Rooftop Garden
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A roof garden is a
garden A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the cultivation, display, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The single feature identifying even the wildest wild garden is ''control''. The garden can incorporate bot ...
on the
roof A roof (: roofs or rooves) is the top covering of a building, including all materials and constructions necessary to support it on the walls of the building or on uprights, providing protection against rain, snow, sunlight, extremes of tempera ...
of a building. Besides the decorative benefit, roof plantings may provide food, temperature control, hydrological benefits, architectural enhancement, habitats or corridors for wildlife, recreational opportunities, and in large scale it may even have ecological benefits. The practice of cultivating food on the rooftop of buildings is sometimes referred to as
rooftop farming A roof (: roofs or rooves) is the top covering of a building, including all materials and constructions necessary to support it on the walls of the building or on uprights, providing protection against rain, snow, sunlight, extremes of tempera ...
. Rooftop farming is usually done using
green roof A green roof or living roof is a roof of a building that is partially or completely covered with vegetation and a growing medium, planted over a waterproofing membrane. It may also include additional layers such as a root barrier and drainage ...
,
hydroponics Hydroponics is a type of horticulture and a subset of #Passive sub-irrigation, hydroculture which involves growing plants, usually crops or medicinal plants, without soil, by using water-based mineral Plant nutrition, nutrient Solution (chemi ...
, aeroponics or air-dynaponics systems or
container garden Container gardening or pot gardening/farming is the practice of growing plants, including edible plants, exclusively in containers instead of planting them in the ground. A container in gardening is a small, enclosed and usually portable object ...
s.


History

Humans have grown
plants Plants are the eukaryotes that form the kingdom Plantae; they are predominantly photosynthetic. This means that they obtain their energy from sunlight, using chloroplasts derived from endosymbiosis with cyanobacteria to produce sugars f ...
atop structures since the
ziggurats A ziggurat (; Cuneiform: 𒅆𒂍𒉪, Akkadian (language), Akkadian: ', D-stem of ' 'to protrude, to build high', cognate with other Semitic languages like Hebrew ''zaqar'' (זָקַר) 'protrude'), (Persian language, Persian: Chogha ZanbilÚ†ŘşŘ ...
of ancient
Mesopotamia Mesopotamia is a historical region of West Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the Fertile Crescent. Today, Mesopotamia is known as present-day Iraq and forms the eastern geographic boundary of ...
(4th millennium BC–600 BC) had plantings of trees and shrubs on aboveground terraces. An example in Roman times was the
Villa of the Mysteries The Villa of the Mysteries () is a well-preserved suburban ancient Roman villa on the outskirts of Pompeii, southern Italy. It is famous for the series of exquisite frescos in Room 5, which are usually interpreted as showing the initiation of a b ...
in
Pompeii Pompeii ( ; ) was a city in what is now the municipality of Pompei, near Naples, in the Campania region of Italy. Along with Herculaneum, Stabiae, and Villa Boscoreale, many surrounding villas, the city was buried under of volcanic ash and p ...
, which had an elevated terrace where plants were grown. A roof garden has also been discovered around an audience hall in Roman-Byzantine Caesarea. The medieval Egyptian city of
Fustat Fustat (), also Fostat, was the first capital of Egypt under Muslim rule, though it has been integrated into Cairo. It was built adjacent to what is now known as Old Cairo by the Rashidun Muslim general 'Amr ibn al-'As immediately after the Mus ...
had a number of high-rise buildings that
Nasir Khusraw Nasir Khusraw (; 1004 – between 1072–1088) was an Isma'ili poet, philosopher, traveler, and missionary () for the Isma'ili Fatimid Caliphate. Despite being one of the most prominent Isma'ili philosophers and theologians of the Fatimids and ...
in the early 11th century described as rising up to 14 stories, with roof gardens on the top story complete with ox-drawn
water wheel A water wheel is a machine for converting the kinetic energy of flowing or falling water into useful forms of power, often in a watermill. A water wheel consists of a large wheel (usually constructed from wood or metal), with numerous b ...
s for irrigating them. Among the
Seven Wonders of the Ancient World The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, also known as the Seven Wonders of the World or simply the Seven Wonders, is a list of seven notable structures present during classical antiquity, first established in the 1572 publication '' Octo Mundi M ...
, The
Hanging Gardens of Babylon The Hanging Gardens of Babylon were one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World listed by Hellenic culture. They were described as a remarkable feat of engineering with an ascending series of tiered gardens containing a wide variety of tree ...
are often depicted as tall structures holding vegetation; even immense trees. In
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
between 1880 and
Prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic b ...
large rooftop gardens built included the Hotel Astor (New York City), the American Theater on Eighth Avenue, the garden atop
Stanford White Stanford White (November 9, 1853 – June 25, 1906) was an American architect and a partner in the architectural firm McKim, Mead & White, one of the most significant Beaux-Arts firms at the turn of the 20th century. White designed many houses ...
's 1890
Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as the Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh and Eighth Avenue (Manhattan), Eig ...
, and the Paradise Roof Garden opened by Oscar Hammerstein I in 1900. New York City roof gardens were commercially successful entertainment venues for concerts,
vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment which began in France in the middle of the 19th century. A ''vaudeville'' was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a drama ...
, and
ballroom dance Ballroom dance is a set of European partner dances, which are enjoyed both socially and competitively around the world, mostly because of its performance and entertainment aspects. Ballroom dancing is also widely enjoyed on stage, film, and te ...
until the 1920s. Commercial greenhouses on rooftops have existed at least since 1969, when Terrestris rooftop nursery opened on 60th st. in New York City. In the 2010s, large commercial hydroponic rooftop farms were started by Gotham Greens, Lufa Farms, and others.


