26 ROOFING When a roof is not an egg it has to multi-task Architect Christopher Sykes explains why
ONCE UPON A TIME, A ROOF WAS A ROOF. IT WAS PITCHED OR FLAT OR A COMBINATION OF BOTH. NOW, IF YOU SKIM THROUGH THE SO-CALLED ICONIC INSPIRATIONS FROM MANY OF THE WELL-KNOWN ARCHITECTURAL PRACTICES, IT IS SOMETIMES IMPOSSIBLE TO IDENTIFY THE ROOF BECAUSE SO MANY OF THESE PRESTIGE BUILDINGS LOOK JUST LIKE AN EGG.
O
n end, the egg may be called the gherkin but mostly it is an egg on its side where cladding and roofing simply merge as one. Sometimes, some buildings have no roof at all and this new type of design is called a shard – there’s one planned for the City of London, there are others in the Middle and Far East, with South Korea and its 850m high pointed tower in Seoul among the latest.
And roofs are in the news. So too is the trend to use skylighting as a way to maximize the ingress of daylighting into spaces which have a large footprint. Wimbledon’s Centre Court this very month puts to use for the first time its spectacular retractable roof. Buro Happold’s roof for Liege’s new shopping centre hits the headline because it intends to undulate and snake for 400m changing interior spaces as it goes. Not to be outdone, Grimshaw has just designed the ‘largest green roof in the world’ – actually a 35 acre nine hole golf course atop a flat water filtration plant in New York.
It’s a fact that the roof now plays an increasingly important role. The Riverhead Infants School in Sevenoaks is a good example. As partner in charge of the project Roger FitzGerald explains, “Too often, architects leave the roof as an afterthought. At this school, the design of the roof was fundamental to the whole concept for the building. It enabled us to integrate the building with the surrounding rolling historic parkland landscape, and also allowed us to create a "deep-plan" arrangement of the accommodation, giving the school extra usable space and freedom to move the layout around in the future. The roof is really what the building is all about and the elevations are relatively insignificant. And that is what the local community still keeps talking about, with the sedum roof covering constantly changing colour, from fresh green to bright reds and browns, mirroring the changing seasons. As shown here, the first concept sketch was followed through into more detailed drawings, and ultimately realised exactly as originally conceived."
Multi-tasking
It is obvious that the roof, until now, has been a wasted element. Now it is taking on a multi- tasking role, in part driven by fashion but in fact driven by sheer economies, energy management and harvesting of resources that are naturally there for the taking. Take Gazeley’s 35,500sqm G Park Blue Planet logistics warehouse in Chatterley Valley, Staffs. This is the first building to achieve a design- stage BREEAM Outstanding rating and projected to save as much as £300,000 a year in reduced running costs. Besides having water-efficient fittings, the multi-tasking roof has a rainwater harvesting system and photovoltaics. The majority of materials used in the building are either A or A+ rated in BRE Global's Green Guide to Specification.
Using the roof to derive benefits from the sun and wind has long been the stuff of legend from an innovator like Monodraught with their Sunpipes, Windcatchers and other hybrids. Solar panels, which so often looked like the afterthought addition which indeed they were, are now an integral part of the roof. Photovoltaic
Initial concept drawing
roof tiles are designed to be integrated with conventional clay and concrete roof tiles, as Sandtoft’s new system shows. Roof planting proliferates; rainwater harvesting happens.
Simply expressed, the roof is no longer a single function element there to keep heat in and rain out. Even flat roofs are being captured for their potential to improve life and personal well-being. Hence is born the concept of Living Roofs which can deliver benefits throughout urban areas for individuals and society as a whole by converting this ‘wasted’ asset into new outdoor social spaces. London’s mayor and his Architecture and Urbanism advisor Richard Rogers have even produced a Living Roofs statement, working to promote roof terraces, roof gardens and green roofs across London.
The roof is part of the building envelope. Specifiers and designers now need to read carefully the contents of that envelope and find out exactly what they have to do to maximize performance in practice and capitalize of all those hidden potentials and benefits no longer hidden.
There’s a lot happening on this roof – and concept to reality has hardly changed. The award-winning Riverhead Infants School near Sevenoaks, Kent. Architects ADP; photo Ray Hardinge.
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