The Memorial Union installed a green roof onto the north side of the building last Friday. A green roof is a roof that has been partially or completely covered with a growing medium and vegetation. This is not the first green roof to grace the tops of university buildings: the King Pavilion, Horticulture Hall, the bus stop on Morrill Road in front of College of Design, the new State Gym and the Bio-renewables Laboratory all have green roofs.

The Memorial Union green roof was installed by a small construction team and members of the Landscape Club. The project was pioneered by Miles Thompson, senior in horticulture and president of the Landscape Club. According to Thompson, his interest in implementing another green roof on campus came from Jennifer Bousselot, lecturer in horticulture, who spearheaded the project for Horticulture Hall’s green roof.

Initially the project was fully funded by the Government of the Student Body but became too expensive when the safety precautions of student volunteers were factored in to the total cost. So Thompson asked the Memorial Union for the additional funding and was able to receive it. The green roof can be best observed from the windowed hallway in front of the Multicultural Center of the Memorial Union. Near there, a flat-screen television displaying an educational video about green roofs will be playing on a loop.

“This is a building that has so much public interaction and diversity,” said Merry Rankin, coordinator of sustainability at Iowa State. “The Memorial Union offers a great public experience to see, learn and watch throughout the season.”

There are many benefits of having a green roof. The first is they absorb rain water while naturally watering the plants. They also provide insulation and can reduce energy needs to a building by 30 percent, permitting the building’s roof is entirely green. Green roofs also provide a natural habitat for wildlife, aesthetics and can help lower urban air temperature.

The green roof atop the Memorial Union consists of 430 trays, each 1×2 feet in size, of shade tolerant sedum grass, which covers an area of 860 square feet.

One unique feature of this new green roof is the red leafed plants forming the cyclone logo. This will be a symbol to current and future students, staff, and visitors alike that Iowa State possesses a genuine spirit of green initiative.

“I think it’s really good from an educational standpoint,” Thompson said. “We want to get the word out [about green roofs] to make a difference.”