Green Apple Pie » Cities Alive

Mayor Miller on Green Roofs

David Sheen — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 19:34:25 +0000

HERE’S ANOTHER ONE FROM THE VAULT: two video clips of David Miller, mayor of Toronto, inviting delegates to the Cities Alive conference on green infrastructure technologies last month. In the first video clip, he lists the various ecological initiatives that the municipal government has implemented over the last several years, explaining why he believes that Toronto is leading the world in fighting climate change. In the second video clip, he talks about the new Green Roof bylaw that city council enacted back in May. I hope you don’t mind the odd colouration of the video; the room was very dark, because while he spoke, he was screening a series of slides, so I had only a small colour spectrum to work with. In any case, I certainly hope that his enthusiasm for the environment will translate into many more green roofs across Toronto! Here’s hoping!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUOfaHt2rq4

www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_VkHsTWS5U

The Science Behind Living Walls

David Sheen — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 17:39:45 +0000

HERE’S ANOTHER VIDEO THAT we shot at the Cities Alive conference. In this clip, Alan Darlington, Adjunct Professor at the University of Guelph, discusses the results of his research on a number of local Living Walls, to test how effectively they filter out Volatile Organic Compounds, or VOC’s, in enclosed areas. By the end, the walls had performed so well that they exceeded even his own expectations. By combining the science of biofiltration with the floral artwork of Patrick Blanc, Darlington has pioneered a kind of vegitecture, a truly holistic system for human housing. Bravo!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHItYgKOxco

Green Roofs Save Energy

David Sheen — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 22:39:33 +0000

WHEN WE ATTENDED THE Cities Alive Conference on Living Roofs and Living Walls, one month ago here in downtown Toronto, we made the effort to videotape some of the lecturers. Ever since that time, we’ve been pretty busy building our very own Living Wall at the Green Apple offices. But now that the Living Wall is up and running — and looking very beautiful, I might add — we’re able to upload some more of the footage that we filmed at Cities Alive, for your viewing pleasure. Here is a brief clip of Dr. Brad Bass speaking about his scientific studies into the potential energy savings of living roofs. Enjoy!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6uU9cyVamw

Talking Up Living Walls

David Sheen — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 15:03:30 +0000

WE SURE LEARNED A LOT at the Cities Alive Conference two weeks ago, but part of the problem was that there were so many speakers all presenting simultaneously, that it was impossible for any one person to take in all of the interesting information. So as a service to the community of green infrastructure designers and builders, I’m uploading this ten-minute video of one of the panels that Peter and I attended. The speaker in question is George Irwin, principal of Green Living Technologies, a company out of Rochester, New York, that has developed a pre-fabricated tray system for embedding soil on roofs and walls. George is a very emotionally engaging speaker, and he makes a very convincing case for building living walls. Well, we’re convinced, anyways!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCnwTflo7QI

Steeple of Colour

David Sheen — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 13:59:38 +0000

THE DOWN SIDE OF DOING a tour of green roofs in the autumn is that it can be damp and cold outside. Yesterday, it was both. But the upside is that the roofs that you visit aren’t all green: they’re green and yellow and orange and red, and every shade in between, because in northeastern North America the leaves cycle through the colour spectrum before they fall off the trees and bushes. What a sight to behold!

THE COVENANT HOUSE, a Catholic support center for street youth, recently renovated their roof at 20 Gerrard Street East in downtown Toronto, and we got to see it the day before last. It’s kind of weird to peer through the shrubbery and see a sign for “So You Think You Can Dance” several blocks away. Green roof with sign view is not nearly as good as green roof with no sign view, but it’s infinitely better than regular roof with sign view, so I won’t complain. Much!

TRULY, IT’S A LOVELY little escape from the smoggy street-level hustle and bustle. Great work!

Here’s To You, Mrs. Robertson

David Sheen — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 16:36:23 +0000

SINCE MONDAY NIGHT, we’ve been blogging and tweeting from the Cities Alive Conference, keeping you updated with news and views from this North American gathering of Green Roof Professionals. I hope you caught our first installment of photos, pics of the green roof on Toronto City Hall a couple of days ago. Since then, I’ve had the chance to meet some really interesting people from all over the globe doing similar work in the world. I suppose that some of them will be surfing over here to Green Apple Pie to check out some of the media that we’ve been making available from the conference. So here are some shots of the Robertson Building at 215 Spadina Avenue (we already uploaded photographs of the lovely living wall at the Robertson Building exactly a month ago in Green Details). Enjoy! And stay tuned — we will continue to post still pics of green features, and hopefully we’ll manage to upload a little video footage of some of the lectures, as well.

New Green Roof at Toronto City Hall

David Sheen — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 04:02:37 +0000

EXCLUSIVE! CHECK OUT THESE pipin’ hot pictures of the new Green Roof on top of the rotunda at Toronto City Hall. This week Toronto is hosting the Cities Alive Conference, a three day symposium for everyone involved in Green Infrastructure projects across the continent. Mayor Miller addressed the audience, and then the crowd was invited to tour the roof of the building. It’s not one hundred per cent completed yet, but I was still able to take some attractive photographs before it got too dark out. Don’t miss the thirty-second video clip of the unveiling that I quickly edited and uploaded to the net. So, how do you like Green Roofs now?