Systems and the future
Productive roof
housing school market apartment building hospital
A roof that produces something more than shelter, such as food, energy or water. It combines vegetable gardens, greenhouses, solar panels and rainwater harvesting on the same roof.
What it solves
It makes use of a surface that usually lies idle. It cools the building, retains part of the rain and brings food and energy closer to those who consume them.
Today
Design the structure for the weight of water-saturated substrate. Waterproof it well and provide safe access and a water point for irrigation.
Common mistake
Adding soil and pots to an existing slab without checking its capacity or the waterproofing.
Tomorrow
Biosolar roofs combine plants and panels. The vegetation cools the air under the modules, and they perform better on days of extreme heat.
Fact On a biosolar roof in Sydney the panels produced on average 11% more than on a conventional roof and up to 23% more on days of extreme heat.
Where it comes from
- 1Mesopotamia present-day Iraq, from the 4th millennium to 600 BC
Trees and shrubs were planted on the terraces of the ziggurats. - 2Medieval Egypt Fustat, Egypt, 11th century
The traveler Nasir Khusraw described tall buildings with roof gardens watered by ox-driven waterwheels. - 3Industrial city New York, United States, 1969
One of the first commercial greenhouse nurseries on a roof opened.
See also
Also in Systems and the future
Diagrams and texts by LDB Arquitectura. They are shared under the CC BY 4.0 license, which allows them to be used and adapted with credit to the source.