Living Architecture Monitor - Green Roofs for Healthy Cities

THEGROWINGMEDIA&PLANTISSUE
ALIVINGLABORATORY
STUDENTSOFALLAGESAREGETTINGANEDUCATION—ANDLEARNINGWHATIT’SLIKE
TOCONDUCTRESEARCHALONGSIDECOLUMBIAUNIVERSITYSCIENTISTSATOPA NEW
YORKCITYMIDDLESCHOOL’STWOGREEN ROOFS
Students at New York City’s Ethical Culture
Fieldston School will soon be applying their
science studies towards green roof research.
The recent $75 million renovation of the middle
school has incorporated green building
design and two green roofs. Dr. Stuart Gaffin,
associate research scientist at The Center for
Climate Systems Research at Columbia
University in New York and Dr. Mathew
Palmer, a lecturer with the Department of
Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Biology,
also at Columbia University, spearheaded the
research and study of the two roofs, both different
in purpose and design.
Fieldston made available its two green roofs
for Columbia’s research, which in turn will
present unusual opportunities for the
school’s science teachers from grades
one through 12.
“There are many different technological
aspects to green building design but none of
them offers the educational richness of green
roofs,” says Gaffin, who is in charge of the
research at the school’s top-level roof. “Green
roofs can be used to teach physics, climatology,
hydrology, biology, ecology, chemistry
and so on. One could never develop such a
far-reaching curriculum, around say, solar
panels or energy-efficient windows.” His own
“ There are many different technological aspects to green building design but none of
them offers the educational richness of green roofs. Green roofs can be used to
teach physics, climatology, hydrology, biology, ecology, chemistry and so on.”
Dr. Stuart Gaffin, research scientist, Columbia University
research centers on the energy benefits of
Fieldston’s green roof with New York’s energy
and water issue needs in mind.
Columbia’s research on the top-level roof is
conducted using a weather tower, multiple
sets of soil moisture and temperature probes,
an albedometer and plant foliage temperature
sensors. The albedometer consists of
two back-to-back pyranometers, a device
designed to measure natural sunlight radiant
energy, manufactured by Kipp and Zonen.
“With the data we are collecting and subsequent
analysis, much of which will be done by
the students, I hope we can produce findings
for an ‘optimal’ green roof design that maximizes
environmental benefits at the lowest
cost,” explains Gaffin. “This will help spur
their adoption by New York City and elsewhere.”
The lower level roof of the school, planted in
part by Fieldston’s students last October, was
designed to be a more interactive site with
three different types of plant communities. In
addition to a traditional mix of Sedum
species, two native, diverse grassland communities
were planted. One of these communities
was modeled on the Hempstead Plains,
a prairie-like grassland from Long Island
which has been almost completely lost due to
urban and suburban development. The other
native community is modeled on grasslands
native to the Hudson Valley’s rocky hilltops
with shallow soil, droughts and harsh wind, a
climate very similar to that on the roof. Students
will follow the success of the different
plantings through time and will compare
ecological processes like pollination and the
development of the soil between the three
plant communities.
“If we can learn how to make native plant
communities succeed on green roofs, it will
add immensely to the value of those roofs as
ecological restoration projects, habitat for
other species and living laboratories for
schools,” says Palmer.
The students at Fieldston created a video
detailing the building process of the second
roof which can be viewed at www.ecfs.org
By Lillian Mason & GRHC staff
LIVING ARCHITECTURE MONITOR WINTER