![]() ![]() The original client, Washington Mutual Bank, built the green roof before dissolving in the financial crisis of 2008 (the building now houses Russell Investments, a subsidiary of Northwestern Mutual). Seattle incentivizes green roofs in both commercial and residential applications because 50-75% of the precipitation in the city does not currently get absorbed or reused. After seven years, the roof is leak-free, the plants are thriving, and it’s one of the most popular spots in the city. Add to this that priceless works at the Seattle Art Museum are located one floor down, which means that leaky roofs and water damage are especially unwelcome.ĭennis Yanez, national marketing manager for American Hydrotech, which provided its Monolithic Membrane, a hot rubberized asphalt rooftop that serves as the bathtub for the entire installation, says the building has nothing to worry about. The garden’s south and west orientations are exposed to the Puget Sound, which sends an occasional onslaught of high winds and heavy rainfall. Seattle receives 150 days of precipitation per year though actual rainfall is only 37 inches (New York City averages 50 inches per year). The project is also unique in being visible from both the ground, as well as the adjacent Space Needle (seen looming in the distance)… so it looks like the view from on ground and high above Seattle is looking a bit more green from there.Underneath the excitement about the proliferation of vegetated roofs hangs a nagging question: Will these stand the test of time? As an early adopter of the vegetated roof, the 23,000-square-foot garden on the 17th floor of the Russell Investments Center in downtown Seattle, installed in 2006, gives us a look into the future of the green roofs being planted today. While the vegetated mats and 60,000 sf area probably added up to a pretty substantial price-tag – the benefits are still worth it. But alas, that’s a story for another day – and one that looks to be avoided on this project. They fail due to shitty design and bad maintenance. To clarify though – green roofs don’t fail due to weeds. Often in King County, she said, green roofs fail due to weeds.” Nichol said some Seattle building owners may have been intimidated by the cost and green roof failures. The issues and lack of incentives have made slow going for projects up north, as mentioned in the DJC: “Green roofs have not proliferated in Seattle as they have in Chicago, where there are more than 250, or in Portland, where the city has a green roof grant program. So to say it was ‘designed’ is a stretch, but perhaps this will eliminate some of the failure issues from previous rooftops, which had a bit of problems getting established. While the track record of roofs in Seattle has been spotty, this project looks to utilize a vegetated mat system atop 5 inches of growing media. Katie Zemtseff, a friend here at L+U and author of the Seattle DJC Green Building Blog, recently posted some pics and words of the project as a follow-up to her previous story about the project. Fueled by massive amounts of capital that has done amazing good around the world – and turns this trend towards their home base in the construction of one of Seattle’s largest green roofs atop the parking garage of their new structure. ![]() Portland has financial incentives, FAR bonuses, and saavy public agencies that promote green roofs. ![]()
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