Green Roofs We Love

Witklipfontein Eco Lodge is off the grid, and features solar panels and solar water heating on the roof. Water is pumped from a borehole, used, and then treated in a French drain before it goes back to into the ground.

The entrance is carved into the hillside and leads down earthen steps, past the reading window of the passage and between the two wings of the home to an entrance hall.

Inspired by ancient ruins, Frankie Pappas crafts a green-roofed, brick guesthouse that connects deeply with nature in the South African Bushveld.

Atop a living module that contains a kitchen and eating and living areas, Dominic Stevens waters the sod roof, which, like the rest of the house, is a perennial work in progress.

"In this project, we got so much benefit out of this 'secret garden' for the master suite along with all of these environmental benefits that the residents were excited to embrace. It's one of the pieces we are happiest about," says architect Jonathan Feldman.

Another view of the front facade shows the green roof that tapers into the yard at each end. Sedum, a low-maintenance grass was installed along the roof by Sweden-based Veg Tech.

Architect Konieczny lifted the existing ground and wrapped it around the roof and exterior rooftop staircase, essentially making all floors “ground” level.

The sloped roof of Carlton’s art studio grows a colorful mix of sedum species.

Just up a ladder is the green roof, which is planted with maintenance-free sedums and tall grasses near the patio that Monkman tends carefully.

A guest bedroom, with furniture from Room & Board, overlooks the bridge above the dining courtyard. The home’s landscape architecture is by Ventura, California–based Jack Kiesel. Photo by Coral von Zumwalt.

Jon Ahrens of Madrone Landscaping, who layed out the plantings around the container, implemented a green roof on a drip watering system. The cantilevered overhang at rear is planted with cacti.

The construction was done to make sure that the four areas of the roof — the sundeck, grass hill, play space, and outdoor terrace — all felt like distinct but united areas.

Purple thistles, California poppies, clover, and dandelions have all taken root in the roughly 10-inch-deep, lightweight humus and grape-husk soil in this 580-square-foot green roof. Designer Peter Liang says that he "wanted to plant a green roof for its thermal mass, but I wanted it to be as natural as possible."

In an industrial neighborhood in Brooklyn, a verdant green roof of native grasses, wildflowers, and fruits creates an oasis.

Ryan Anderson of RAD Furniture designed the stools as well as the table and benches on the pool deck.

Take a look at some of the most exciting, sustainable buildings around the world, and you may notice something they have in common: green roofs, or rooftops covered with a thin layer of soil to allow for grasses and other low-lying plants to grow.