The Green Infrastructure Design Challenge, a competition asking for ideas on integrating biodiversity into the built environment, has been won by Green Roof Shelters, presenting a simple, sustainable and immediately available concept.
Organised by CIBSE and UKCIP/ARCC, the GI Challenge is in its third year, and this year’s entries presented dramatically different approaches to the objective.
Green Roof Shelters is company that takes necessary structures – such as bus stops, bin storage units or bike sheds – and turns them into individual ecosystems. Vertical surfaces provide habitats for insects and small mammals, with horizontal surfaces planted to provide pollen and nectar. The green roofs can also be designed to trap water and develop into mini-wetlands.
The genius of the concept lies in its simplicity and immediate appeal. Introducing his concept, John Little pointed out: “Communities need cycle and bus shelters. If you’re going to use such structures, why not use them for more than one purpose?”
Awarding the trophy and prize cheque, George Adams, Director of Engineering at SPIE and Chair of the CIBSE Resilient Cities Special Interest Group, was keen to point out that the final judge’s decision was made very hard by the wide variation in approaches to the challenge.
Three other entries were considered: architects Hawkins/Brown was awarded a second prize for the design for the Urban Sciences Building at Newcastle University – a triumph of integration between parkland and building, blurring the distinction between interior and exterior and maximising the use of vegetation throughout the facility.
Low energy building designers RCZM took a South London School and introduced the concept of Green Infrastructure not only into the design of the campus but also into the curriculum, using the environment as a living laboratory in which the children take on responsibility for maintaining the biodiversity and understand the principles behind the project.
Building Engineers XCO2 imagined how an ideal urban environment would be created, considering the challenge from both a neighbourhood and an individual building level, emphasising the need for joined-up thinking to combine the impact of well-designed urban parks, roads and waterways with multi-use buildings maximising the use of space and creating living habitats for plants and insects.