NYC Post Office Installs Green Roof

Designed by Elizabeth Kennedy Landscape Architects, the landscape on the roof of the USPS Mail Processing Facility in New York City incorporates native plants and trees. The drought-tolerant and low maintenance species include coral carpet, Calamagrostis grass, John Creech, Immergrunchen and Fudaglut sedums.

 

With the trend to ''Go Green'' gaining strength by the minute, the United States Post Office is doing their part to help the environment.

The Morgan mail processing facility in NYC now has a huge green roof on top of their building. The roof taps in at 2.5 acres of native, drought tolerant vegetation and is one of the largest green roofs in the nation. The seven story facility built in 1933 was originally built for the roof to serve as an extra mail processing location, and because of this was deemed strong enough to support a green roof. The new roof not only serves as a park and open space for employees, but will also save energy for the USPS and reduce stormwater runoff.

The new 2.5-acre park sits on the seventh story of the 2.2 million square foot facility. The new roof will last 50 years, which is twice as long as the roof they just replaced. Polluted stormwater runoff will be reduced by up to 75% in the summer and 35% in the winter. The roof will also help the facility reduce its energy use by 30% by 2015.

Source: inhabitat.com.