We can barely touch the surface of the science of Biophilia and the disciplines it encompasses, but to give you a glimpse, we present the second of four examples of how different peoples and countries are putting their biofeelings to work around the world. Each of these initiatives represents a way to reach thousands of other people with the message that biophilic elements have real value in the built environment. The more we each understand this, the more likely we are to protect the natural spaces we have left.

Sydney, Australia is city of stunning architectural contrasts. It is well known for the Sydney Opera House, perhaps the most recognizable building of the 20^th century. But eight kilometers north there is Castlecrag, a suburb with an Arts and Crafts feel to it. More to our point, it has a distinct Biophilia point of view. Castlecrag was designed in 1925 by Chicago Architect Walter Burley Griffin.

Burley Griffin, who had worked with Frank Lloyd Wright and created most of Frank’s early landscapes, designed Castlecrag specifically to celebrate the native bushland plants and natural stone of Australia. Many of the homes were built of the stone from the nearby cliffs so they could blend into the natural environment. Many also featured interior courtyards in the style of Roman villas. All this was decades before a national environmental organization formed to protect Australia’s native vegetation. Greening Australia, the 1982 collaboration between the United Nations Association of Australia and the Nursery Industry Association of Australia, began by focusing on declining tree cover. As needs changed, the group responded accordingly.

Which brings us, in a way, to the subject of green roofs. The idea of a ‘green roof’ is thousands of years old. The Vikings, the earliest Europeans and Native Americans, and the first American western settlers all had grass and sod roofs in common. It is a brilliant architectural solution: A natural heating and cooling system that’s easy to repair and (bonus) feeds livestock.

M Central Residential - Dale Jones-Evans Pty Ltd Architecture

Modern green roofs offer these benefits and more. Green roofs are marvels of biodiversity-enhancing, heat-alleviating, sound-insulating, stormwater-reducing beauties in urban eco-systems.

Since 2002, the country has embraced green roofs in every sector. Melbourne’s City Council House 2 Building set the benchmark for the rest of the country with its six-star Green Star Design certification from the Green Building Council.

In Sydney, two centrally located late-1800s ‘Wool Stores’ were restored into a loft metropolis with an amazing 2600m² garden up on the roof.

M Central Residential is a massive but meticulously re-imagined heritage commercial warehouse site that began life during the heyday of Sydney’s wool trade. Built near the docks for ready access to clipper ships (such as the Cutty Sark), the buildings were made for storage; brick on the outside and good timber on the inside.

Architect Dale Jones-Evans retained as much of the original brick and timber as possible when converting the building into apartments and sky homes grounded by six retail spaces. He conceived the roof as an ‘elevated Australian parkland’ of savanna grasses, succulents, and timber boardwalks.

All of this, of course, is far above the streets of Sydney just a stone’s throw from Darling Harbour where the clipper ships (and later, the steamers) once came and left with the wool that was the country’s economic lifeline in the 1800s.

Any green roof, no matter how primitive, is a living, breathing thermal dynamics department. To find one that is beautiful, authentic, and anchored in a country’s national history like the one at M Central, is another thing entirely.

Learn more about the rooftop garden at mcentral.com.au and see more great projects at dje.com.au.

Inspired to Act Natural? Learn more about biophilia and how it influences our design, and enter our Act Natural Sweepstakes for a chance to win a trip for two to Greenbuild 2012.