The traditional gardening season is drawing to a close, but don’t fret! These spectacular rooftop gardens will keep your green thumb inspired all year long.
In densely-populated cities, living roofs can be a great way to combat urban heat island effect while producing healthy food and a place to escape the rat-race. If you’re looking for some elevated gardening inspiration, have we got a treat for you.
Far from a few pots of tomatoes on a fire escape, the following rooftop gardens show exactly how much gardening potential exists high above our heads. Check out these amazing rooftop garden designs from designers and property owners around the world, and get inspired for your own living roof!
1. Chicago City Hall Rooftop Garden
Chicago’s most famous rooftop garden sits atop City Hall, an 11-story office building in the Loop. Planted in 2000, the garden was designed to demonstrate the benefits of green roofs and how they affect temperature and air quality. The garden now features more than 100 species of plants, including native prairie and woodland grasses and forbs, hardy ornamental perennials and grasses, several species of native and ornamental shrubs, and two varieties of trees.
2. Nine Houses, Dietikon, Switzerland
Ok, so this one is cheating a little bit, but it was too awesome to omit. Designed by architect Peter Vetsch back in 1993, this cluster of nine separate residences are made out of concrete and buried in earth and grass. The overall effect is like something out of “The Hobbit.”
“Residents can use their rooftops however they choose, and as such some are planted as gardens, others used as sitting areas with shrubs. Many rooftops are not used at all, and are simply undulating meadows,” write the designers.
3. Rockefeller Center Green Roof
Did you know the Rockefeller Center is the oldest commercial building with green roof in America? For more than 75 years, the rooftop gardens on top of the Center have boasted impeccably manicured shrubs, flowers, and lawns. “Created by landscape architect Ralph Hancock, the gardens’ elaborate fountain pools, stone planters, and vegetation are most definitely not the types of structures you see on rooftop gardens today,” reports Inhabitat. “To support the thousands of tons of extra weight from the pipes, soil, and pumps, the Rockefeller Center’s roofing was reinforced with extra steel.” Unfortunately, the gardens are almost never open to the public.
4. Place-Royale, Quebec
Considered the birthplace of French America, Place-Royale is a destination for history and culture enthusiasts. “The public square became a marketplace under the French regime. It was also the place where criminal executions and corporal punishment were carried out,” explains MCQ.org. Over time, it became run-down, and the government stepped in to preserve and restore the historically significant buildings. Atop one, this whimsical living roof was planted as a place for enjoying greenery, fountains and public art.
5. VivoCity Sky Park, Singapore
Normally, green space and a nation’s largest shopping mall aren’t things we’d mention in the same sentence, but this architectural marvel from Singapore proves that it can be done. The VivoCity mall features a massive Sky Park that’s open to the sun and fresh air. A favorite destination of locals as well as international tourists, the rooftop features gardens, an ampitheatre, open air playground, and a wading area that the area of four Olympic-sized swimming pools.
Related on Ecosalon:
10 Ideas For Sexy Urban Gardens
4 Indoor Growing Gadgets For Lazy Gardeners
Images: pinboke, joebehr, Green Roofs, digitizedchaos, meddygarnet, Calvin Teo