Gardens in the sky.
As the building steps up from the Mall to Water Street in downtown Charlottesville, one can glimpse eight planted rooftop terraces covering a combined vegetated area of 13,785 square feet.
Overview
The rooftop terraces and gardens support over 7,000 perennials and grasses, 100 shrubs, and 75 large trees, many of which are native species.
Location: Charlottesville, VA
Completion Date: 2021
Size: 15,500 sqft
Services Provided: Construction
Certifications: LEED Platinum
Awards: AIA Honor Award
Green Roof System: American Hydrotech
Irrigation: Baseline, Hunter, Netafim
Tree Anchor System: Platipus
General Contractor: Hourigan Group
Architect: Wolf Akerman, EskewDumezRipple
Landscape Architect: Gregg Bleam Landscape Architecture
Horticultural Consultant: Patrick Cullina
Irrigation Consultant: Irrigation Consulting, Inc.
What’s in the build?
Our services in action
Construction x
CODE
Making It Feel Easy
The Living Roofs construction team tediously sourced the exhaustive list of specified plant material for CODE from over ten separate nurseries stretching across the mid-Atlantic region and included a custom grow order for thousands of one gallon plants. Deliveries for the over 8,000 individual perennials, grasses, shrubs, and trees were painstakingly sequenced to accommodate other trades, crane schedules, and appropriate climate conditions. They were then expeditiously hoisted, distributed, and installed across the building’s courtyard and eight roof terraces. We’re not going to say it was easy, but we made it feel that way.
Design Studio x
CODE
Care & Maintenance x
CODE
Ensuring Rigorous Plant Establishment
A long term maintenance plan is always recommended for green roofs, but it is absolutely critical to have an experienced team dedicated to ensuring proper plant establishment following installation. At CODE, our Care & Maintenance team carefully supported the establishment of over 8,000 plants (90+ distinct species!) and optimized the performance of the building’s complex recycled water irrigation system for the first year immediately following installation.