March 31, 2005

Winner will be selected in May

Two Canadian projects in running for green roof awards

By Grant Cameron

staff writer

Vancouver’s Library Square and the Winnipeg Mountain Equipment Co-op store are among 21 North American projects nominated for a 2005 Green Roofs Award of Excellence.

The competition is part of the 3rd annual Greening Rooftops for Sustainable Communities Conference, Awards and Trade Show being held May 4-6 in Washington D.C.

The awards will be presented May 5 during the conference gala.

The Library Square Green Roof, was designed to imitate the flow of British Columbia’s Fraser River in the form of vegetation winding its way through downtown Vancouver.

The 33,000-square-foot project, one of the first of its kind, has become a template for green roof design in North America.

After the successful completion of the project, architects and designers Cornelia Hahn Oberlander, Eva Matsuzaki and Elisabeth Whitelaw were commissioned by Public Works Canada to write the Introductory Manual to Green Roofs.

The Mountain Equipment Co-op store is also nominated.

Winnipeg architect Richard Kula, the designer of the 2,882-square-foot roof, worked with plant consultant John Morgan of Argyle, Manitoba to replicate the area’s original natural prairie landscape above the streets of the city.

Green Roofs for Healthy Cities (GRHC) established the Green Roof Awards of Excellence in 2003 to recognize green roof projects that exhibit extraordinary leadership in integrated design and implementation.

The awards also increase general awareness of green roof infrastructure and its public and private benefits while recognizing the valuable contributions of green roof design professionals.

There are seven award categories, which apply to all types of buildings and installed green roof designs.

All nominated projects incorporate green roof technology in their design. A green roof is a roofing system designed to support green space on top of built structures. Some of the benefits of green roofs include on-site stormwater retention, greater building energy efficiency and reductions in urban smog and air temperatures.

The Greening Rooftops for Sustainable Cities Conference is co-hosted by GRHC and the District of Columbia.

The conference is a forum for policymakers, researchers, designers, manufacturers and consulting professionals who are developing the North American green roof industry.

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