A start-up called Roofscapes, founded by three MIT students, aims to build green spaces on the sloping roofs of Paris, with the goal of reducing temperature, improving quality of life, and increasing climate resilience. The spaces would offer a way to increase local food production, incorporate biodiversity, reduce building temperatures, improve air quality, increase water retention, and provide residents with a new way to escape the dense urban congestion of modern times. The start-up uses wooden structures to transform the sloping roofs, which are ubiquitous in Paris, into accessible green spaces.
Green roofs are one of the best ways to address the problems facing today's European cities, such as heat islands and excessive heat in urban centers, as well as the lack of green spaces and biodiversity. The Roofscapes project, started by three visionary architects, has the potential to contribute to improving quality of life and the environment, increasing biodiversity, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. It also provides a way to develop climate resilience for the future, by encouraging local food production, incorporating biodiversity, and reducing building temperatures.
The Roofscapes project has begun producing small models of green roofs and discussing with structural engineers at MIT. In 2021, they presented a 170 square meter model at the Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism in South Korea. When one of the founders graduated, he moved to Paris, where the other two founders joined this spring. The company won a grant from the City of Paris last year, which will be used for the first Roofscapes project on the roof of an old city hall building in central Paris.
Source: MIT News