FEATURES
Moffett Place High Garden, Silicon Valley’s latest rooftop park brings workplace amenities to new green heights.
employed the habitat for birds and insects
are expanded and improved.”
Global green trends
With growing emphasis placed on green
buildings worldwide, more South African
property owners and architects should
consider converting rooftops into gardens,
recommends Smuts. She says green roofs
are increasingly being mooted in countries
with far less conducive climates than South
Africa. “Chicago, for example, now has
more than 400 000m² of gardens on the
roofs of buildings, and the renowned Italian
architect, Renzo Piano, has designed a
green roof over the California Academy of
Sciences building in San Francisco.”
Nestled in San Francisco’s Golden Gate
Park, the California Academy of Sciences is
a renowned scientific and educational
institution dedicated to exploring,
explaining and sustaining life on Earth.
Regarded as the world’s first Double
Platinum Leadership in Energy and
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OCTOBER 2018
CLADDING // CONCRETE // INSULATION // STEEL // THATCH // TIMBER // TRANSLUCENT // WATERPROOFING // COMPONENTS
Environmental Design (LEED) certified
museum, and the largest Double Platinum
building on the planet, the exceptionally
green academy is home to a world-class
aquarium, planetarium and natural history
museum – all under one ‘living’ roof.
The literal green heart of the academy,
the Living Roof provides insulation,
captures 100% of excess storm water and
transforms carbon dioxide into oxygen. 87%
of the rooftop consists of rolling hills and
fields which offer an essential home for
local wildlife. Edged by solar panels, the
roof’s seven hills are lined with 50 000
porous, biodegradable vegetation trays
made from tree sap and coconut husks. It’s
estimated that 1.7-million plants fill the
trays, with their roots interlocking to create
a flourishing oasis for fauna, flora and
humans alike. It also features weather
stations to monitor wind, rain and changes
in temperature to help inform the building’s
automated systems and skylights, keeping
rainforest temperatures just right, the
interior piazza cool and comfortable
and natural light streaming to the
exhibits below.
In another well-known locale of
California, Silicon Valley is now home to its
newest rooftop park – Moffett Place High
Garden. Completed by DES Architects +
Engineers (DES A+E), the two-acre rooftop
park is one of the largest elevated parks
ever completed in the region. DES A+E
transformed what would ordinarily be an
under utilised parking deck into a
recreational green utopia. The High Garden
features an elliptical running track and
putting green, basketball and volleyball
courts, a community vegetable garden and
a meditation garden complete with
meandering rows of bamboo.
Embracing green
technology
The GBCSA recognises that green
technology is continuously advancing and
improving and that there are many designs