Dagmar Hungerford's new green roofs were inspired by goats. "My husband and I were on our honeymoon in 1971, driving our Volkswagen beetle from Nanaimo to Long Beach," she recalls. "In Coombs we stopped beside this general store with a pitched roof. It had green grass and wildflowers growing all over it, and standing right on the roof were two goats. The whole image just struck me -- it was a magical moment, a bit of mystery and surprise."
The general store was The Old Country Market, which thirty years later still sports both green roof and goats. Along with early Hornby Island experiments by Arthur Erickson and Blue Sky Architecture, it is, by sheer exposure, probably one of the most influential green roofs in B.C.
Time flies, and the rustic origins of green roofs in B.C. have since mingled with Japanese and European design innovations. Ms. Hungerford and her husband now own two houses with green roofs -- quite a bit more sophisticated than their early-seventies ancestors -- in West Point Grey.
Ms. Hungerford appeared as the Saturday Morning Gardener on Paul Grant's CBC morning show for five years, and has also written essays for several gardening publications, including the book The Twelve Month Gardener. Over the years she sustained her interest in green roofs by clipping magazine pictures of sod-roof Scandinavian cottages and watching for more modern versions on trips to Europe. "Germany was the forerunner in creating large commercial green roofs, and when I was in Berlin I saw a lot of them on institutional buildings."
Two years ago, she and her husband began drawing plans with local architect Werner Forster for their home and adjacent rental property on a sloping neighbourhood site near Spanish Banks. Mr. Forster, who passed away in the fall of 2005, was the architect behind many of Vancouver's top restaurants, including Il Giardino, le Crocodile, and West.
To build to the height they wanted and minimize the impact on their neighbours' views, the plans called for flat rooftops. "When we were told that to get the elevation we wanted, we needed to have a flat roof, it was an opportunity where I thought, 'Oh my god, I can have my own green roof!' We explained to Werner the houses needed to be engineered for that, and he thought it was very funny that we wanted to put a green roof on a house in West Point Grey. But he was open-minded and very innovative."
Many Vancouver developers and contractors are wary of installing green roofs because of leaky-condo syndrome. For assistance Ms. Hungerford enlisted Angel Ridge Landscape, who installed the garden courtyard of the Opus Hotel in Yaletown.
She also credits Randall Sharp of Sharp and Diamond Landscape Architecture, whom she met at the 2005 Vancouver Garden Show, with giving her the confidence to do some of the work herself.
Leakiness is not an issue, says Mr. Sharp, as a professionally installed green roof system will last 50 to 70 years. "They can cost $8 to $20 more per square foot than conventional roofs, but that includes a year of what we call establishment maintenance. Plus they reduce HVAC costs, and through energy savings, can pay for themselves within 10 years."
Green roofs come in two varieties, intensive and extensive. Intensives are like patio gardens, meant to be watered, fertilized and maintained. The Hungerfords' roofs are a certain type of extensive roof, which Mr. Sharp calls an eco-roof. Meant to be low-maintenance and generally inaccessible like other extensives, these are self-sustaining ecosystems planted with hardy perennials. In the Hungerfords' case, their roof mimics local coastal bluffs, using native species like nodding onion, coastal strawberry, alumroot, stonecrops and sea pinks.
"We also chose some non-native grasses like blue Rocky Mountain fescue," Ms. Hungerford says. "They're very hardy and give a change in texture, as they have a nice clumping look."
