Rooftops as sustainable, functional and gorgeous green spaces.

Around the globe, more focus is being put on utilizing the vast square footage of the roof. People are creating private, green havens of relaxation or gardens that provide fresh, pesticide-free fruits and vegetables.

Take, for example, the rooftop pictured below.

Add a little green and watch it grow into Eagle Street Farm, an organic rooftop vegetable farm (image below) created by Goode Green, a New York City green roof design firm.

In some European cities it’s required by law that any new, flat-roof building have a green roof. The image below was taken in Stuttgart, Germany.

Green roofs and roof gardens act as natural cooling systems and help improve air quality. Basically all you need is a strong, waterproof roof with a good drainage system and plants with shallow roots. The roof garden below is at the Crosby Street Hotel in New York City.

And if you thought something so functional and sustainable couldn’t be plush and pretty, you thought wrong. (Image below is Chris and Lisa Goode’s (of Goode Green) downtown New York City residence roof garden.)

Look at these further 10 beauties:

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Goode residence, New York City.

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Rooftop garden, downtown Singapore.

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Private residence, Fifth Avenue, New York City.

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City Hall, Chicago, Illinois.

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California Academy of Science, San Francisco.

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Goode residence, New York City.

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Hospital rooftop, Basel, Switzerland.

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Private residence, Milan, Italy.

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St. Luke’s International Hospital, Akashi, Tokyo.

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Goode residence, New York City.

Images: vinczha, National Geographic, Goode Green, New York Magazine, HenryLeongHimWoh, New York Magazine, tomvw, Ian Muttoo.

Note: Top image is the Gary Comer Youth Center Rooftop Garden in Chicago, Illinois.

The post Gardener on the Roof: 15 Gorgeous Green Rooftops appeared first on EcoSalon.