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The green roof construction process follows a standardized design, build, steward process to ensure the best product upfront and maximum success over the long haul.

If you’re interested in helping the environment, doing your part to manage stormwater and enhancing the urban ecology our cities, there’s no better place to start than with green roof construction.

Well, actually, there’s no better place to start than a steaming mug of coffee. But then the green roof thing.

Green roof construction isn’t as simple as throwing some succulents on top of an existing roof and hoping for the best, though. In fact, green roof construction is a highly specialized process that involves deep consideration of a number of factors, a well-executed implementation phase and monitoring period, and long-term stewardship.

So grab your cuppa joe and let’s get started.

Form and function should play nicely together in green roofs, but an industry trend toward “instant green” is muddying the philosophy and giving consumers the wrong impression. 

Many people are confused whether green roofs are supposed to prioritize beauty, transforming a barren landscape, or function, providing important environmental services.

For some reason, this leads people to believe they have to choose one or the other, and thus is a stereotype born: Do you want a scrubby, ugly, environmentally conscious green roof? Or do you want a blingin’ rain garden, which is pretty but focuses less on the whole sustainability thing?

This, to us, is silly. Do you have to choose between peanut butter and jelly? Macaroni and cheese? Tea and biscuits?

No. No, you do not. (And obviously you like tea and biscuits. We asked your coworkers.)

The thing is, form and function play very nicely together on green roofs … but you have to take a different approach to green roof aesthetics. It’s important to understand what green really is, as well as what you can do to ensure your roof prioritizes urban ecology, stormwater and other values in addition to beauty.

Wondering what principles go into green roof design and why they matter to urban environments more than ever? Read on.

While almost everyone has heard of green roofs at this point, the fundamentals of green roof design are a little fuzzier for most. 

The basic tenets of green roof design include combining various components to create responsive, living rooftop systems. While such systems bring a wealth of perks to our urban spaces, there is one thing they do better than anything else:

They bring the natural world into the city. They begin to heal the divide between where we live and where they live. “They” being the thousands of organisms that human activity has displaced over the last several centuries.

We want them back. And green roof design is one of the best ways to achieve that goal.

Green roof systems help to heal the breach between urban environments and the wildlife they’ve displaced, and offer many other environmental benefits as well. 

Let’s play a quick game of “Would You Rather.”

Would you rather: Living or dead? Barren or green and lush? Environmentally destructive or ecologically beneficial?

Cleveland Cavaliers or LA Lakers?

Wait, that doesn’t matter. LeBron already made his decision.

Point being, we’re pretty sure that given the choice, you would choose urban spaces that buzz with pollinators, wave prettily in the breeze and surround you with a feeling of green serenity. 

That environment is totally possible on rooftops, from the tallest building to the humblest residential roof or deck. All it takes is a thorough understanding of green roof systems.