Apex Green Roofs

Architect:

Davis Square Architects

Scope Of Work

Saint Polycarp Village Apartments is a mixed-use affordable housing complex recently constructed in Somerville, MA. The green roof located on this building is your typical extensive green roof with solar panels and solar thermal surrounding it. What makes this project unique is that high school students at Prospect Hill Academy and in conjunction with Groundworks Somerville helped design and build the project. Initial presentations at the school gave the students the option to design a green roof without limits. Two weeks later we returned to inform them that the budget had been cut and that they needed to design a system that fit within the new constraints. The final built project roughly mirrors the layout and plant palette that the students came up with. Getting students permission to work on the roof was a logistical challenge, but in the end it was a valuable learning experience for all involved.