Comments on: SYNTHe: An Urban Rooftop Garden Prototype in Los Angeles

By: Stylish, Super-Efficient Swiss Home Wins the 2010 Passivhaus Award | Inhabitat - Green Design Will Save the World

Wed, 30 Jun 2010 05:01:57 +0000

[...] windows adjacent to the walkout porches. The architect added some nice sustainable touches like a green roof ribbed with solar electric panels, a pellet boiler for heating the floors and hot water, and wooden [...]

By: Inhabitat is Looking for Dwell on Design Volunteers! | Inhabitat - Green Design Will Save the World

Wed, 23 Jun 2010 21:31:33 +0000

[...] SYNTHe Green Roof: The first city-approved green roof sits atop a flat six-story apartment complex in downtown Los Angeles. Designer Alexis Rochas will be there to discuss the intricacies of the SYNTHe green roof and how it can be a model for other rooftop landscapes. [...]

By: billd

billd — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 14:36:46 +0000

Shiznit is right; 10,000 lb gorilla. This is being brought up as something new. The basic principal for this design is terrace farming. Incas, Mayans and Asians were doing it thousands of years before.

The only difference is that rather than using a mountain for the base structure, it is probably a structure of post and beam supports with structural panels mounted to the skeleton.

I am glad that it was reintroduced to modern uses. It is very beautiful too.

By: shiznit

shiznit — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 22:50:22 +0000

seems like some student’s project got translated directly to a rooftop from maya.
oh…and by the way, plants are supposed to grow on top of that thing somewhere…
it took me some time to actually realize that some of those photos were taken before planting so i was left wondering..where the hell do the plants go on this supposed green roof? looks super heavy too, but i guess that was offset by all the dead weight that was saved by not having more soil/planting.
it’s just funny how this was piped that food is to be grown for consumption at the restaurant below, but what are they really expecting to get off of that thing… some lichen perhaps… miscellaneous moss…?
sorry for the wet towel, but i’m just exposing the 10,000lb gorilla in the room.
nice sweeps though.

By: Will

Will — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 18:44:46 +0000

Wow, good looking and green! To the poster who asked about PV, they could put PV panels on the non-growing portions of the roof, which would not only generate electricity, but also provide convection warm for plants like tomatoes, etc.

As far as the synthetic growing media, I read an article that Suntory had invented a synthetic soil. The article was titled, “Suntory Creates Synthetic Soil,” found at http://cleanerairforcities.blogspot.com/2008/09/suntory-creates-synthetic-soil.html

Funny thing is, Toyota was working on synthetic soil also. How about that?

By: pritchet1

pritchet1 — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 14:33:42 +0000

Now if those panels were PV…

By: SHARON BADENHORST

SHARON BADENHORST — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 11:04:51 +0000

Please sign me up for newsletter.

By: JIMMA

JIMMA — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 03:40:40 +0000

The form and juxtaposition between hard and soft is beautiful – but I have to wonder about the materiality. That surface is metal? Wouldn’t that attract light because of reflection and possibly trap warm air between the surface and existing roof?

Beautiful project…

By: Esser

Esser — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 21:32:01 +0000

Wonderful + Interesting

An intriguing balance of function and aesthetic form. Are any smaller applications planned, and can it be installed as an after thought to existing buildings?