South End Green Roof

Our last post rhapsodized on dreams of a green eco-park, but we can't just sit around waiting for the energy vortex to come to Massachusetts (Abu Dhabi's already beat us to the punch).  Living and working in some of America's oldest communities, we don't often have the luxury of ordering up from the sexy array of new materials and technologies designed for all-new construction -- our challenge is to make old structures as energy efficient as possible, without sacrificing what we love about those old structures (and be glad they don't build 'em like they used to). So we were delighted when our clients in Boston's South End topped our sustainable redesign of their 19th-century row house with a green roof of  hardy sedum hugging a transparent roof hatch that lets the light shine in and solar panels that make hot water.  Now -- imagine it spreading like a green wave up and down the block....