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The winner “BuGG Green Roof of the Year” 2021 is announced!

The winner of “BuGG Green Roof of the Year” 2021 has been recently announced! The German Association of Building Greening (Bundesverband GebäudeGrün e.V. – BuGG) has been holding the annual election for “BuGG Green Roof, Facade and Interior Greening of the Year” since 2001. BuGG members can submit outstanding objects. The election will then take place during a members’ meeting or an event. At the end of last year, the election was held in digital form and with a large number of participants during the Federal Congress of Building Greening (Bundeskongress Gebäudegrün). The winning project for the “BuGG Green Roof of the Year” 2021 is the designed and accessible green roof of the Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter in Hamburg, submitted by BuGG member Landschaftsarchitektur+. The building has a total roof area of approx. 3,870 m² on various storeys, of which more than half (2,440 m²) is greened. The greening is designed both as an extensive green roof in a multi-layer construction with 4 cm drainage, filter fleece and 11 cm extensive substrate and in the form of a roof garden on the lower terraces and the common area of the canteen. The accessible roof garden also consists of a multi-layered structure: 6 cm plastic drainage, filter fleece, about 5-45 cm sub-substrate (in thicker areas with tree plantings) and 35 cm intensive substrate. The plant selection includes perennials, grasses and woody plants. Ramps and stairs between the levels create connections and a way to cross the campus on the east-west axis. Due to various seating areas along the curved paths, the roof garden can be enjoyed as a retreat and “green place to linger”. The comprehensive lighting concept ensures usability and a delightful atmosphere on the roof even in the dark. The award winner, with its exemplary green roof installation worthy of imitation, also reflects the trend described by the “BuGG Market Report on Building Greening 2021”: the areas of intensive green roofs, and thus the use of roof areas as recreational and living space, are increasing every year. In 2020, for example, 18 percent of the roof areas in Germany were already greened. More information …………………………………………………. Construction information Object: Green roof, Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter, Hamburg Year of construction: 2021 Green roof area: 2,440 m² Building owner: Max Planck Society, Hamburg Architect: Architekturbüro hammeskrause architekten, Stuttgart Planting design: Prof. Mark Krieger, OST Rapperswil Landscape architect: Landschaftsarchitektur+, Hamburg Green roof structure: Extensive green roof in 3-layer construction and intensive green roof in 4-layer construction Green roof system: Optigrün international AG Executing company: Garten- und Landschaftsbau Klaus Hildebrandt GmbH, Hamburg …………………………………………………. Author/Contact Laura Vötig/Dr. Gunter Mann Bundesverband GebäudeGrün e. V. (BuGG) Albrechtstraße 13 10117 Berlin Telefon: +49 30 / 40 05 41 02 E-Mail: info@bugg.de www.gebaeudegruen.info BuGG President Dr. Gunter Mann (centre) presents the managing directors of Landschaftsarchitektur+ Felix Holzapfel-Herziger (left) and Julian Benesch (right) with the winner’s badges for the “BuGG Green Roof of the Year” 2021. Source: Landschaftsarchitektur+ / BuGG The roof garden of the Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter is an inviting place to take a break. Source: Landschaftsarchitektur+ Winner “BuGG Green Roof of the Year” 2021: The Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter in Hamburg. Source: Landschaftsarchitektur+ The winning object is also a ” luminous highlight ” in the twilight of the evening. Source: Landschaftsarchitektur+

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04/26/2022 No Comments
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Multifunctional Urban Green Infrastructure Book

The World Green Infrastructure Network continues with its own publications. After its first book “Green Cities in the World” in 2014, the update in 2015 and the Spanish version in 2016, the “Vertical urban agriculture” book followed in 2018. Now you have our new book in your hands, which also updates the overview of national green infrastructure associations around the globe. The present book is a product of several WGIN members and other selected authors. The aim is to highlight some specific examples of implemented projects around the exiting world of green infrastructure. One focus are insight stories about lessons learned in green infrastructure. Why this collection? Green infrastructure has become a hot topic all around the globe; this book can help to expand your knowledge about the associated benefits. Combining construction with plants and incorporating their functionality into the architectural design is today much more accepted than years ago. This publication is an insight view of several pioneer projects and some detailed solutions, which are worth replicating or adapting to other climates, regions or cultures. Read here

