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News ReleaseOutstanding Student Green Infrastructure Design Projects Announced International competition selects sustainable design winner (click here for a .pdf version of this release)
TORONTO, ON – October 08, 2009 - Five outstanding designs that transform the face of entire city blocks using “leafy” green infrastructure have been selected to receive cash awards in the CitiesAlive International Student Design Challenge: Transforming the Face of Buildings, announced industry associations Green Roofs for Healthy Cities (www.greenroofs.org) and the World Green Roof Infrastructure Network (www.worldgreenroof.org) today. “The Student Design Competition challenged faculty-led student teams from around the world to develop ways of productively using the walls and roofs of multiple buildings by incorporating green infrastructure elements such as green roofs, green walls, wetlands and urban forests,” said Steven Peck, President of Green Roofs for Healthy Cities. Each winning team developed innovative concepts and situated them within existing urban and suburban locations. The winning project teams will be awarded in Toronto on October 20, as part of the CitiesAlive: World Green Roof Infrastructure Congress being held from October 19-21, 2009. More details about this unique conference and high resolution images of the award winning projects described briefly below are available for download at www.citiesalive.org. “Congratulations to all of the contest participants”, said Deputy Mayor Joe Pantalone, Co-Chair of CitiesAlive. “The have demonstrated how we can solve multiple climate change challenges using green roof and wall technology,” he added. First Place: Cliffside Village, Scarborough, Canada. Students: Dov Feinmesser, Yekaterina Mityuryayeva, Tommy Tso, Aaron Hendershott Faculty: June Komisar, Ryerson University Architectural Science (for details of project see: http://www.citiesalive.org/resources/education_challenge_files/Cliffside_Village.pdf - please note, large [28 Mb] file) Not the end of suburbia, but its transformation! This project re-envisions one the most ubiquitous yet banal suburban landscape features – the strip mall - into a healthy, nurturing, vibrant, and pedestrian friendly community. The project integrates urban farming, solar powered lighting, green walls, and integrated water management. “The brilliance of this design”, said Dr. Brad Bass, Environment Canada official and competition judge, “is that it accomplishes this transformation with existing technologies and landscape modifications that have been evaluated and have proven their worth all over the world.” “Cliffside Village has provided us with the grounds to experiment with a concept that we believe could apply, with context specific modifications, to any strip mall”, said the winning design team in their submission. Second Place: Organic Waste, Compods. Dundas and Spadina, “China Town”, Toronto, Canada. Students: Calvin Fung, Maria Ng, Regina Shing, Sarah Wendland, Bernard Wun Faculty: Vincent Hui, Ryerson University Architectural Science (for details of project see: http://www.citiesalive.org/resources/education_challenge_files/Compod.pdf - please note, large [6.7 Mb] file) This submission is an excellent example of systems integration because it goes beyond the roof and walls of the building to reach out and address organic waste, greenhouse gas emissions, water management, green jobs and urban agricultural challenges simultaneously. The beauty of the Compod project is that without requiring additional space it utilizes organic waste and excess heat to create a product on a green roof, that can then be used to grow food or create additional habitat on the roof. “This project addresses some very real and challenging issues with a simple, elegant and coherent proposal for a new technology which essentially closes the loop when it comes to the retailing of agricultural products in an urban setting: essentially moving from the 1000 mile diet to the less than a mile diet”, said Mark Salerno, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation official and competition judge. “By proposing a local composting program to provide nutrients for local urban farming, this project can educate the community as a whole about sustainability, climate change issues and waste diversion. Our solution lies in the vertical condition by utilizing the full potential of rooftops as a way of integrating composting and farming locally,” said the design team submission. Third Place: Hudson Yards – Urban Biome, New York, USA. Students: Christopher Hardy, Christian Gruber, Thijs Storms Faculty: Deni Ruggeri, Cornell University Landscape Architecture (for details of project see: http://citiesalive.org/resources/education_challenge_files/Hudson_Yard.pdf - please note, large [6.7 Mb] file) This is a complex, multi-faceted vision that incorporates integrated water management with urban greenery and human use and enjoyment on the upper west side rail yards of Manhattan. The grand vision incorporates green roofs, rain streets and even salt-water marshes adjacent to the Hudson River. The submission is exemplary in its conceptual framework, detailing and complex rendering. “The Hudson Yards is an outstanding example of multi-disciplinary design which enables us to build dense but more livable communities by utilizing green roofs and other green technologies,” said Steven Peck, GRP, Green Roofs for Healthy Cities and competition judge. “The landscape and architecture respond to each other through a balance of maximizing