Seven Innovations That Are Speeding the Adoption of Living Architecture Technology

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Innovation, be it the development of a totally new technology, or incremental changes to an existing one, has the ability to continue to increase the adoption of living architecture technologies around the world. Innovation may be classified as incremental, radical, or disruptive depending upon whether it originates within, or outside, the mainstream, and whether it renders an incumbent technology (or process) obsolete. It can emerge in the form of a new or modified product, process or idea. 

One of the amazing characteristics of humanity is how enormously adaptable we are; largely through the process of innovation. Our bodies adapt to short term changes in altitude, for example, by increasing our lung capacity and red blood cell production. In the longer term, we adapt genetically, from generation to generation, passing down traits that help us survive. Our minds, which are considerably more flexible than originally thought, can adapt to new ideas, social and cultural norms rapidly. We need our adaptive capacity more than ever, since we are all currently living in a period of very rapid change, driven by the climate crisis and the swift pace of technological innovation. 

A bifacial solar panel anchored into a water retention grid, called Paver Guide. Photo: Steven Peck

Innovation and Adaptation in Living Architecture

Living architecture combines non-living, inorganic surfaces on the walls and roofs of buildings with living, organic surfaces that support life. It is still a relatively new technological development in building practice in our modern urban centers. Stormwater management practitioners who traditionally focused on the storage and conveyance of rainwater through tanks and pipes, have been slow and often resistant to adopting living architecture technologies which retain, detain and use water to sustain plants on buildings. Yet innovative approaches to living architecture design, installation and maintenance are overcoming these barriers and speeding up the adoption of these technologies in the market. 

Here are seven novel ways that innovation is helping to drive the green roof and wall industry forward:

American Hydrotech's GardNet secures growing media and plants to sloped roofs expanding our ability to put green roofs on more buildings. Photo: American Hydrotech

1. Blue-Green Systems Integration for Greater Overall Benefit. Blue-green roofs, which combine stormwater retention and various detention approaches are a relatively new innovation. The retention of stormwater on green roofs and walls, combined with the detention and controlled release of stormwater, has the ability to address current stormwater regulations and win over regulators by providing greater performance certainty, and increasing resilience against future extreme weather flooding events. 

2. Biosolar Roof Development. Technical innovations centered on improving both the performance and function of solar photovoltaic panels installed above the cooling effects of green roofs show considerable promise. Finding cost effective ways of implementing biosolar roofing will encourage more of these applications, and will replace the ‘either or’ approach of some government policies which all too often solar projects against green roofs, and does not take full advantage of the many benefits that can be achieved with green roofs on urban roof spaces. 

3. Slope Stabilization. Slope stabilization technology allows us to vegetate oddly shaped roof decks by holding growing media and plants firmly in place, expanding the reach of living architecture by incorporating new roof designs.

4. New Plant Species. The development of modified native plant species that are not only drought tolerant but easy to maintain and more acceptable to customer aesthetics can help our industry promote more biodiverse green roofs. 

5. New Maintenance Technology. Novel approaches to using sensors and computers to monitor water and nutrient levels on green roofs can help reduce maintenance costs and improve performance. 

6. New Approaches to Green Infrastructure Development. Micro Forests can help us restore habitat and green space in dense urban areas. Additionally, light weight, soilless green roofs in tropical and semi-tropical climates can expand the range of buildings capable of holding the extra weight of these systems, and can help lower maintenance costs. 

7. Public Policy Innovation. Policy requiring that developers who make use of a density bonus provision to build an intensive green roof must also post a bond to ensure a five year maintenance plan is carried out on that green roof; an innovative approach to the challenge of maintenance neglect. Policies that require developers to replace the footprint of the building, with biodiverse green infrastructure, in, on and around the building, so that there is no net loss of green space. See Gedge, UK.

The development of modified native plant species that are not only drought tolerant but easy to maintain and more acceptable to customer aesthetics can help our industry promote more biodiverse green roofs. 

These seven examples are very different types of innovations within our industry. All of them are profiled in greater detail in this, the Innovation Issue of the Living Architecture Monitor and the blue-green roof example in the previous LAM - The Water Issue. 

Innovations like these help us spread living architecture technologies in North America and around the world, so that we can begin to adapt to the climate crisis and support a higher quality of life in cities. These innovations aim to enhance sustainability, stormwater management, and biodiversity in urban environments.

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Steven W. Peck, GRP, Hon ASLA is the founder and president of Green Roofs for Healthy Cities and the editor of the Living Architecture Monitor magazine.