Holcim Awards 2005 - Latin America - Gold

"Green roofs for Buenos Aires", Argentina

Type of project:
Urban intervention

Start of construction:
not foreseen

Principal authors:
Hugo E Gilardi, architect, Gilardi y Asociados Arquitectos, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Juan Cristobal Rautenstrauch, industrial engineer, Sociedad Bracht SA, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Raul Halac, architect, Instituto del Ambiente, University of Cordoba, Cordoba, Argentina

Project Summary
A conceptual project for a public policy to promote roof gardens (green roofs) on existing buildings in the city of Buenos Aires on a large scale. Gold in the region Latin America went to Hugo E. Gilardi, architect, Gilardi y Asociados Arquitectos, Buenos Aires, Argentina; Juan C. Rautenstrauch, industrial engineer, Sociedad Bracht SA, Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Raúl M. Halac, architect, Instituto del Ambiente Humano, University of Córdoba, Argentina.

Holcim Award Gold 2005 - Latin America (l-r): Juan Cristobal Rautenstrauch, industrial engineer, Sociedad Bracht SA, Buenos Aires, Argentina; Raul Halac, architect, Institudo del Ambiente, University of Cordoba, Cordoba, Argentina; Hugo E Giliardi, architect, Gilardi y Asociados Arquitectos, Buenos Aires, Argentina; Ines Noher

Comment of the Holcim Awards 2005 Jury for Latin America
The conceptual project aimed at improving urban policy is refreshingly innovative in proposing roof gardens throughout the city. Highly commended is the ambition to improve the conditions of individual buildings as well as more extensive environmental problems at a metropolitan scale.

Benefits for the buildings include a substantial improvement of the energy efficiency of housing, as well as increased comfort due to optimized thermal insulation. Benefits for the city include mitigation of urban flooding as a result of water retention as well as the reduction of heat islands due to vegetal transpiration.

At a world scale, such measures have a positive influence in that they help to reduce global warming both by minimizing the consumption of fossil energy for heating and by controlling CO2 during plant growth.

Important is that the proposal can be applied equally to existing and new buildings. A beneficial social component of the work is that is promises the potential of creating new jobs in the region for construction and maintenance, but is not necessarily limited to this context.

Not only demonstrating how the overall material quality of the city can be ameliorated, the project presents an ecologically responsible vision for large urban conglomerations.