31st Aug2011

Celebrating CAPACES Leadership Institute

by Jason King

A wonderful celebration last night in support of the CAPACES Leadership Institute, an amazing project underway in Woodburn, Oregon which is on track to be the first office building in the US designed and built to Passivhaus standards.   The event took place at the fantastic Bamboo Revolution in Portland, and featured some brief comments from Governor Kitzhaber, and emceeing by Oregon’s First Lady, Cylvia Hayes.  The pair was joined by a group of leaders in green building and farmworker rights to raise funds and celebrate this project and its progress.

The project has gathered steam in recent days, since getting the building permit and starting to erect walls – as shown in this photo from The Selective Omnivore, which is part of a great interview with Green Hammer‘s Gene Wixson, whom is acting as construction manager for the project.  Progress of the project is seen below.

TERRA.fluxus has been happy to contribute to the project through consulting with the green roof – including providing planting starts for propagation of the sedums on-site as well as providing consultation on the green roof integration.  We are currently working on finalizing irrigation design for the roof and site in order to look for donated materials and labor.

A few photos of the event as well – from Jerry Atkins (check out the whole set here)…

(Project rendering by Communitecture, Inc.)

(Governor & First Lady Chatting with PCUN’s Ramon Ramirez)

(Volunteers appreciative of being appreciated)

See more images and find out how you can contribute to the project at their website and stay tuned for more info.  Also find out how to donate to the project, or to volunteer contact Javier Lara (javierl@pcun.org)  or via phone at 503-997-4387.

 

Category : agriculture, announcements, community, ecoroofs, environmental, planting, projects, stormwater, sustainability, vegitecture
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16th Aug2011

Green Roofs from Above

by Jason King

The observant traveler at OHSU can spot the new green roof projects from the upper floor skyways and waiting rooms… providing the ability to see these projects without any sort of public access.  Took a trip up today to see how things were doing, and managed to spy both roofs… here’s some pics of the C-Wing from the 9th floor looking down to Level 4.

And also the HRC, where you can see the predominant shading as it is enveloped in surrounding structures.

And for pleasant waiting, the view from inside the MRI waiting room gives an up close and personal view of the HRC gridded configuration and blue glass stream.  Not a bad spot to hang out…

Category : ecoroofs, images, landscape, planting, portland, projects, stormwater, sustainability, vegitecture
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13th Aug2011

Metro H2W Green Roof

by Jason King

I previously mentioned the design, along with ORANGEWALLstudios for the Metro Household Hazardous Waste (H2W) Green Roof project, which is slated to start construction in September.  We recently project includes re-roofing of this structure, along with over 2,500 square feet of green roof on multiple roof levels (see more on the project here).    We’re excited to see this project come to fruition, until then, a sneak-peek.

Category : ecoroofs, environmental, graphics, habitat, images, portland, projects, stormwater, sustainability, vegitecture
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05th Aug2011

A Trio of Noted Projects

by Jason King

Sifting around the wonder that is the internet, it is always a surprise to see something that references a project you’ve been involved in.  I managed the trifecta with references of recent project work in media and as part of educational materials.  Enjoy these little snapshots of projects.

HEALING ROOFTOPS

First, my friend and colleague Elizabeth Hart, who is a Sustainable Technologies Specialist at Tremco Roofing penned an article in Healthcare Development Magazine on ‘Green Roofs on Health Care Facilities‘, mentioning projects at Portland’s OHSU Hospital, as well as the Van Ness Medical Office Building in San Francisco, all projects designed by TERRA.fluxus.   The benefits of green roofs in hospitals is hard to quantify, but there are signs that this particular building type may be well-suited for multiple reasons for vegetated roofs.  As Hart mentions in her article:

“While the benefits can be attractive, a major setback for the green roof industry is that there is really no way to create a broadly applicable baseline for the benefits of adding a green roof.  Energy savings in the building, the capacity for storm water control, the exact number of years you can extend the life of the roof membrane – these factors shift with each unique building situation and green roof system.  They are living organisms and their functions vary widely with each microclimate, building type and method of install.  The lack of an easily quantifiable return on the investment can prove challenging in the early planning stages.  Despite this, green roofs seem to speak for themselves by how widely they have been adopted, and how rapidly they are changing the “nature” of hospital rooftops.”

 

INNOVATIVE IRRIGATION

Second, the 2011 Brochure for KISSS America – supplier of subsurface capillary irrigation, which TERRA.fluxus used on the OHSU CDRC Green Roof project, the first use on a green roof in the Portland area.  The beauty of sub-surface capillary irrigation is that it eliminates the issues with regular drip in porous, lightweight rooftop soils.   Click here for a link to the full PDF, showcasing some other great projects using this innovative technology.  A snapshot of the brochure showing the installation photos:

BROWNFIELD SUCCESS

Finally, a fact sheet published by the Environmental Protection Agency as part of their Brownfield program includes a ‘success story’ on the Emerson Street Garden, as formerly polluted site that was transformed by the community into a model for transforming underused properties into community assets.  TERRA.fluxus was involved in preliminary site planning for the garden, translating workshop comments and feedback into a roadmap for the site to follow as it took shape.  The site has evolved rapidly since these photos from last year, so will post more soon.  The fact sheet offers lots of background on the garden evolution, as well as resources related to brownfield redevelopment.

Download the entire PDF of the success story here.

Category : announcements, brownfields, ecoroofs, environmental, heathcare, installations, portland, press, projects, publications, stormwater, sustainability, urban voids, vegitecture
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01st Aug2011

MTH Living Wall

by Jason King

The living wall installation is complete at the Move the House Apartments (see in progress shots here) – with all of the 20 species of plants placed in waves through the galvanized metal troughs around two sides of the short structure.  The structure conceals the interior of the trash enclosure, which is accessible through the sliding wooden doors seen below.

The plantings are planned in waves, moving from the upper left towards the lower right, with a range of colors and textures that will last throughout the four seasons.  The arrangement takes into account the different moisture gradients that will occur from dry to moist to wet from top to bottom.   Although just planted with 4″ pots, some of the bands are starting to become legible.  The accessibility of the plantings to the users is also important, as some are meant to be activated with aromas as people brush past them, particularly near doorways to the trash and recycling.


A few more photos shows the variety of species and the details of the simple structure of the living wall, which measures around 160 square feet of area total.  Plantings will wrap around the front corner, softening the edge that protrudes into the pedestrian space.


In addition to the evergreen vegetation, many of the species have flowers that will come on at different times of year, including the Hypericum calycinum, in vibrant yellow below.

Even newly planted, the vegetation is starting to attract bees and other pollinators, as seen on the subtle flowers of the Origanum ‘Kent Beauty’ in bloom.  Butterflies have also been spotted in the past day or so.  Not bad for a project that is literally days old.

As with all of our projects, we will be monitoring the evolution of the plantings over time, and adjusting some of the configuration.  Also important will be maintenance, as the predominant form of these plants is to drape rather than climb, so the overall composition may shift as certain plants fill in and others shift.  But that’s part of the fun… stay tuned for more.

Category : art, details, habitat, installations, landscape, living walls, materials, planting, portland, projects, vegitecture
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