Outdoor Rooftop Deck Case Study

Photos courtesy of Bison Innovative Products

Project: Dealer.com Corporate Headquarters
Location: Burlington, Vermont
Architect: Scott + Partners

The Project: In 2011, a 135,000-square-foot manufacturing building was transformed into a LEED Certified corporate headquarters for Dealer.com, an ambitious company that develops online marketing solutions for the automotive industry. On-site employee benefits include a state-of-the-art fitness facility, cross-fitness studio, indoor tennis and basketball courts, organic café, and 150-person theater. Part of the company’s expansion and renovation project included a rooftop deck.

The Challenge: The LEED certification goal for the project addressed many sustainable features including the desire for an outdoor space. There was also a desire to grow vegetables at the facility to support the café, but the site offered limited opportunities to do that.

The Solution: A rooftop deck using an adjustable pedestal outdoor deck system was selected as the best solution. The rooftop deck uses 2x2 smooth Ipê wood tiles and adjustable pedestals to support a miniature golf course, solarium, and seating area. Black powder-coated aluminum cubes provide containers to grow vegetables that supply the café in the summer months. In the colder months, the cubes can be repurposed for seating and storage by use of hardwood tops. The cubes integrate perfectly with the wood tile deck system, making for a beautiful and functional outdoor environment.

The Results: The terraces were created as spill-out spaces for employees, and they provide valuable and functional outdoor space that benefits employee morale, health, and well-being.

Living Wall Case Study

Photos courtesy of Greenscreen

Project: Whole Foods Store
Location: 1550 N Kingsbury Street, Chicago
Architect: Gensler/Mark Cavagnero Associates
Landscape Architect: Wolf Landscape Architecture
General Contractor: Bentley Construction Corporation

The Project: The living green facade wall project on the 85,000-square-foot Whole Foods flagship store along the Chicago River demonstrates how green facade walls can be a successful aspect of sustainable design best management practices. By incorporating the component technologies of green facade walls, porous pavements, green roofs, and native plants, designers created an award-winning amenity that maintains a commitment to clean water through on-site management. Individually all of these elements play significant roles but collaboratively they explored the true regenerative potential of urban design.

The Challenge: The site design goal was to discover the relationships that are critical to the functioning of natural systems, both naturally occurring and man-made in an urban environment, and to express visually through nature the connectivity and importance of water management to the survival of both.

The Solution: The realized goal was that through a systems-approach design, adjacent and existing natural systems like the Chicago River can be embraced to provide the ultimate goals of protection and public access. The incorporation of green facade walls increases the hydrologic capacity of the landscape by vertically increasing the amount of rain-interceptive vegetation and helping to control runoff at the foundation of the structure. Water uptake is increased due to additional root mass as well as beneficial cooling from plant evapotranspiration. With the inclusion of a cost-effective green facade component on this project, the ecological benefits of the natural system are extended and the overall functioning of the natural system to meet water engineering requirements is achieved.

Additionally, the biological benefit of the holistic system is increased by using green facade technology. The emphasis on the plant palette was extended to the vertical plane to increase the benefits of shelter, food source, pollination, and habitat reconstruction. The landscape architects at Wolf Landscape Architecture implemented the use of green facade walls as the long-term solution to providing a biological corridor that interfaces with architecture and the landscape.

The Results: What once was an abandoned industrial site and surface parking has been transformed into an 85,000-square-foot LEED-certified urban renewal driver that has established a new segment of the Chicago River trail. As a testament to its success, the Whole Foods project received a 2014 Award of Excellence in the Exterior Green Wall category from Green Roofs for Healthy Cities (GRHC), and the Friends of the Chicago River awarded the project a first-ever Silver Ribbon Award in recognition of those who strive for the ideal in sustainable design for humans (public access), water (hydrology) and wildlife (ecology).