The project description includes:

“A dynamic concept featuring concentric rings of vegetation that work with the architecture of the building. Bands define microclimates and allow for different soil depths that support a variety of species for aesthetics and biological habitat potential. The circular penthouse is ringed with vertical axis wind turbines and the south edge is lined with photovoltaic panels to supplement building energy usage and provide visible elements of OHSU’s commitment to green development.”

A rendering of the planned roof is found below, with additional detail. There will be more information to come as this project evolves.

Elgert/Sweeney Residence Green Roof

As Design*Sponge founder and columnist Grace Bonney reflected on a trip to Portland:

“One of ideas I wish Brooklyn would adopt is Portland’s love of living and edible roof gardens. I’ve seen roof gardens in New York before, but I’ve never seen them used so frequently as I have here in Oregon. They’re on residential homes, commercial buildings and growing naturally on park buildings around town.”

The post included a number of other projects from Portland, and a few that Jason King worked on with Ecoroofs Everywhere as a non-profit, including the Hawthorne Condominiums and the Orpinela Guesthouse, photos of which are found below.

Hawthorne Condominiums

Orpinela Guesthouse

Thanks to Ecoroofs Everywhere for the collaborations over the years as a non- and for-profit company, and for Design*Sponge for the info for reminder and coverage of these great projects.

And also the HRC, where you can see the predominant shading as it is enveloped in surrounding structures.

And for pleasant waiting, the view from inside the MRI waiting room gives an up close and personal view of the HRC gridded configuration and blue glass stream. Not a bad spot to hang out…

We recently project includes re-roofing of this structure, along with over 2,500 square feet of green roof on multiple roof levels (see more on the project here). We’re excited to see this project come to fruition, until then, a sneak-peek.

HEALING ROOFTOPS

First, my friend and colleague Elizabeth Hart, who is a Sustainable Technologies Specialist at Tremco Roofing penned an article in Healthcare Development Magazine on ‘Green Roofs on Health Care Facilities‘, mentioning projects at Portland’s OHSU Hospital, as well as the Van Ness Medical Office Building in San Francisco, all projects designed by TERRA.fluxus. The benefits of green roofs in hospitals is hard to quantify, but there are signs that this particular building type may be well-suited for multiple reasons for vegetated roofs. As Hart mentions in her article:

“While the benefits can be attractive, a major setback for the green roof industry is that there is really no way to create a broadly applicable baseline for the benefits of adding a green roof. Energy savings in the building, the capacity for storm water control, the exact number of years you can extend the life of the roof membrane – these factors shift with each unique building situation and green roof system. They are living organisms and their functions vary widely with each microclimate, building type and method of install. The lack of an easily quantifiable return on the investment can prove challenging in the early planning stages. Despite this, green roofs seem to speak for themselves by how widely they have been adopted, and how rapidly they are changing the “nature” of hospital rooftops.”

INNOVATIVE IRRIGATION

Second, the 2011 Brochure for KISSS America – supplier of subsurface capillary irrigation, which TERRA.fluxus used on the OHSU CDRC Green Roof project, the first use on a green roof in the Portland area. The beauty of sub-surface capillary irrigation is that it eliminates the issues with regular drip in porous, lightweight rooftop soils. Click here for a link to the full PDF, showcasing some other great projects using this innovative technology. A snapshot of the brochure showing the installation photos:

The plantings are planned in waves, moving from the upper left towards the lower right, with a range of colors and textures that will last throughout the four seasons. The arrangement takes into account the different moisture gradients that will occur from dry to moist to wet from top to bottom. Although just planted with 4″ pots, some of the bands are starting to become legible. The accessibility of the plantings to the users is also important, as some are meant to be activated with aromas as people brush past them, particularly near doorways to the trash and recycling.

A few more photos shows the variety of species and the details of the simple structure of the living wall, which measures around 160 square feet of area total. Plantings will wrap around the front corner, softening the edge that protrudes into the pedestrian space.

In addition to the evergreen vegetation, many of the species have flowers that will come on at different times of year, including the Hypericum calycinum, in vibrant yellow below.

Even newly planted, the vegetation is starting to attract bees and other pollinators, as seen on the subtle flowers of the Origanum ‘Kent Beauty’ in bloom. Butterflies have also been spotted in the past day or so. Not bad for a project that is literally days old.

As with all of our projects, we will be monitoring the evolution of the plantings over time, and adjusting some of the configuration. Also important will be maintenance, as the predominant form of these plants is to drape rather than climb, so the overall composition may shift as certain plants fill in and others shift. But that’s part of the fun… stay tuned for more.

Soon after, the Hatfield Research Center (HRC) was installed, featuring a grid pattern of different vegetation types, adapted to the mostly shade condition between buildings. The close up shot shows the blocks of planting, along with the abstract ‘stream’ of blue glass that meanders through the grid from drain outfall to drain.

This visual elements is vibrant when viewed from above, such as the adjacent patient rooms and corridors, such as this view from the 9th floor pedestrian walkway.

The project is nearly complete with a few odds and ends to finish, including final adjustments to the irrigation, and some supplemental cuttings to fill in some areas. For the most part, everything looks great, and the sedum cuttings are starting to take root and spread.

We also got a sneak peek at the rainwater tanks in the basement, which is providing irrigation to all of the rooftops during the dry portion of our summer. The project will have 36,000 gallon capacity, which will provide 100% of irrigation demand for the green roofs.

A few images of the simple temporary propagation areas that the volunteers have set up, as well as a more expansive greenhouse area, allowing for a range of conditions for growing plants in various stages. The key to success, in addition to leveraging resources and providing additional educational opportunities, is that the propagation will use green roof growing media as a base, which will allow the plants to acclimatize to the future conditions and be more adaptable to the harsh environment and low-nutrient levels of the green roof. Plants are starting this weekend, so we will see how the experiment goes. (images courtesy of Erubiel Valladares Carranza II)

plant and rock ‘stream’ layout on level 7

fine tuning the grading on level 6

grading and stream bed on Level 5

diversity of semi-intensive plantings including small scale trees and shrubs

remaining areas will get sedum cuttings; note custom bench that mounts to roof davits