Green areas in tomorrow's cities
Have you ever wondered what kind of green areas we could have in future cities? Maybe you could go on a picnic over the roofs of the city?
We are running out of space when the cities are growing denser but at the same time, we still need green areas for us human beings to refresh and to support ecosystems. How to find a solution? We already have some green roofs, but could public parks also be located on the roofs? At least they do here in Helsinki. The rooftop park Bryga is located in Kalasatama area, on the rooftop of the shopping center Redi. In addition to shopping center, Redi also consists of 30-floor height towers.
Next, I’m going to tell you a bit more about this modern park.The Bryga park is designed by the local landscape architecture company “Maanlumo”. This park does not only make this dense urban area more comfortable, it also supports its ecological processes and with green roofs altogether, it’s also part of climate change mitigation.
The main theme of the park design is inspired by the marine atmosphere. The vegetation planted on the roof consists of up to 50 species, that both represent the theme of the archipelago and endure the challenging climate circumstances. The amount of vegetation and the variety of plant species improve the diversity of urban nature. Overall, it also softens the hard environment.
Between small mounds of vegetation there are also spaces for multiple functions from places to rest to playgrounds and event square. The design of the surfaces and paths has also taken rainwater into account. All the rainwater runs into the vegetation areas.
The icing on the cake is the view to the skyline of Helsinki from the west side of the park.
This kind of public rooftop park can be seen like a green oasis in the busy city. It was inspirational for me to see how diverse a park on a place like roof can be. I also find it important that in the place like Redi with its high-rise buildings, rooftop park can also provide some human scale.
Overall, in comparison to the “basic” parks at the ground level, these rooftop parks can also offer impressive cityscape views. I would say that green areas or gardens on the rooftop also enhance the urban environment. They can be cozy places for the residents to spend time together. Bryga may be the pioneer of future urban park design.
Have you already visited Bryga?
Reference:
https://www.maanlumo.fi/projektit/redi-pmwj6-9zgl3
https://www.safa.fi/uutiset/puistokansi-bryga-on-vuoden-ymparistorakenne-2019/
Hi Milla, Thank you for this very well written post! For me, Maanlumos projects, including Bryga, have been a great inspiration. Their way to approach every project through a place-based concept has created amazing and unique landscapes throughout the years. I particularly liked that you had picked up diverse viewpoints to the park, such as the cityscapes, ecology, and climate. If I should add something to the post, it would be more pictures of the park. All in all, a great post! 😊
VastaaPoistaHey Milla! How glad I am that I happened to read your post, since this is my first introduction to Bryga and the clearly welcoming and green atmosphere it serves! This is quite odd for me since I live 15 minutes from Redi, but have never heard nor visited this rooftop park, well, maybe because the environment around it is not so welcoming. But I'm glad that in a project of great magnitude in concrete and glass, they have not forgotten the importance of bringing biodiversity to even dense city spaces, and Bryga really seems to be a pioneer in that sort. It's also interesting to see how well it lasts through time, since these green areas on top of buildings demand a high level of expertise and maintenance to work, as far as I know. As a newcomer to the park, I too would have enjoyed to see even more pictures or maybe a site plan to really get the hang of the space. All in all, I enjoyed your analytic and informative take on this city space!
VastaaPoista