Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Table 3.1
List of professionals and their main area of engagement in a living roof project
Budget
Client
Design
• Architect/Landscape Architect
• Civil/Structural/Stormwater/Mechanical/Electrical Engineer,
Building Envelope Consultant, Code Consultant
• Building Service Planner
• Horticulturalist
• Ecologist (sometimes)
• Roof/Landscape Contractor and/or Living Roof Specialist
Provider (sometimes)
Construction
• Building/Landscape/Roof/Living Roof/Propagation (mainly
in North America) Contractors with sub-contractors
Facility Management
• Maintenance Professionals
3.1.2 Communication tools
The planning process relies on a continuous and systematic means of communi-
cation. This process involves a combination of text, calculations and drawings.
Design or concept drawings are used to communicate overall design ideas and
schema. These evolve into construction drawings and speciications, which are
the primary graphic and written communication tools during the construction
phase of a project. They deine the roles of individual members of the design
team, client, contractor and maintenance team. During the creation of the con-
struction drawings by the planners, early planning decisions can be reviewed to
ensure that they function. This is key in avoiding future problems of all sorts,
from integrity of the waterprooing membrane to designing within allowable
loading to success of the planting. As German designers say: “paper is patient.”
In other words, developing and reining design ideas and calculations on paper
irst is cheaper than trying to ind solutions later on site.
Regular meetings and constant drawing updates with a systematically fol-
lowed addendum structure are made extremely convenient by today's online
communications technology (email, cloud sharing, etc.). Constant communica-
tion facilitates all aspects of the project process, helping to avoid post-
construction failures and consequent legal issues. Sudden late changes to
decisions made in the planning stage can alter the overall appearance and func-
tion of the roof and living roof assembly. For example, if the architect lowers the
previously agreed-upon, speciied height of the parapet, and the change is not
communicated to all design consultants involved, the proposed living roof assem-
bly height may not provide the necessary clearance height above the growing
medium. Alternatively, if the architect raises the parapet height, the vegetation
may not be visible from grade after plant establishment. This may contravene
initial design aspirations either desired by the client or required by the urban
authority. This example highlights the importance of communicating design
changes immediately between all design consultants. Ignoring immediate
Search WWH ::
Custom Search