Takenaka Corp., a leading Japanese construction company, exhibited its newly developed rooftop gardening system at the Shizuoka International Garden and Horticulture Exhibition "Pacific Flora 2004," held in Japan in August 2004. The new product makes it possible to plant ornamental flowers and shrubs on the roof of a building without damaging the building.

Ornamental flowers and shrubs in rooftop gardens on tall buildings need soil of a certain depth, meaning that conventional shallow planting greening systems using lightweight soil face various difficulties. This new system employs as a planting base an original mat consisting of a water retention layer and a drainage layer. Each mat is 50 x 50 x 3.5 centimeters, weighs 60 kilograms including plants when moistened, and can be firmly attached to rooftops. Because the system weighs less than half of products using existing technology, it can be used on high buildings where winds are strong, and on existing buildings that have rooftop weight restrictions.

To facilitate maintenance, only 35 types of plants have been selected for the system, including grass, flowers such as verbena, and shrubs such as Japanese juniper and wintercreeper (Euonymus fortunei). The plants are at first grown on a mat 25 x 25 x 4 centimeters. The mat with young plants is then set on top of the larger water-retention mat.

This system has been used on the Wakayama Gas Building, in a redevelopment project involving the Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co. Building and on Takenaka's own new building. The company plans to further simplify the maintenance and improve the functionality of the system.



Posted: 2004/12/06 11:49:02 AM
Japanese version

TAG Ecosystem , Global warming , Non-manufacturing industry , Technology