Living Architecture
Green Roofs and Walls
By: Graeme Hopkins, Christine Goodwin
Highlights the most exciting green roof and living wall projects in Australia and New Zealand and provides design inspiration and practical advice.
Extensively illustrated with photographs and drawings, Living Architecture highlights the most exciting green roof and living wall projects in Australia and New Zealand within an international context. + Full description
Cities around the world are becoming denser, with greater built form resulting in more hard surfaces and less green space, leaving little room for vegetation or habitat. One way of creating more natural environments within cities is to incorporate green roofs and walls in new buildings or to retrofit them in existing structures. This practice has long been established in Europe and elsewhere, and now Australia and New Zealand have begun to embrace it.
The installation of green roofs and walls has many benefits, including the management of stormwater and improved water quality by retaining and filtering rainwater through the plants’ soil and root uptake zone; reducing the ‘urban heat island effect’ in cities; increasing real estate values around green roofs and reducing energy consumption within the interior space by shading, insulation and reducing noise level from outside; and providing biodiversity opportunities via a vertical link between the roof and the ground.
This book will appeal to a wide range of readers, from students and practitioners of architecture, landscape architecture, urban planning and ecology, through to members of the community interested in how they can more effectively use the rooftops and walls of their homes or workplaces to increase green open space in the urban environment.
- Short descriptionNews
No longer available in a print edition.
Christine Goodwin and Graeme Hopkins were awarded the 2011 AILA South Australia Medal for Landscape Architecture.
Reviews
"Graeme Hopkins’ and Christine Goodwin’s exploration of green roofs and walls makes an important contribution to the future of green infrastructure...the strength in the compilation of these case studies is the emphasis on pragmatic solutions rather than on theoretical or experimental ones. Living Architecture makes a substantial and vitally relevant contribution to a field that’s critical for our future – placing green infrastructure on equal billing with grey and built infrastructure."
Stephen Forbes, Form, July 2011
"Generally, the easy-to-read text and the use of images, diagrams and headings throughout the book facilitate comprehension… non-architects and architects alike would benefit from reading the context, terminology and classifications in chapter one before reading the other chapters. Overall, the book is engaging and would interest a wide range of professionals."
Professional Network Magazine, JULY-AUGUST 2011
"Living Architecture provides design inspiration and practical advice."
Eco eNews, Eco Voice www.ecovoice.com.au, June 2011
"This book will be fundamental to the future growth of the industry in Australia. It has an excellent mix of plans and cross-sections with photographs and descriptions of design intent, and will appeal to a diverse reader base. The subject is relatively new in Australia but its recent growth has been enormous, making this book a much needed resource."
Sidonie Carpenter, Landscape Architect, Green Canopy Design Pty Ltd, and President, Green Roofs Australasia
"This is an important book to have on the shelves of landscape architects."
Cassie Hansen, Landscape Architecture, November 2011, p. 72
"This book brings the current knowledge on adding biodiversity and habitat to high density human communities, into sharp relief. It will be the springboard for future research and green (living) design into the coming decades and will be essential reading for practitioners of architecture and landscape architecture, and organisations charged with the responsibility to create sustainable communities."
Prof. Chris Daniels, Professor of Urban Ecology, University of South Australia
Features
- First book to highlight the most exciting green roof and living wall projects in Australia and New Zealand within an international context.
- Provides design principles that are applicable across different climates and locations.
- Focuses on biodiversity in the urban environment and demonstrates how green rooftops can be linked to the ground via living walls to maximise habitats for native fauna.
- Demonstrates how green roofs and living walls are an integral part of a broader green urban infrastructure.
Contents
Preface- Context and classifications
- Benefits and drivers
- Design principles
- Green roof case studies
- Living wall case studies
- Ground to roof connection
- Planting design guidelines
- Creating open space
- Tackling climate change
- Role of government
- Research, advocacy and capacity building
Index
Authors
Graeme Hopkins is a registered architect and registered landscape architect.Christine Goodwin is an artist with a research Masters degree in architecture.
Each has over 30 years of diverse professional experience and together, through Fifth Creek Studio, they focus on living architecture, green roofs and living walls. Their practice includes design, research and experimental trials, and they have made numerous presentations at conferences and contributed to journals and books on living architecture and green infrastructure.
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