Green Roofs: King County, WA
This case study, prepared by Paladino & Company, Inc., profiles several cities in the Pacific Northwest to determine the feasibility of green roofs as a sustainable design strategy in King County, Washington.
The study profiled seven existing green roof projects, including Seattle City Hall and a building at Evergreen State College. Each profile lists roof characteristics, design, irrigation and maintenance procedures, and challenges to date the roof has presented to the facility. The most common challenges are increased labor efforts due to weeding and problems with the implementation stage.
There are three recommendation areas outlined within the study: design, installation, and maintenance. The recommendations include conducting a feasibility study, assuring compatibility of green roof components, allowing accessibility for maintenance, creating an effective irrigation system, establishing an effective roof slope for drainage, and creating an operations and maintenance manual.
This document compares several case studies in a defined region. The recommendations made are based on the lessons learned from the seven case studies presented. Even though this study was completed in Washington, this document allows users to compare and contrast different green roof projects and read what Paladino & Company, Inc. recommends based on those projects’ challenges and successes.
