Up on a Green Roof in Panorama
November 3, 2009 by Robin Plaskoff Horton
Chicago freelance photographer Victor Zaveduk shot this panorama photo of the green roof atop Chicago’s City Hall. I spotted the image on a Virtual Reality Photography (VR Photography) site, http://www.panoramas,dk, created by Danish photographer Hans Nyberg. Zaveduk has a special interest in providing panoramic glimpses into both the well traveled and the hidden corners of the city. To view the panarama version of the above photo: http://www.panoramas.dk/US/chicago-greenroofs.html
Chicago is sometimes known as “Urbs in Horto” a Latin phrase translates in English to “City in a Garden.” Today the Chicago Park District consists of 552 parks. But Chicago also has some green areas only visible from above and not normally accessible to the public.
This rooftop garden atop Chicago’s City Hall, an 11-story office building in Chicago’s Loop, was conceived as a demonstration project–part of the City’s Urban Heat Island Initiative–to test the benefits of green roofs and how they affect temperature and air quality. First planted in 2000, the 20,300 square foot City Hall rooftop garden has 20,000 plants of more than 150 varieties. The plants were selected for their ability to thrive in the conditions on the roof, which is exposed to the sun and can be windy and arid. Most are prairie plants native to the Chicago region. In addition to the plants, numerous birdhouses and a pair of honeybee hives grace the gardens.
Like all green roofs, the City Hall rooftop garden improves air quality, conserves energy, reduces stormwater runoff and helps lessen the urban heat island effect. Over 100 municipal and private green roofs, totaling well over 1 million square feet, are either installed or in various stages of installation in Chicago.
For more about stormwater runoff, see my recent post on Portland, Oregon’s Green Streets.
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Hi Robin!
Loving UrbanGardens…
fyi, just found & ‘Faved’ it on Blotanical.
Tried emailing you from the ‘contact’ below, but message was returned ;(
Do drop by for a visit, Cheers,
Alice aka Bay Area Tendrils Garden Travel
— November 3, 2009 @ 10:56
Howdy, Love this blog. We do a lot of articles and videos on urban blogging at Grow and Make. Let me know if you’d like to do some cross-pollination? I’ll give your blog a mention later in the week on our blog too.
— November 3, 2009 @ 15:12
Fantastic! I’ve been a stalker of the Chicago City Hall rooftop garden for several years; it’s an incredible project! I’ve wanted to be a part of a project like that, but so far have only worked on common-space potted rooftop gardens. Also, here in Austin, we have a Starbucks that has a rooftop garden–wonder if it’s the only one in the country?
— November 4, 2009 @ 08:47
Starbucks says that is there only store with a green roof. I was surprised it was not mentioned in their sustainable initiatives report so I mentioned that to them. I did post a while back about a drink served at a Chicago restaurant with a rooftop garden, Uncommon Ground: http://www.urbangardensweb.com/2009/09/16/every-sip-plants-a-tree
— November 4, 2009 @ 11:04
I think that green roofs are a very innovative technology to improve cities healt..in the site http://www.greenroofs.gr i’ve found interesting information about them!!
— November 5, 2009 @ 08:26