Green roofs: Sprout it from the rooftops

Rooftops are just rooftops, right? Not when they become colorful urban retreats for office personnel, alternative working environments and environmental relief.

Rooftop gardens and green roofs are cropping up across the country, including Hampton Roads.

Take the 20th floor of the Armada Hoffler Tower in Virginia Beach’s Town Center, for example.

“You can see the container ships in the Chesapeake Bay,” said Kimberly Goold, pointing north over office buildings and a patchwork of neighborhoods.

R.J. Nutter pointed toward the west at the Norfolk skyline.

“And beyond that you can just make out the cranes in Newport News. And that’s the Cape Henry Lighthouse,” Nutter said pointing east to the historic tower.

The two were sky high in the catbird seat, so to speak, surrounded by colorful fuchsia petunias, red hibiscus, hollies, red geraniums and Knock Out roses..

Goold is the office administrator, and Nutter’s the managing partner, at law firm Troutman Sanders, which opened this office in 2003, the same year the rooftop garden was put in.

“It’s always the first place people gravitate to,” Nutter said about the office’s visitors. “The view is so unique.”

The project was designed by landscape architect Mike Fox and designer Jarrod Katzer of WPL of Virginia Beach. It was installed by Signature Landscapes & Garden of Chesapeake.

The project included important weight and drainage decisions. The large planters are made of Dura Art Stone – a strong-yet-lightweight material resembling concrete. Styrofoam replaced much of what would normally be dirt between the potted plants.

“A third consideration was the micro climate as it pertains to the plant material,” Katzer said. “Your plant selection has to fit the little micro climate because you are way up in the air. It’s going to be a windier, colder climate.”

There was also the aesthetic aspect: choosing vivid plants.

“We are very happy with the results and glad to hear they get so much use out of it.” Katzer said.

Did someone say party?

“We’ve had quite a few parties up here,” Nutter said.

As soon as it gets warm enough the office holds business-development events and throws celebrations for clients and staff. They’ve even had a wedding, a King Neptune reception and patriotic holiday get-togethers.

Much has been learned since 2003.

“We try and find plants that are indigenous to, or local to, our area,” Goold said. “If they do well on the Oceanfront, they are going to do well out here, because it is very windy. It’s unbelievable to see the big storms roll through.”

After a recent nor’easter some of the potted plants were knocked over, but all was well. However, a few unwanted guests have taken a shine to the garden. Big black turkey buzzards decided that one flower bed looked like a nice place to roost.

Goold’s research taught her the birds are a protected species, and options were limited. She found the sparkle and movement of spinning pinwheels, along with removing a sprinkler water source, sent them on their way.

“We think that when they see the sparkle from the silver blowing in the wind, and catching on the sun, that it just spooked them,” Goold said.

Goold and other staffers take in the pleasant sites – including red tail hawks, the changing weather patterns and the wonderful lofty view of several cities – while watering, pruning and tending the garden.

“It certainly brings nature into the offices and brings that softer touch of outside, in,”

said Goold, who often slips out into the lofty garden to catch up on reading.

“It’s nice, because you can hear all the activity of the city below, but it’s so peaceful.”

When Drew Ungvarsky moved his business last year from Ghent to downtown’s Granby Street in Norfolk, he had two concerns: parking for his 17 employees and open space for their dogs.

“We found a great lot for parking, and I suggested that we create a green roof and kind of hangout area that we could actually let our dogs out and let them sit outside,” Ungvarsky said. “We now actually have a space that our dogs can sit out there for hours at a time.”

Ungvarsky’s company, Grow Interactive, is a digital advertising and production studio. It works with advertising agencies and clients to create high-end websites and other digital advertising.

“Most of the company is on laptops, and we encourage everyone to get up from their desks and go work somewhere else,” Ungvarsky said. “Going to alternative working areas can make someone more comfortable and more productive.”

He and his staff mostly use the outside retreat in the spring and fall.

“When it’s 60 or 70 degrees out there, it’s lovely,” he said. “If you are sticking around late and just want to get away from your desk and go work or get a breath of fresh air, there’s no better place than that roof area.”

Ungvarsky sees his rooftop getaway as somewhere between a environmentally friendly green roof and a rooftop garden. He wanted the energy-saving benefit of the extra insulation it provides as well as functionality. During the building’s renovation he made sure that the roof would support the extra load and had other efficiency steps taken to lesson the building’s ecological footprint. He plans to “green” the other half of the roof in the future.

His rooftop retreat was designed by architect Robyn Thomas and installed by Spacemakers, both of Norfolk.

Brian O’Neil sees the green roof atop the Public Programs office at Norfolk Botanical Garden as a teaching tool.

“We here at the garden have a green initiative, and that’s to basically do as much as we can to be conservative with energy and resources,” said O’Neil, director of horticulture. “And we do all that we can to be in tune with the environment – and the green roof is part of that. We wanted to show it as an example of what can be done.”

The roof is covered in succulents, including ice plants, sedum, hen and chicks, and echeveria, all of which require little water.

“They grow well in full, hot, blazing sun,” O’Neil said. “They don’t have a very deep root system so they can live nicely in the shallow root zone that is provided. And they are colorful plants, they do bloom in season and they are evergreen so there is always something to see.”

By growing horizontally, they create a mat of foliage. The plants were grown in tray; the trays were transferred onto the roof and fit together.

Building Logics Inc. of Virginia Beach headed the project.

The endeavor’s reaped benefits, O’Neil said. The plants help keep the building cool in the summer, by evaporating the water they soak up, and warm in the winter. They also provide oxygen by sucking up carbon dioxide , and then there’s the aesthetic value.

There’s hope of creating more green roofs at the Garden.

“Everybody who sees it loves it,” O’Neil said. “They think it is the neatest thing. But we often have to tell people to look up.”

Roy A. Bahls, (757) 446-2351, roy.bahls@pilotonline.com