Environmental impact

Roof gardens are most often found in urban environments. Plants have the ability to reduce the overall heat absorption of the building which then reduces energy consumption for cooling. "The primary cause of heat build-up in cities is
insolation Solar irradiance is the power per unit area ( surface power density) received from the Sun in the form of electromagnetic radiation in the wavelength range of the measuring instrument. Solar irradiance is measured in watts per square metre ...
, the absorption of solar radiation by roads and buildings in the city and the storage of this heat in the building material and its subsequent re-radiation. Plant surfaces however, as a result of transpiration, do not rise more than above the ambient and are sometimes cooler." This then translates into a cooling of the environment between , depending on the area on earth (in hotter areas, the environmental temperature will cool more). The study was performed by the University of Cardiff. A study at the
National Research Council of Canada The National Research Council Canada (NRC; ) is the primary national agency of the Government of Canada dedicated to science and technology research and development. It is the largest federal research and development organization in Canada. Th ...
showed the differences between roofs with gardens and roofs without gardens against temperature. The study shows temperature effects on different layers of each roof at different times of the day. Roof gardens are obviously very beneficial in reducing the effects of temperature against roofs without gardens. “If widely adopted, rooftop gardens could reduce the
urban heat island Urban areas usually experience the urban heat island (UHI) effect; that is, they are significantly warmer than surrounding rural areas. The temperature difference is usually larger at night than during the day, and is most apparent when winds ar ...
, which would decrease smog episodes, problems associated with heat stress and further lower energy consumption.” File:Temperature_profiles.JPG File:Rain_runoff.JPG Aside from rooftop gardens providing resistance to thermal radiation, rooftop gardens are also beneficial in reducing rain run off. A roof garden can delay run off; reduce the rate and volume of run off. “As cities grow, permeable substrates are replaced by impervious structures such as buildings and paved roads. Storm water run-off and combined sewage overflow events are now major problems for many cities in North America. A key solution is to reduce peak flow by delaying (e.g., control flow drain on roofs) or retaining run-off (e.g., rain detention basins). Rooftop gardens can delay peak flow and retain the run-off for later use by the plants.”


