From
GreenRoofs.WordPress.com:
One of the world’s most inspiring green roofs is the ACROS Fukuoka building in Fukuoka City, Japan. It houses offices, retail space, a 2,000 seat theater and a museum.
Designed by Emilio Ambasz & Associates, it was built on the last available green space in the city. The design sought to maintain a green physical footprint while delivering a complex of facilities. Its green roofs and walls cascade seemlessly into public parkland.
As Mettaefficient reports, from the building’s rear it appears to be a normal glass-fronted construction. The other side is a large terraced front, home to around 35,000 plants and 76 different species.
The green roof enables the building’s energy consumption to be much lower than other buildings of a similar size because the greenery keeps inside temperature at a comfortable level.
The design for ACROS Fukuoka proposes a powerful new solution for a common urban problem: reconciling a developer’s desire for profitable use of a site with the public’s need for open green space, and the planet’s need for greenery.
The Takenaka Corporation reports: “Regarding the building as a mountain, and with the beauties of nature as a theme, a space configuration and vegetation configuration was adopted which represents the changes of the four seasons.”
The project is expected to raise tourism interest in Japan among global green roof enthusiasts.
With the advent of Google Earth, Green Roofs Australia predicts green roof building tours will be an emerging trend in the next decade among architects and landscapers — in much the same way as open garden schemes are popular with the general public.
