The Borealis Apartments, located in the South Lake Union neighborhood of Seattle, incorporates green walls to buffer the residents from the busy traffic and screen the views of expansive parking lots to the south. The vines and climbing plants in these green façades are also intended to help screen the direct sun, purify the air for the residents and create a green link to Denny Park directly west of the site.

The green walls are comprised of prefabricated trough planters, green screens®, cables and plants. The planters are supported two-foot four-inches off of the building façade and alternate from side to side as they ascend up to the parapet arbor planters. The planters incorporate green screens® tied directly into the back of the planters and plant climbing cables which link the planters from floor to floor.

The biggest challenge in the design was to provide the planters with irrigation and drainage without compromising the building envelope. The plantings are irrigated from a rooftop connection in the mechanical room which drops down the building façade to the support brackets and out to the planters on each floor. The irrigation system is constructed with galvanized pipe, which will not deteriorate in the suns UV rays and complements the galvanized siding on the building façade.

Each planter is also fitted with a drain line to catch surplus water and keep it from splashing against the windows and building façade. Greening the Architecture on The Borealis integrates the building into the neighborhood.

Learn about Portland’s incredible strides in the area of Green Engineering.  Macdonald Environmental Planning, P.C., the landscape architect responsible for designing the Multnomah County Central City Library Ecoroof, will be appearing live on the KPTV morning show to discuss it’s commitment to Sustainability and Green Engineering.

Daniel Edwards with Macdonald Environmental Planning, P.C., will be joining the team of professionals responsible for the design and installation of the new Multnomah County Central Library Ecoroof for a live interview to be televised on KPTV’s morning show tomorrow, January 13th.

The interview will be televised at various times throughout the morning: 5:53am, 6:23am, 6:53am, 7:53am, 8:23am, and 8:45am respectively. KPTV will be interviewing Allen Profit from Multnomah County, Kat West from the Bureau of Environmental Sciences, a Central City Library spokesperson, Mark Carpenter of Columbia Greenroof Technology who was the provider of the tray system installed, and Daniel Edwards of Macdonald Environmental Planning,P.C..

Viewers will be informed on tours that are available for the ecoroof, the effects that the ecoroof has on staff productivity, how the tray system installed contributes to energy savings, water retention and heat island effect reduction, and how this contributes to Portlands plan for making the city a more sustainable place to live.

Please join us tomorrow morning to learn more about our Multnomah County Central Library Ecoroof and it’s nurturing benefits for our environment.

Laurel Macdonald Bonnell, Principal
Macdonald Environmental Planning, P.C.