Greenroofs.com Project of the Week: 9/01/14

NOAA La Jolla Southwest Fisheries Science Center Laboratory
(Replacement Project), UC San Diego
La Jolla, CA, USA
27,000 sf. Greenroofs

Project Description & Details

Designed by Gould Evans Architecture on the campus of UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography, the award-winning 7-story LEED Gold certified NOAA Southwest Fisheries Science Center (SFSC) Replacement Project houses the Director’s Office, three research divisions (Antarctic Ecosystems Research Division, Fisheries Resources Division, and Marine Mammal and Turtle Division), the Operations and Management Division, Information Technology Services, and three stories of parking. The new structure replaced the existing 1960s facility which was located on a site of significant coastal bluff erosion. Thirty percent of the roof is covered by vegetation on a series of nine greenroofs. In addition to the living roofs, terracotta sun shades, photo-voltaic panels, and a state-of-the-art 528,000 gallon ocean technology tank propel the new headquarters in setting a new benchmark in scientific building design.

In an effort to restore the endangered native ecology on the building rooftops, Jeffrey L. Bruce & Company designed the series of greenroof gardens for NOAA La Jolla SFSC which function as a series of accessible stepped landscape terraces advancing the agency’s mission of public environmental education with elaborate water retention systems and recycled materials. Among other, the vegetated roofs were established with California coastal plantings including velvet cactus (Bergerocactus emoryi), coast prickly pear (Opuntia littoralis) and Shaw agave (Agave shawii), woolly blue curls (Trichostema lanatum), rock rose (Helianthenum scoparium), and deer grass (Muhlenbergia rugen), set in an average depth of 9″ custom designed local growing media. To supplement a potential water deficiency during periods of drought, the greenroofs have an automatic irrigation system, with excess rainwater captured by drains found in each of the greenroof areas.

Year: 2013
Owner: NOAA
Location: La Jolla, CA, USA
Building Type: Municipal/Government
Type: Semi-Intensive
System: Single Source Provider
Size: 27,000 sq.ft.
Slope: 2%
Access: Accessible, Private

Designers/Manufacturers of Record:

Landscape Architect: Jeffery Bruce and Associates
Architect: Gould Evans
Plant Supplier: RECON Native Plants, Inc.
Landscape Architect: Wimmer, Yamada, and Caughey
General Contractor: Rudolph and Sletten
Associate Architect: Delawie
Irrigation: Hunter

Project of the Week Video Feature

Watch the NOAA La Jolla Southwest Fisheries Science Center Laboratory Project of the Week Video below or see it on our greenroofs.TV on YouTube:

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Love the Earth, Plant a Roof!

~ Linda V.