Qianwen Zhang
Sep. 24, 2013
In the past, roofs served solely as covering for homes and businesses. Today, with limited amounts of space and energy in overcrowded cities, architects are rethinking the entire roof concept.
In Hong Kong, the terminal roof for the National High Speed Rail Network doubles as a walking path for visitors. Not only does this help to ease some of the congestion typical of a terminal, it makes use of an otherwise empty space so the building doesn’t have to expand and eat up more resources. Best of all, this unique roof encourages passengers to get outside and enjoy the great outdoors in the middle of the city.
In Denmark, The Copenhagen’s Natural History Museum of Denmark has one of the world’s largest collections documenting the planet’s natural history. In order to make it more accessible to the public, the architects decided to integrate the museum space within the landscape. Incorporated into the beautiful landscape of the city’s botanical garden, the museum is partially sunken into the ground and topped with a walkable green roof that welcomes visitors to rest and enjoy the surrounding garden.
These amazing innovations of space utilization have also inspired business.
In Alberta, Canada, 2010, Skyline Building Systems Inc., a manufacturer of walkable roofing and outdoor waterproof flooring, announced the arrival of its newest member, CoolStep. CoolStep is a walkable roof that can also assist in reducing the interior temperature in the area located beneath it, thus lowering the energy consumption, and resulting cost, for air conditioning. This type of application is known as Cool Roofing.
The walkable and cool roofing is an innovative design that benefits both society and environment, and it reflects the human intelligence and creativity to improve human life by using limited resources and technologies. Given the rising awareness of energy, space, environment, and sustainability, societies are demanding more and more space-efficient, energy-efficient and environmental friendly innovations. These glimpses of innovation designs could invoke people to think about how to change our life little by little to harmonize people and society, also society and environment.
Resources:
Design and Policy 