Urban agriculture

“In an accessible rooftop garden, space becomes available for localized small-scale urban agriculture, a source of local food production. An urban garden can supplement the diets of the community it feeds with fresh produce and provide a tangible tie to food production.” At
Trent University Trent University is a public liberal arts university in Peterborough, Ontario, with a satellite campus in Oshawa, which serves the Regional Municipality of Durham. Founded in 1964, the university is known for its Oxbridge college system, sma ...
, there is currently a working rooftop garden which provides food to the student cafĂŠ and local citizens. Available gardening areas in cities are often seriously lacking, which is likely the key impetus for many roof gardens. The garden may be on the roof of an
autonomous building An autonomous building is a hypothetical building designed to be operated independently from infrastructure, infrastructural support services such as the electric power grid, gas grid, municipal water systems, sewage treatment systems, storm dr ...
which takes care of its own water and waste.
Hydroponics Hydroponics is a type of horticulture and a subset of #Passive sub-irrigation, hydroculture which involves growing plants, usually crops or medicinal plants, without soil, by using water-based mineral Plant nutrition, nutrient Solution (chemi ...
and other alternative methods can expand the possibilities of roof top gardening by reducing, for example, the need for soil or its tremendous weight. Plantings in containers are used extensively in roof top gardens. Planting in containers prevents added stress to the roof's waterproofing. One high-profile example of a building with a roof garden is Chicago City Hall. For those who live in small apartments with little space, square foot gardening, or (when even less space is available)
green wall A green wall is a vertical built structure intentionally covered by vegetation. Green walls include a vertically applied growth medium such as soil, substitute substrate, or hydroculture felt; as well as an integrated hydration and fertigation ...
s (vertical gardening) can be a solution. These use much less space than traditional gardening. These also encourage environmentally responsible practices, eliminating tilling, reducing or eliminating pesticides, and weeding, and encouraging the recycling of wastes through composting.


Importance to urban planning

Becoming green is a high priority for urban planners. The environmental and aesthetic benefits to cities are the prime motivation. It was calculated that the temperature in
Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...
could be lowered by if 50% of all available rooftop space were planted with greenery. This would lead to savings of approximately 100 million yen.
Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...
is active in green urban development. "Roof gardens present possibilities for carrying the notions of nature and open space further in tall building development." When surveyed, 80% of Singapore residents voted for more roof gardens to be implemented in the city's plans. Recreational reasons, such as leisure and relaxation, beautifying the environment, and greenery and nature, received the most votes. Planting roof gardens on the tops of buildings is a way to make cities more efficient. A roof garden can be distinguished from a
green roof A green roof or living roof is a roof of a building that is partially or completely covered with vegetation and a growing medium, planted over a waterproofing membrane. It may also include additional layers such as a root barrier and drainage ...
, although the two terms are often used interchangeably. The term roof garden is well suited to roof spaces that incorporate recreation, and entertaining and provide additional outdoor living space for the building's residents. It may include planters, plants, dining and lounging furniture, outdoor structures such as pergolas and sheds, and automated irrigation and lighting systems. Although they may provide aesthetic and recreational benefits a green roof is not necessarily designed for this purpose. A green roof may not provide any recreational space and be constructed with an emphasis on improving the insulation or improving the overall energy efficiency and reducing the cooling and heating costs within a building. Green roofs may be extensive or intensive. The terms are used to describe the type of planting required. The panels that comprise a green roof are generally no more than a few centimeters up to 30 cm (a few inches up to a foot) in depth, since weight is an important factor when covering an entire roof surface. The plants that go into a green roof are usually
sedum ''Sedum'' is a large genus of flowering plants in the family Crassulaceae, members of which are commonly known as stonecrops. The genus has been described as containing up to 600 species, subsequently reduced to 400–500. They are leaf succule ...
or other shallow-rooted plants that will tolerate the hot, dry, windy conditions that prevail in most rooftop gardens. With a green roof, "the plants' layer can shield off as much as 87% of solar radiation while a bare roof receives 100% direct exposure". The planters on a roof garden may be designed for a variety of functions and vary greatly in depth to satisfy aesthetic and recreational purposes. These planters can hold a range of ornamental plants: anything from trees, shrubs, vines, or an assortment of flowers. As aesthetics and recreation are the priority they may not provide the environmental and energy benefits of a green roof.


In popular culture

* American jazz singer
Al Jarreau Alwin Lopez Jarreau (March 12, 1940 – February 12, 2017) was an American singer and songwriter. His 1981 album '' Breakin' Away'' spent two years on the ''Billboard'' 200 and is considered one of the finest examples of the Los Angeles pop and ...
composed a song named "Roof Garden", released on his 1981 album. * Apu Nahasapeemapetilon of the TV show ''
The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening and developed by Groening, James L. Brooks and Sam Simon for the Fox Broadcasting Company. It is a Satire (film and television), satirical depiction of American life ...
'' has a rooftop garden visited by
Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained global fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and the piano, and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John ...
and his wife. * In
BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
's 1990 television miniseries '' House of Cards'', the main character, Member of Parliament (MP)
Francis Urquhart Francis Ewan Urquhart is a fictional character who is the villain protagonist of the British political thriller television serial '' House of Cards'' (1990) and its sequel serials, '' To Play the King'' (1993) and '' The Final Cut'' (1995). ...
, murders journalist Mattie Storin by throwing her off the
Palace of Westminster The Palace of Westminster is the meeting place of the Parliament of the United Kingdom and is located in London, England. It is commonly called the Houses of Parliament after the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two legislative ch ...
's rooftop garden.


