Green roof design for elementary school; design, construction, and installation of an indoor teaching and research green roof, living wall, and constructed wetland

In 2008, the class worked on two major projects, one was a design for a green roof on an elementary school in Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania, and the other was to design and build a living wall, a constructed wetland, or a green roof for display and use as a teaching resource in the greenhouse.


For the living wall, constructed wetland, and green roof projects, students were divided into groups and designed, constructed, and installed one of the designs with the intent of it being utilized in teaching and small research projects. For the constructed wetlands, future research may include analyzing the pollutant levels in the water entering the system as well as exiting the system. Four small green roofs were constructed for this project, two on a slope, and two perfectly level. In each grouping, one of the two roofs was beneath the other, allowing future research to be performed on the amount of plant mass in the shade compared to in the sun. Additional research projects may include water quality and quantity analyses between sloped and flat roofs.