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04/26/2022 No Comments
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Key Definition: Green Infrastructure

Green Infrastructure: There is an international movement towards the regeneration of urban landscapes due to an increased awareness about human impact on the environment. As urban development and populations increase there is a greater demand to improve upon the planning mistakes of the past. There is a movement towards mitigating the impact of impermeable urban infrastructure materials such as concrete by including permeable pedestrian paths, bio-swales, street planting, green roofs, green walls, rejuvenated wetlands, urban forests, parklands and other vegetative systems into the urban fabric. Green Infrastructure refers to any vegetative infrastructure system which enhances the natural environment through direct or indirect means. It describes the network of green spaces and water systems that deliver multiple environmental, economical and social values and benefits for sustainable urban development. Green Infrastructure includes green roofs, living walls, parks and reserves, backyards and gardens, waterways and wetlands, streets and transport corridors, pathways and green corridors, squares and plazas, sports fields and cemeteries. Green Infrastructure provides and connects vital ecosystem services which contribute or enhance urban sustainability and the natural environment. GI: a strategically planned network of natural and semi-natural areas with other environmental features designed and managed to deliver a wide range of ecosystem services. It incorporates green spaces (or blue if aquatic ecosystems are concerned) and other physical features in terrestrial (including coastal) and marine areas. On land, GI is present in rural and urban settings ie green roofs, living walls, rain gardens, parks, community gardens, canopy cover, parklands, urban forests. Green Infrastructure Benefits include storm-water management, climate adaptation, mitigation of Urban Heat Island Effects, enhanced biodiversity, carbon sequestration, enhanced air quality, sustainable energy production, enhanced storm water quality returning to the natural environment and to deep soil profiles, improved anthropocentric functions such as increased quality of life and improving biophilia. Green Infrastructure (GI) / Enhancing Natural Capital Overview: Human society depends on the benefits provided by nature such as food, materials, clean water, clean air, climate regulation, flood prevention, pollination and recreation[1]. However, many of these benefits, frequently referred to as ecosystem services, are used as if their supply is almost unlimited and treated as free commodities whose true value is not fully appreciated. This can result in public authorities turning to built infrastructure — grey infrastructure — as a substitute for natural solutions to problems such as flood prevention. In Australasia we consequently continue to degrade our natural capital, jeopardising our long-term sustainability and undermining our resilience to environmental shocks. As stated in the Resource Efficiency Roadmap[2], the failure to protect our natural capital and to give a proper value to ecosystem services will need to be addressed as part of the drive towards smart, sustainable and inclusive growth.. The EU roadmap identifies investing in GI as an important step towards protecting natural capital. All AUS government tiers need to collaborate and establish a GI Commission to develop a GI strategy[5]. The EU Resource Efficiency Roadmap states that their Commission will draft a Communication on GI. This document is the Commission’s response to these commitments[6]. It sets out how EU-wide action can add value to the local initiatives currently underway. What is Green Infrastructure (GI)? GI is a successfully tested tool for providing ecological, economic and social benefits through natural solutions. It helps us to understand the value of the benefits that nature provides to human society and to mobilise investments to sustain and enhance them. It also helps avoid relying on infrastructure that is expensive to build when nature can often provide cheaper, more durable solutions. Many of these create local job opportunities. Green Infrastructure is based on the principle that protecting and enhancing nature and natural processes, and the many benefits human society gets from nature, are consciously integrated into spatial planning and territorial development. Compared to single-purpose, grey infrastructure, GI has many benefits. It is not a constraint on territorial development but promotes natural solutions if they are the best option. It can sometimes offer an alternative, or be complementary, to standard grey solutions.

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04/12/2021 No Comments

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