Green Roofs for Healthy Cities (GRHC) announced yesterday its second group of winners of its 2015 Design Awards of Excellence.

Jeffrey Bruce, Chair of Green Roofs for Healthy Cities (GRHC), announced the winners in the lead-up to CitiesAlive®: 13th Annual Green Roof and Wall Conference coming up just around the corner in October in Brooklyn, NY.

“Awards in eight categories recognizing outstanding design projects were awarded. Green Roofs for Healthy Cities is proud to have the opportunity to recognize and celebrate these examples of excellence, and share them with attendees at CitiesAlive. The Awards will be formally presented at a luncheon at CitiesAlive (October 5-8, 2015) at the Brooklyn Marriott on Wednesday, October 7th. This year’s conference theme is Resilient People, Communities and Places, featuring cutting-edge designs, new technical performance research, innovative policy work, a trade show with industry leaders, and informative professional training and tours.” ~ Green Roofs for Healthy Cities

Read on from the GRHC September 10, 2015 Press Release:

“2015 Design Awards of Excellence Winners

Intensive Residential
Project: TriBeCa Loft – New York, NY
Award Recipient: New York Green Roofs LLC
Floating amidst lower Manhattan’s skyline, architecture meets nature to transform a penthouse residence into the ultimate garden apartment. This project retrofits a nineteenth century loft building’s rooftops into a series of dynamic and diverse gardens.

Special Recognition
Project: LeFrak Lakeside Center Prospect Park – New York, NY
Award Recipient: Roofmeadow
This recreation facility inserted into the historic landscape, includes two skating rinks, one that is topped with an extensive green roof and intensive green roof areas which are seamlessly integrated into the surrounding landscape, preserving historic design while meeting the needs of a diverse contemporary urban community.

Intensive Industrial/Commercial
Project: Aventura Optima Plaza – Aventura, FL
Award Recipient: Savino & Miller Design Studio
Conceived as a balance of the loss of green space caused by the building’s construction by raising the landscape up and inviting office employees to use the space, activating it with a glass enclosed gymnasium and a tranquil space for relaxation.

Extensive Institutional
Project: Krishna P. Singh Center for Nanotechnology – Philadelphia, PA
Award Recipient: Roofmeadow
The Meadow Roof is a prominent feature of the building attracting individuals and groups eager to enjoy time in the rooftop amenity space. Surrounded by floor to ceiling etched glass walls on three sides and a clear glass railing open to the city on the fourth side, the Meadow Roof is accessible to all who have access to the building.

Extensive Industrial/Commercial
Project: Fidek Office Building – Red Deer, AB
Award Recipient: Berry Architecture + Associates
Part of a major renovation of a run down 1950’s bowling alley, the building is located in the downtown core of the city. The green roof helps to refresh the neighborhood both aesthetically and environmentally.

Small Scale Residential
Project: 58A Melville Ave – Toronto, ON
Award Recipient: Johanne Daoust
This single family rooftop garden implementation was inspired by issues of food security and changing sustainability demands in North America.

Intensive Institutional
Project: Helen Schuler Nature Centre (HSNC) – Lethbridge, AB
Award Recipient: O2 Planning + Design
HSNC is an urban nature centre with the goal of delivering diverse and dynamic nature interpretive programs through a team of volunteers, staff and partners. As part of HSNC’s LEED-Gold certified expansion and renovation, interpretive roof gardens were constructed with the goal of creating a demonstration area for delivering interpretive programs and providing a living classroom for visitors.

External Green Wall
Project: Breathe Wall – Grand Rapids, MI
Award Recipient: LiveWall, LLC
Installed in an urban center, Breathe Wall was intentionally redesigned multiple times over a two year period. With multiple rotating palettes of over 70 different species annuals, edibles and perennials, the wall was used as an abstract art piece designed to convey the message that plants give us more than beauty; they supply us with the very oxygen we breathe.”

The Awards of Excellence luncheon will be held on Wednesday, October 7, 2015 at the Brooklyn Marriott in New York City during CitiesAlive. Visit www.citiesalive.org for more information about the Awards (including photos and background materials). Visit www.citiesalive.org for conference, event, and media registration. For conference media passes contact Tracy Jackson at tjackson@greenroofs.org

MEDIA CONTACT: Steven Peck, founder & president, Green Roofs for Healthy Cities, speck@greenroofs.org or 416-971-4494 ext. 223.”

What a wonderful selection of outstanding projects!  Congratulations to everyone involved, in particular to our own Sponsors, Roofmeadow and LiveWall (LiveRoof)!

We’ve recently featured both of Roofmeadow’s awesome honorees, the LeFrak Lakeside Center Prospect Park and the Krishna P. Singh Center for Nanotechnology as our Project of the Week here on Greenroofs.com and look forward to learning more about the others – and then sharing more with you, too.

We hope to see many of you at CitiesAlive 2015 in Brooklyn!

~ Linda V.