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Special to School Planning & Management
June 2008
It's Alive: Growing Trend in Green Roofs
By Devin Releford
This month, Atlanta’s Lovett School, a private K-12 school in northwest Atlanta, will begin construction on an eagerly anticipated “green” middle school that has undergone careful planning involving not only the architects, but also 14 of the school’s teachers. The highlight of the 75,000-square-foot brick-and-glass building will be its rooftop education garden and outdoor classroom, designed by Atlanta-based planning and design firm HGOR in collaboration with Boston architecture firm Shepley Bulfinch. The new Lovett Middle School is also vying for LEED-Silver ranking for its design.
The new Lovett Middle School has undergone extensive planning and research to make it one of the only middle schools of its kind. After careful research of independent middle schools in Atlanta and Nashville, the building has been architecturally designed for consideration of a silver LEED ranking.
“The entire middle school building will serve as an environmental classroom for the students,” says Billy Peebles, Lovett’s headmaster. “The building incorporates many energy-efficient and sustainable features, but perhaps none are as anticipated as the roof garden!”
Keeping with Lovett’s and HGOR’s commitment to environmental stewardship, the Middle School’s roof garden features elements that work as learning tools. Students and teachers will use the garden classroom to conduct botany experiments and learn in a natural environment. The garden features drought-tolerant plant species, adapted to Georgia’s climate, to be cared for by the Middle School students. In addition to the plant collection, accent areas will include sections of granite outcrop taken from local quarries. Both offer students the opportunity to study native plants and geology.
The green roof also has a unique approach to water irrigation and conservation. A water channel meanders across the garden, providing students with a small ecosystem to study. Rainwater is collected in the channel, which flows to a nearby 1,500-gal. cistern. This rainwater, added with condensation from the heating and air systems will irrigate the roof garden as needed. The collection pools will be built using recycled material.
The garden also helps to reduce solar energy absorbed by the school’s roof, resulting in lower utility costs for the school. The roof’s limited paving will have a high solar reflectance index to decrease heat absorption. Solar panels will be placed on the roof to harvest the sun’s power for heating water.
“This rooftop educational garden will be instrumental in teaching the values of environmental stewardship to those who will benefit from it the most,” says Lauren Standish, Associate and Project Manager with HGOR. “It allows students to learn about the environment directly from the source.”
Lovett expects the new Lovett Middle School and rooftop education garden to be completed in August 2009.
HGOR is a nationally recognized firm that embraces the challenges of creating places of social value, economic sustainability and environmental stewardship. With a staff of planners, urban designers, landscape architects, environmental specialists and support staff, HGOR focuses on quality service and innovative solutions to complex design issues. For more information, visit www.hgor.com.