In 1999, ECT led the design process to convert the Chicago City Hall rooftop into a green roof pilot project. As a component of the Chicago Department of Environment’s Urban Heat Island Initiative, the Chicago City Hall green roof was one of three national pilot projects sponsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to study the efficacy of green roof technologies.
ECT’s scope for this unique project included design of the green roof system as well as grading and drainage design and plant selection. The green roof research demonstration project tests over 100 species of native, cultivated and non-native plants, and utilizes water harvesting and recycling for irrigation.
Chicago was the first city in the United States to undertake an initiative of this nature and scope, and stands as perhaps the most visible example of the incorporation of green roof technologies in North America.