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 the individual video “The Development of Revolutionary Large Scale Vegetated Infrastructure Projects in Latin America and the Foundation of a New Industry” by Pablo Atuesta of Groncol, a Colombian company with over 180 projects and more than 150,000 square meters of vegetated infrastructure.

We met Pablo in 2013 at the World Green Infrastructure Congress (WGIC) 2014 in Nantes, France where he spoke to us with such enthusiasm about the greening of Colombia and his country’s future potential as an up and coming leader within Latin America.

Latin America has quickly become a hot spot for sustainable design with many examples of living roofs and walls through Central and South America and the Caribbean.  Pablo will show us some extraordinary projects in his Colombia, a country of 45 million people.

Bogota, Colombia. “Over the past five years Pablo Atuesta Pradilla has dedicated himself to the promotion and building of revolutionary green roofs and green wall projects through his company, Groncol in Colombia. As General Manager and a business administrator with a strong focus towards entrepreneurship and innovative projects, he has merged all of his passions in creating a startup that has a highly innovative product that can produce a positive impact within the environment and society. The company has been recognized by Endeavor, one of the most important entrepreneur organizations in the world, as a local high impact and high potential company due to the potential in job creation and the generation of environmental and social benefits.

As a company, Groncol has built over 180 projects and more than 150,000 square meters of vegetated infrastructure. Among the most important projects is a 92-meter high green wall and they are in the process of building one of the largest green walls in the world (over 3,200 square meters). Groncol – “GRØN” means green in Danish and “Col” stands for Colombia – represents the dream the partners have for a green Colombia and a green world. Groncol is the leader in the design, construction and installation of green rooftops and walls in the Colombian market and one of the largest players in Latin America.” ~ Read his complete bio here from the VS2015.

You will benefit from these 5 Key Learning Objectives as Pablo Atuesta shares on the subject:

1) Pablo says fell in love with regenerating the environment and that we have the power within the industry to change the world.  Greenroofs made sense addressing the triple bottom line of a company: environmental, social, and economic benefits; lots of research and development to reach the level of products they have plus partnered with the Spanish firm Paisajismo Urbano’s technology;

2) Latin American growth is disorganized, informal, with health problems such as kids dying due to air pollution – not enough trees.  Learn about their developments within the last five years and future goals – Colombia wants to get to 13,000,000 m2 of planted roofs and walls like Germany;

3) LEED is a big driver here accounting for 11% of construction licenses looking for certification and the Colombian Green Building Council is a large influencer;

4) See numerous examples of gorgeous projects including vegetated roofs and walls for several private residences, corporate headquarters, shopping malls, hotels, schools, and medical facilities/healthcare companies in Bogota, Medellin, and Armenia, among other cities.  In particular these standouts highlight the Colombian efforts: the massive greenroofed Connecta complex, the 92-meter high Edificio Green greenwall, the Los Andes University greenwall which became an icon in the city of Bogota, and the current Santalaia in Bogota which will have 2,800 m2 of greenwalls (2nd largest in the world) with a complex irrigation system – the smart building has a water treatment plant to reuse 100% of water;

5) Groncol and industry partners have developed and actively supported the growth of the Colombian vegetated infrastructure guild Recive and created new suppliers like Metroverde, a nursery, with local companies.  As a result, the World Green Infrastructure Congress 2016 will be held in Bogota; watch the 2-minute promo video for the WGIC in 2016.

Watch the 38:20 “The Development of Revolutionary Large Scale Vegetated Infrastructure Projects in Latin America and the Foundation of a New Industry” by Pablo Atuesta 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.

“Green Roofs to New Cities” by Dr. Diana Balmori.

“A Higher Purpose – Benefits to Human Health and Education through Green Roofing” by Elizabeth Hart.

“Beyond Extensive and Intensive: Defining the Comprehensive Green Roof” by Molly Meyer.

“Biosolar Roofs” by Nathalie Baumann and Dusty Gedge.

“From Passive House to the Cold North—How Vegetative Envelope Components Impact Buildings” Panel with Dr. Bob Cameron, Dr. Allen Lee, Dr. Karen Liu, and Chris Wark.

“Greening Rooftops in Alberta: People, Place + Projects” by Kerry Ross.

“Greening the World Inside and Outside” by Mark Paul.

“Greenwalls in Middle Earth” by Graham Cleary.

“Pollinators on the Parapets” by Angie Durhman.

“Small Scale Green Roofs” by Dusty Gedge and John Little.

“Social Healing with Greening” Panel – Part 1 with Patrick Carey, Peter Ensign, and George Irwin.

“Social Healing with Greening” Panel – Part 2 with Patrick Carey and Darius Jones.

“Soil Ecological Processes on Green Roofs: Research and Observation Meet Theory and Intuition” Inspiration Nook Video by Christine Thuring.

“Stewardship of Rooftop Ecosystems” by Michael Furbish, Brad Garner, and Dr. Whitney Griffin.