Green Roof

Converts the flat roofs of your project into green roofs, on an aerial photograph or a raised 3D view. The camera is locked and everything except the roof surfaces is frozen: footprints, heights, facades, parapets, stair and lift overruns, skylights, streets, cars, neighbouring buildings and the light stay as they are. Gravel ballast, bitumen membranes and bare concrete on the main building's roofs are replaced. Four green roof types are available. Sedum mat lays a low continuous carpet in a mosaic of greens, rust reds and ochres. Wildflower meadow creates an extensive biodiverse roof with dry grasses, perennials flowering in white, yellow and violet, substrate mounds, deadwood and a small insect hotel. Roof garden builds an intensive garden with timber decking, raised planters with multi-stem trees, lawn patches, perennial borders and a pergola with seating. Urban farm lays out raised vegetable beds, a small greenhouse, fruit trees in planters, compost bins and a few people gardening. The roofs stay credible. Gravel strips and maintenance paths are kept along parapets and around skylights and equipment, solar panels stay in place with planting underneath, pitched roofs are left alone, and the new vegetation casts small shadows consistent with the existing sun. Green roof visualization helps when you need to show what a roof could become before anyone details it: a feasibility study, a conversation with a building owner, a comparison of extensive and intensive options, or an image for a project page.

A landscape architect is advising a housing cooperative that owns four flat-roofed blocks from the 1980s. The residents want to see the difference between a low-maintenance sedum roof and a shared roof garden before they vote. She takes one drone photo of the estate and runs it twice through Green Roof, once with Sedum mat and once with Roof garden. The two images are shown side by side at the general assembly.