The green roof is an exercise in absurdity: a mixture of futility, contradiction, and unsustainability. Green roofs are fairly recent phenomenon (or perhaps an ancient one being rediscovered within the city) intended to provide cooling and warmth; beauty and functionality while using wasted space outdoors. I didn’t allow the absence of a roof stop me from my dreams of environmental stewardship, so I built a roof—indoors. Unfortunately the recipe, followed blindly, led to a whole new set of problems. It blocks most of the natural and artificial light that once entered my studio, blocks the fire sprinklers, and has introduced various unwanted insects.
