In celebration of honoring Earth Day 2015 and our planet’s ecology through healthy, regenerative design, we are highlighting each of the 23 awesome videos from our 30+ spectacular speakers from Greenroofs.com‘s Greenroofs & Walls of the World Virtual Summit 2015 ~ Connecting the Planet with Living Architecture: People, Projects & Design, running through May 31st.

Our hope is that by familiarizing you more with each presentation and its particular benefits, you will be enticed to join us during our wonderfully easy-to-navigate online Virtual Summit!  And, along with the speakers’ input, I will identify 5 Key Learning Objectives or “takeaway” bullet points that each video presentation provides to participants.

Today we are spotlighting our Keynote presentation “Green Roofs to New Cities” Keynote Video from the inspiring Dr. Diana Balmori, landscape designer and principal of Balmori Associates based in New York City.

Recognized internationally for her creative interplay between landscape and architecture, Diana has been on the leading edge of design for decades.  In fact, Diana was named as one of 2013’s “100 Most Creative People in Business” from Fast Company – at # 3, no less – plus one of ten Innovators by Architectural Digest (September 2013).

We have known the dedicated Diana since 2002, where we both spoke at the Earth Pledge Foundation in NYC.  I was as inspired by her then as I am wowed by her now ~ she is a wonderful representation of female leadership!

New York, NY, USA.  “Diana Balmori founded Balmori Associates in 1990. The landscape and urban design practice is recognized internationally for designing sustainable infrastructures that serves as an interface between landscape and architecture. In 2006, she created BAL/LABs within Balmori Associates, to further push the boundaries of architecture, art and engineering: Green Roofs, Floating Islands, Temporary Landscapes, Forms of Representation, and Zero Waste City, among others.

Diana keeps an active voice in national policy and decision-making on topics that relate to landscape design, architecture and urban planning.  She has served as: member of The United States Commission of Fine Arts in Washington, DC; a Senior Fellow of Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, DC; a member of the Allston Development Group at Harvard University, Boston, MA; on the Board of The Van Alen Institute, New York City; The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation for the World Trade Center Site, New York City; and as a Committee Member for the Comprehensive Design Plan for the White House. Since 1993 she has been a Critic at Yale University in both the School of Architecture and the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies.”  ~ Read her complete bio here from the VS2015.

Video production by Stacked Up TV Productions. Visuals by Joseph Maida, Mark Dye, Efrain Mendez / archframe.net, Bilbao Ria 2000, University of Iowa, and Balmori Associates with the design teams of each project.

You will benefit from these 5 Key Learning Objectives as Dr. Diana Balmori shares on the subject:

1) Her 2005 research piece/inventory study on Long Island City and how this “Asthma Alley” could affect a direct health-oriented benefit, resulting in greenroofs atop Silvercup Studios and the Gratz Industries Company;

2) How greenroofs have enormous implications playing an urban role as open space and as connectors, creating benefits of a public park without the huge costs of land purchase;

3) How greenroofs are a simple tool we could us to contrast climate change, if used at the macroscale;

4) Her large masterplan with sweeping, continuous  greenroofs for the new governmental city Sejong in South Korea introduced the idea of a landscape taking the primordial organizing idea to organize the architecture – based on the previous forms of the mountains and rivers;

5) Why greenroofs are a revolutionary tool at these levels: Building – by altering the relation between landscape and architecture to the benefit of both; City –  by reducing the heat island effect; River – by preventing floods and cleaning drainage water; Living Being – by improving our health.

Watch the 9:52 video presentation “Green Roofs to New Cities” now playing at the Greenroofs & Walls of the World Virtual Summit 2015.  If you have not yet registered (only $49 or 25), please do:

Registration fee:

$49 – special discounted pricing;

$25 for students/faculty and government professionals

All Video Presentations, Q & A Transcripts, & Exhibitor Booths are On Demand +
Networking Live 24/7 through May 31, 2015

Earn CEUs including 10 GRP CEUs.  Register here.

Registration Open through May 31st for the Greenroofs.com Virtual Summit 2015

We hope you will support our work!  Please remember that these video presentations will not be made public for at least one year.

Happy watching and participating,

~ Linda V.

Learn more about these awesome video presentations and their 5 Key Learning Objectives at the Greenroofs & Walls of the World Virtual Summit 2015:

“A Green Building Should Look Green, Which Means Hairy!” by Dr. Ken Yeang.

“Biodiversity in the Sky – How Green Roofs Can Be Designed as Wild Life Refuges” by Dr. Stephan Brenneisen.