Gallery

File:Villa Arson jardin terasses2011.jpg, Villa Arson File:Villa Arson jardin terrasses 2011-3.jpg, Villa Arson File:Acrosfukuoka02.jpg, ACROS Fukuoka File:Herb garden of National Museum of Nature and Science Tokyo 01.jpg, Herb garden of National Museum of Nature and Science Tokyo File:Zen little roof garden.jpg, A small
Zen Zen (; from Chinese: ''Chán''; in Korean: ''Sŏn'', and Vietnamese: ''Thiền'') is a Mahayana Buddhist tradition that developed in China during the Tang dynasty by blending Indian Mahayana Buddhism, particularly Yogacara and Madhyamaka phil ...
roof garden File:Sveavägen 44, takterass -03.JPG, ''
Sedum ''Sedum'' is a large genus of flowering plants in the family Crassulaceae, members of which are commonly known as stonecrops. The genus has been described as containing up to 600 species, subsequently reduced to 400–500. They are leaf succule ...
'' roof at Urban Deli, Stockholm File:A Solarpunk tower.png, Rooftop
community gardens A community is a social unit (a group of people) with a shared socially-significant characteristic, such as place, set of norms, culture, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given ge ...
are a common theme in solarpunk art File:Inari Daimyojin on the roof of Hankyu Department Stores Umeda main store.JPG, Inari Daimyojin on the roof of Hankyu Department Stores Umeda main store File:Tokyuplaza-3.JPG, Tokyo Plaza File:Canalcityhakatainner.jpg, Canal City Hakata


See also

* Agrivoltaic * Building-integrated agriculture * Cool roof *
Green building Green building (also known as green construction, sustainable building, or eco-friendly building) refers to both a structure and the application of processes that are environmentally responsible and resource-efficient throughout a building's li ...
*
Green infrastructure Green infrastructure or blue-green infrastructure refers to a network that provides the “ingredients” for solving urban and climatic challenges by building with nature.Hiltrud Pötz & Pierre Bleuze (2011). Urban green-blue grids for sustain ...
*
Greening Greening is the process of transforming living environments, and also artifacts such as a space, a lifestyle (sociology), lifestyle or a brand image, into a more environmentally friendly version (i.e. 'greening your home' or 'greening your office ...
* Kensington Roof Gardens *
List of garden types A wide range of garden types exist. Below is a list of examples. By country of origin *Chinese garden **Lingnan garden, Cantonese garden **Sichuanese garden *Dutch garden *Gardens of ancient Egypt, Egyptian garden *English garden * ...
* Low-flow irrigation systems * Metropolitan Museum of Art Roof Garden * Ralph Hancock, designer of The Rockefeller Center Roof Gardens * Roof deck *
Terrace garden A terrace garden is a garden with a raised flat paved or gravelled section overlooking a prospect. A raised terrace keeps a house dry and provides a transition between the hardscape and the softscape. History Persia Since a level site is ...
*
Urban green space In land-use planning, urban green spaces are open-space areas reserved for parks and other "green spaces." These include plant life, water features also known as blue spaces and other kinds of natural environments. Most urban open spaces a ...
*
Urban park An urban park or metropolitan park, also known as a city park, municipal park (North America), public park, public open space, or municipal gardens (United Kingdom, UK), is a park or botanical garden in cities, densely populated suburbia and oth ...
*
Wildlife corridor A wildlife corridor, also known as a habitat corridor, or green corridor, is a designated area habitat (ecology), that connects wildlife populations that have been separated by human activities or structures, such as development, roads, or land ...


References


External links


''The New York Times'' article about rooftop garden in Manhattan
{{Authority control Types of garden Architectural elements Urban agriculture Roofs Sustainable building