City Hall is now home to a wide variety of vegetation thanks to a new green roof. Completed in May, the roof top garden was designed and planted by Lisa Yunker of City Roots.Roof gardens and green roofs aren't just for looks; they can add a significant amount of insulation value to a building, while also reducing the heat island effect that is caused by city roofs and streets. Furthermore, they return a part of the built environment back to the nature, reducing CO2 emissions.
The installation of City Hall's green roof is part of a greater effort by Honeywell to make the 100 year old building more energy efficient. Funding for the project came from Duke Energy rebates and a number of government grants.
The garden sits atop the old boiler room which, according to Lisa Yunker, presented many obstacles. She said that most of the challenges were caused by the fact that the only access to the roof is through a window, which made transporting materials quite difficult. Structures, such as vents and pipes, could not be removed from the roof, so they had to be used in the design. "Working around this stuff and incorporating into the design was kind of fun," said Lisa.
Lisa also explained that the types of plants used for the green roof had to be diverse because of different shading areas. She said, "We have a perennial bed in almost complete shade behind the smoke stack, but on the opposite side we have sun and heat loving plants." The plant selection and irrigation additions, including a rain barrel, make it possible for the garden to flourish on rain water alone.
Lisa was very happy with the results saying, "The best part about this project is that it was completed by three small, local companies: City Roots, Urban Innovations, and Green Streets. We Finished on budget and ahead of schedule."
Unfortunately, City Hall's green roof is not open to the public because of safety concerns involving the location. More photos, taken by Kevin LeMaster, can be found on his site, Building Cincinnati.
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