Fresh green roof sedum vegetation sheets flown in overnight from Virginia to be laid on carport.

With the emerging industry trend of “green” design and sustainability at the forefront of upcoming design ideas, more and more American consumers are starting to become environmentally conscious. Creative ways to “go green” are popping up all over the place, and NEDC is taking part in one growing market- green roofing. We have a client in the South End who is putting in a green-roof carport! A green roof is much more than just the colored structure of an overzealous Celtic’s fan- it’s a vegetated roof that is either partly or completely covered with plants and soil. It’s basically a grassy lawn, but on a roof. Crazy, right? This roof design isn’t so crazy for most consumers: it can actually reduce your energy bills, help with storm-water runoff, lower greenhouse gas emissions, provide a habitat for wildlife (scarce in the city!) and has been proven to reduce stress levels in humans. This particular client was looking to create covered access to their cars, as well as a spot of green in an otherwise vegetation-less corridor.

This carport is essentially a pretty simple structure, but the copper touches along the edges make it appear much prettier than standard materials, and it brings an elegant natural beauty to the neighborhood.

The sedum is a cool product, and ultimately very easy to install. It comes on rolls like what is featured above, and the installers roll it out over the roof rather than having to hand plant all the seeds and watch it grow.  These fresh vegetation sheets were flown in overnight from Virginia to be laid on the structure.

In the end, this structure should hold up to 75% of the rain that falls on it, and use it for plant food or evaporation back in to the natural climate. Pretty cool!