solar access, passive volume, way finding, reconnecting the street grid, providing commercial nodes and continuous streets, as well as programmatic civic and cultural features and spaces,” said the team in their submission. Honourable Mention: Green Urban Spine, Toronto’s Waterfront, Toronto, Canada. Students: Kate Slotek, Danny Tseng, Matthew Wong Faculty: Aziza Chaouni, Liat Margolis, University of Toronto, Daniels' Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design (for details of project see: http://citiesalive.org/resources/education_challenge_files/Green_Urban_Spine.pdf - please note, large [6.7 Mb] file) This is an extremely innovative green wall incorporating wind energy and designed to take full advantage of its environmental context. The curvilinear form of this wall design suggests movement, within a larger green pathway that connects three isolated areas along Toronto's waterfront. The proposed flow of water alludes to the City's connection to its many watersheds that drain into Lake Ontario. “This project demonstrated extremely thoughtful consideration to its environmental surroundings”, said Jane Welsh, Senior Planner, City of Toronto and competition judge. Honourable Mention: Climate Cooling City, Hamburg, Germany. Student: Florian Betzler Faculty: Martin Wollensack, University of Applied Sciences Wismar, Architecture and Manfred Köhler, University of Applied Sciences, Hochschule Neubrandenburg, Bauingenieurwesen (for details of project see: http://citiesalive.org/resources/education_challenge_files/Climate_Cooling_City.pdf - [688 kb] file) This submission contains a vision that eliminates stormwater runoff and cools the city by maximizing opportunities for evaporative cooling. The integration of biodiversity benefits with a low technology green wall system combined with impressive technical performance data set this project apart. “The climate cooling city project demonstrated how we can use the walls and roofs of buildings to help address the twin challenges of managing stormwater and reducing the urban heat island effect, with a strong vision of starting with one building and replicating it for city-wide for significant green house gas mitigation and adaptation benefits,” said Steven Peck, GRP, Green Roofs for Healthy Cities and competition judge. “With this concept for the first time an architectural tools allows to create living spaces for all species, a true approach towards sustainable architecture. We show that a single building can make a start towards cities which cool the entire environment”, said the team submission. Hi resolution images for the media and the complete project submissions are available for download at www.citiesalive.org Media contactsSteven Peck, GRP, President, Green Roofs for Healthy Cities, (416) 971 4494 ext 233.
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Rebecca Black, Director, Green Roofs for Healthy Cities, (416) 971-4494 x224,
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Joe Pantalone, Deputy Mayor, City of Toronto, (416) 392 4009,
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Media passes for CitiesAlive are available. Please contact Rebecca Black. BackgroundThe Student Awards will be presented as part of CitiesAlive: The World Green Roof Infrastructure Congress to Toronto, October 19-21, 2009. CitiesAlive is co-hosted by the City of Toronto, Green Roofs for Healthy Cities and the World Green Roof Infrastructure Network. This unique event will feature outstanding international designers, researchers and policy makers who are striving to address climate change issues through the use of green roofs, walls, urban forests and other forms of green infrastructure in cities around the world. The Student Awards will be presented at the CitiesAlive Student Challenge Awards Celebration at Steam Whistle Brewing Roundhouse, 255 Bremner Blvd. Toronto, on Tuesday October 20th, 6:30 – 8:30 p.m. CitiesAlive Co-Chair Joe Pantalone, Deputy Mayor of Toronto, will MC the event, and the top three winning entries will be awarded cash prizes. Judging Committee members were Brad Bass (Environment Canada), Steven Peck, GRP (Green Roofs for Healthy Cities/World Green Roof Infrastructure Network), Ted Kesik (University of Toronto), Mark Salerno (Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corp.) and Jane Welsh (City of Toronto). About Green Roofs for Healthy Cities: Green Roofs for Healthy Cities (GRHC) was founded in 1999 as a small network of public and private organizations in Toronto, Canada. GRHC is now a rapidly growing not-for-profit industry association for green roof experts in North America. Our mission is to increase the awareness of the economic, social and environmental benefits of green roofs and green walls, and other forms of living architecture through education, advocacy, professionalism and celebrations of excellence. www.greenroofs.org About the World Green Roof Infrastructure Network: Founded in 2007 by a consortium of green roof industry associations, WGRIN believes cooperative effort is needed to work for a better, more sustainable world, and that green roof and wall technology are a solution to tackling the impacts of climate change. Now boasting 11 member countries, and experiencing strong organizational growth, WGRIN targets its global activities towards strengthening the use of green infrastructure in cities, via member networking and conference study opportunities, education, skill development, research, policy development and publicity. www.worldgreenroof.org -30-
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