overloading - the’storm drains, sewers and ~

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north shore news

E & (,ARDEN

creeks, Allotment gardens are in demand and having roof top space would cer: tainly allow more people with green thumbs to devel- opa garden,

Ir would increase hobby opportunities, provide exer- cise and boost local food production.

People could grow some of their own produce fora good part of the year.

An increase in rooftop | gardens would greatly improve the habitar for birds and butterflies around the city.

Bringing a little bit of nature back to the city would make it a more live- able place.

It has been suggested that the city’s roof tops could become a major loca- tion for commercial green- houses.

They would benefit from the waste heat from the building’s heating and cool- ing system,

Imagine having fresh hothouse peppers and toma- toes coming straight from the roof to the local resi- dents or a restaurant on the ground floor with almost no distribution and transporta- tian costs.

Should you think this idea is only a green pie in the sky, there are already some buildings in, Vancouver

that have full or partial roof +.

: |

top wardens,

Two that come to mind are the Law Courts on Robson Street and the new Vancouver Public Library. Both gardens were designed by Cornelia Oberlander, one oF Canada’s best known landscape architects.

In Toronto, the Mountain Equipment Co-op has juss opened a new faeili- ty wich a large roof top gar- den.

The new building recent- ly opened by the Royal Institute of British Architects in London, England has a large impres- sive landscaped area on the roof,

We also tend to forget that a good portion of our underground parking lots have gardens on top of them bur they go unnoticed at ground level

In France, Germany and Switzerland che demand for “greening the cities” has become so widespread thar many local jurisdictions have mandated that all industrial and commercial roof areas be preen.

Switzerland now has a Jaw that requires all new buildings to have 20% of the building foor print “green.”

One wonders why our architeets, city planners and environmentalists are not developing more green roof top landscapes.

NEWS Photo Terry Peters”

ROOF top gardens offer a host of benefits to crow ed cities including more oxygen, insulation and cool- ing and less carbon dioxide and:pollutants.

a Family: Owned & Operdied For Over 38 Year. 2949 Rupert Si... Van. (at Grandview Hy) 434 9148.