Group Vows to Turn Downtown Rooftops Into Vibrant Green Spaces
Sourced from Pittsburgh Magazine
It has cut electricity costs by $80,000 a year.
It can capture an inch of rain in 24 hours.
It can cool a roof by 20 to 50 degrees compared to surrounding roofs.
It serves as natural insulation — cooling the building in summer, retaining the heat in winter.
And it’s become a natural habitat for wildlife, attracting bees, bugs like praying mantises and even hawks.
These are some of the results of the 8,400-square-foot green roof that was built on top of Downtown’s Allegheny County Office Building in 2010.
And it’s an example of what John Valentine, executive director of the Downtown Neighbors Alliance, is pushing to improve the livability of Downtown. He said he’s reached out to the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust and Point Park University — two of the largest real estate owners in the Golden Triangle — to work together to transform the city’s rooftops into vibrant green spaces.
“We intend to get more green roofs Downtown,” he told attendees at the nonprofit’s recent awards dinner. He said new technology has made the roofs lighter atop buildings and more efficient.
“Our organization will be the lead of the green economy of Downtown Pittsburgh,” he vowed.
The alliance is a community-based organization that partners with community leaders through projects and events that encourage residential development, assist small business and promote arts and entertainment. Essentially, it strives to “make the Golden Triangle a better place to live, work and play.”
The green roof on the top of the county office building, located at the corner of Forbes Avenue and Ross Street, was built as a demonstration project and uses four different technologies, which are constantly being monitored to determine efficiency.
From the Living Architecture Monitor
