Advantages of rehabilitating buildings with vegetation
The complexity that cities are reaching is leading us to propose that we must change the way we renew, regenerate and rehabilitate urban space and therefore, everything that is included in it; from the rehabilitation of roofs and facades of the most emblematic building to the last most forgotten street.
The city works in homogeneity from the urban aspect, action - consequence, and therefore it must take global measures in order to strengthen and improve the lives of its inhabitants.
Remember, cities are for people and should be designed accordingly, but the reality is that we have many factors against such as; air pollution, acoustics, the effect of the heat island… .etc.
As a note, we have an article where manuals and guides on green roofs have been compiled to understand their execution and characteristics.
To try to minimize these effects, there is an initial problem in every city that is evident from an architectural point of view; We already have the imposition of the generated urban structure (Buildings, houses, squares, streets, sidewalks… .etc), now, we have to determine which are the roads that can help us improve.
Actions, many can be proposed, and among them, use of vegetation as a "weapon" for change.
As a short introduction I want to leave a video of a short talk on the TED channel about the rehabilitation of an urban architectural element that at first literally "bothered" and that a priori had no apparent use.
If we filter even more and strip the city of the few green spaces that are normally contemplated (what some designers call "the green decoration of the city"), that is, squares, some wide streets or the previous example from the TED conference .
Actually, we only have the buildings as a base and useful elements to improve the cities. The building already built in the city is the main architectural element on which action must be taken to benefit the cities. Then… What benefits does vegetation bring to the citizen in the rehabilitation of the building?… Why is urban rehabilitation with plants necessary?
Why rehabilitate with vegetation
A new report issued by Arup, Cities Alive, outlines the main keys and benefits that vegetation has when the "green rehabilitation" of buildings is practiced.
The study analyzes five cities in the world (Berlin, London, Hong Kong, Melbourne and Los Angeles) in order to quantify the benefits for different urban morphologies, geographies and climatic contexts.
Welfare
Observing nature can be a source of inspiration, mental regeneration and a palpable reduction of stress symptoms. There are different studies that confirm that work stress is reduced if we have windows overlooking trees or green areas.
A study that was conducted in a Pennsylvania hospital "contacts with nature" on 168 patients. Those who had views of landscaped areas postoperative recovery was much faster as well as medical discharge than those who did not have views.
Acoustics
Urban spaces and mainly streets behave like noise "cannons - funnels", that is, hard and dense materials such as concrete, brick, asphalt and glass reflect the sound and increase the level generated.
Garden facades mitigate sound directly by absorbing it and reducing the overall noise level.
They have the ability and potential to reduce both ambient noise, that is, the background sound of a city made up of many noises and sources, and the noise of emerging sources, that is, individual sources, such as motorcycles, sirens … etc.
According to the dimensions of the building and street widths, some patterns of interest are determined on how noise affects it according to garden facades.
It follows from the report that:
- Garden facades could reduce noise by up to 10 dB (A).
- It does not have a strong impact if the noise is very close, but it does for ambient noise.
- At night is when they work best or it shows in the reduction of ambient noise.
Aesthetic quality
We no longer only have the green color that brings symptoms of joy or that brings "life", we have a differentiation of the seasonality and time of year in which we live, that is, different shades and tonalities of colors that are associated with creativity and innovation. in addition to creating spaces that are not monotonous for the observer that, as we already know, create stress.
The economy of the neighborhood
From an economic and real estate point of view, buildings nestled in green areas have higher rates for sale and rent, not to mention in price, and similarly those that have roofs and landscaped facades.
Air quality
The green areas implanted in buildings form small ecosystems where plants, in terms of filtering pollutants, are having a significant impact on cities.
Studies have shown that a vegetated green infrastructure can reduce volatile fine and ultrafine particles in pollution by up to 60%.
From the previous image we can extract that:
- Green facades can lead to local reductions in particulate matter concentrations, between 10 and 20%.
- The level of reduction is highly dependent on the configuration of the buildings and
street, in terms of the ratio of building height to street width. - Mainly the reductions are located within the streets that form funnels and it is the green facades that provide an opportunity to improve air quality in these types of roads.
Rainwater
The climatic changes that we are suffering already bring us storms and rains in short periods of time and intense. A green roof serves as filters, improving the transition between rain discharge and drainage, the process slows down, therefore the drainage infrastructures established in the city work better.
In this sense, the rehabilitation of roofs with different techniques must be considered and established for new construction, always consistent directives.
Heat island
The impact of certain materials commonly used in cities such as asphalt or concrete that literally absorb heat is the perfect friend of the heat island, where buildings and asphalt release the heat accumulated during the day at night.
Commonly occurs the phenomenon of temperature rise in densely built urban areas caused by a combination of factors such as the building, the lack of green spaces, polluting gases … etc. The phenomenon of the heat island increases with the size of the city and is directly proportional to the size of the «urban area».
- According to the report, the effectiveness of vegetated facades is higher in cities that have a considerable height in their buildings, that is, more dense cities. For cities with lower buildings it is better to use vegetation at street level.
- In sunnier cities the reduction was 8% and colder cities, those of Europe and Asia, reached between 2 - 3%.
- Facing pedestrians. Solar radiation is reduced by 50%.
Biodiversity
Rapidly increasing population growth and urbanization are leading to increased pressure on the land to provide an ecosystem with services that support human well-being and balance ecological function.
As our cities grow larger, they need more resources, not to mention the impact it has on biodiversity. Vegetated roofs and walls help to maintain the necessary balance in biodiversity, being that they are associated with greater benefits in terms of human psychological health and well-being.
Energy
The roofs and facades with vegetation have the peculiarity of regulating the interior temperature of the building as well as oxygenate and improve the ventilation of the interior air in the building that directly benefits the users.
According to the rehabilitation company Arficom … "Although the energy benefits are more palpable in office buildings given that they have higher energy consumption, the estimate of energy savings (Heating - air conditioning) in a residential building can reach up to 23% using properly garden facades and roofs"
Urban agriculture
In fact, cities have great potential to produce their own food. The urban garden should be a primary objective and the buildings on its roofs have the capacity, for the most part, to be able to house food that not only benefits users both health and economically. It is a collective and social point of reference that brings the community closer together.
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