9 Remarkable Rooftop Garden Designs Around the World
For city dwellers green space is hard to come by—at least when it’s on the ground level. Rooftop gardens and green roofs are the new backyards, as shown in the book Living Roofs (teNeues, $55). Author Ashley Penn, a landscape architect and Chartered Member of the United Kingdom’s Landscape Institute, catalogues the plants and materials used in 35 projects across the globe, from Austin, Texas, to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. The benefits of a living roof don’t stop at the natural beauty it provides. “As well as additional living space, green roofs can add a whole host of other benefits, including increasing the value of properties, supporting biodiversity, filtering air pollution, and even mitigating stormwater runoff and alleviating overflow,” Penn writes. Whether you’d want to tackle a high-maintenance green roof, complete with large trees, or plant a small container garden, the resulting space can act as an additional outdoor room for all the al fresco lounging, dining, and entertaining you can fit into a summer season.
Photo: Nikolas Koenig Photography/Courtesy of HMWhite1/9Tribeca Penthouse Garden, New York City
Here a mountainlike timber bench emerges from a modular stone-and-lawn landscape, HMWhite’s ode to the architecture of the building. The stainless-steel hot tub, surrounded by prairie-like grasses, might just be the perfect spot to take in the Manhattan skyline.
Photo: Bilyana Dimitrova2/9East Village Rooftop Garden, New York City
The Empire State Building is visible from a certain angle on this roof, but a custom oak water feature and Japanese wisteria-covered pergola ensure that the Pulltab-designed space feels like a calming oasis away from it all.
Photo: JoeFletcher.com3/9Hilgard Garden, Berkeley, California
Mary Barensfeld Architecture’s modern take on a terraced garden, this cast concrete structure uses ramps, rather than steps, for climbing up and down the greenery. A mini ipe-wood terrace toward the top provides a bird’s-eye view of the reflecting pond in the center.
Photo: Matteo Carassale4/9Archilabo, Milan
This industrial fifth-floor terrace, one of three in the residence, by landscape architect Cristina Mazzucchelli, has galvanized steel drum planters and a concrete outdoor kitchen, softened by feathery grasses and perennial plants.
Photo: Matteo Carassale5/9Romolo Private Terrace, Milan
By using plants as walls, Mazzucchelli designed three distinct spaces—a dining area, large lounge, and cozy relaxation nook—in this open-layout terrace. Purple chairs pair perfectly with similarly hued Japanese maples, geraniums, and sedums.
Photo: JoeFletcher.com6/9Mill Valley Cabins, Mill Valley, California
While these two cabins almost blend into their environment, they deserve a closer look. On top of the lower one is a green roof designed by Feldman Architecture, Inc., which is studded with succulents that help intercept rushing rainwater.
Photo: Clive Nichols7/9Roof Terrace in Holland Park, London
Charlotte Row Garden Design framed this modern ipe-wood terrace with plants that have shallow roots, such as alliums and tulips, so the design wouldn’t be too heavy for the historic building to support.
Photo: Alexander Herring8/9Crosby Street Rooftop Terrace, New York City
Gunn Landscape Architecture paired ipe wood, Yangtzee limestone, and beach pebbles with Japanese maples and Bisset’s bamboo to build an ultraprivate, Eastern-inspired getaway.
Photo: Joy von Tiedemann9/9Green Roof + Garden, Toronto
On top of this home’s garage, Cecconi Simone Inc. crafted an English countryside garden, with clipped boxwood and limestone paving slabs that reflect the design of the pool area below.
