The Professional Design Guide to Green Roofs - Hardcover

Karla Dakin specializes in artful, environmentally bold landscape. Shaped by a career in the art world, her work continually references visual art. Dakin’s international projects include the roof garden of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Denver, Colorado, and the Rock House in Northwest Cameroon. She divides her time between Colorado and California with speaking engagements the world over.

Lisa Lee Benjamin creates and nurtures large landscapes that unite people, art, and science. The portfolio of Evo Catalyst, her San Francisco-based design consultancy, is filled with sustainable solutions for diverse animal and human habitats. These include green roofs, hedgerows, wetlands, food and forest systems, and stylish gardens for residential and commercial use. Lisa thrives on collaboration with artists, scientists, and specialists as exemplified by her design of the unique habitat parapet at the Heron's Head EcoCenter. She is a founding member of Alpine Initiatives, Urban Hedgerow, Growwest, and the Bay area's Green Roof Alliance.

Mindy Pantiel has been writing about architecture, interior design, and gardens and landscapes for three decades. Her articles have appeared in Metropolitan Home, Western Interiors and Design, Better Homes and Gardens, Garden Design, Garden Ideas and Outdoor Living, Garden, Deck and Landscape, Traditional Home, Luxe Interiors and Design, and Connecticut Cottages and Gardens, to name a few. She helped launch and served as editor of the magazine My House in the Mountain States, and is author of several books on computers and architectural trimwork.

Undoubtedly one of the most invigorating and innovative trends in landscape design in recent years, the blooming of green roof gardens in both commercial and residential settings has energized cities and suburbs. Evolving dramatically from early examples reliant upon uninspired swaths of buffalo grass and cactus beds, green roof gardens can now employ the same panoply of plant materials available to on-ground gardens, thanks to a deeper understanding of design and construction techniques. The key to a successful green roof is the essential combination of aesthetic inspiration and the mastery of practical considerations critical to an installation’s favorable outcome. Covering design criteria such as color, shape, and texture as well as such fundamentals as site analysis, infrastructure, and operating costs, authors Dakin and Lisa Lee Benjamin provide a full-scale guide to both the design and building of ecologically friendly and pleasing—even spectacular—green roof gardens. Though suitable for landscape professionals, this volume will also be greatly appreciated by home gardeners. --Carol Haggas