Press release

A group of 15 students – mostly from the first year of architecture of the School of Architecture and Engineering of Fribourg (HEIA-FR) – will be showing their work on Friday, 22 November 2019 at the Smart Living Lab after having participated in the architecture theme week to build a display stand made up of four different types of green roofs.

The aim of this workshop organized by Raphaël Compagnon and Joëlle Goyette Pernot – both sustainable development professors in the architecture sector of the HEIA-FR - was to help students understand the advantages of green roofs in the built environment, within the context of the global climate change issues society must tackle, such as urban climate regulation (combat against urban heat island phenomenon, rainwater retention…), contribution to maintaining, and possibly restauring biodiversity, restitution of green spaces close to natural spaces, all of which contribute to the development of a green framework in the urban environment. Green roofs are also beneficial when it comes to durability, water tightness of flat roofs, and building isolation, which is particularly interesting from a construction point of view.

«The update of ancient practices» was the message delivered to students by Nathalie Baumann, specialist in urban ecology, when she met them in Basel, pioneering city in the use of green roofs. «To help maintain the local green flora, while aiming for self-regulation of the green environment, and invasive plant management» is Jacques Studer’s vision, biologist from Fribourg whom students interacted with on the bluefactory site, where the green roofs are displayed.

The display stand shows four different types of roofs: three extensive ones and an intensive one. Their substrates are varied and adapted to different forms of supporting structures. Native plants seeds will be planted before the end of the theme week. Nature will then have to do its work, and results will be seen as of spring 2020. It may take months, even years, for these roofs to fully develop.

This project was made possible thanks to Contec AG, OHS Otto Hauenstein Semences, and Lautrejardin, who donated sealing materials, substrates, seed mixtures, and plants.

Stand vernissage: Friday, 22 November 2019 at 14:00 at the Smart Living Lab, on the bluefactory site, between the NeighborHub and the Blue Hall, Passage du Cardinal 13b, Fribourg.

Contact : Prof. Joëlle Goyette Pernot ▪ Institut TRANSFORM ▪ +41 (0)26 429 66 65 (direct)

Haute école d’ingénierie et d’architecture ▪ Pérolles 80 ▪ CH-1700 Fribourg ▪ www.heia-fr.ch