Minto Place podium

With this picture, showing the green roof on the podium level of Minto Place, I intend to start a series of photos of existing green roofs in Ottawa. There are over a dozen green roofs I can think of immediately. Most are at the podium or near ground level, where they have a useful aesthetic function.

I took this from the elevator lobby of Minto Place hotel, about the 8th floor. This window also had an oblique view of the similar roof garden on Constitution Square.

While I think green roofs have a function, they are somewhat a solution in search of a problem. If we want to green our city, I think we should make a list of priorities based on a comparison of benefits. I suspect greening parking lots and walls would have a much higher payback than green roofs, especially ones high up on buildings where there is little aesthetic benefit. Lower level roofs have a higher aesthetic payback, are more amenable to supporting wildlife, and offer the same or better rain fall runoff and air cleaning benefits, compared to higher roofs.