Comparing the Surface Temperatures and Water Retention Capacity of the Vegetated Roof and Gravel Roof Applications


Beşeli Özkoç H., Aktaş C. B., Ünver B.(Executive), Dağıstan Z., Yılmaz B. İ.

Project Supported by Higher Education Institutions, 2022 - 2023

  • Project Type: Project Supported by Higher Education Institutions
  • Begin Date: February 2022
  • End Date: September 2023

Project Abstract

Improving building energy efficiency has environmental, economic, and societal benefits. Such improvements also align well with UN Sustainable Development Goals. Vegetated roofs hold promise towards both improving energy performance of buildings, as well as contributing towards mitigating localized flooding in urban areas, while providing areas of respite to building dwellers. Implementation of vegetated roofs reduce thermal gain through the building mass during summer and the amount of heat loss during winter months. Thermal and hydrological characteristics of vegetated roofs also help reducing the urban heat island effect and prevention of floods. The goal of the project is to experimentally determine the potential benefits of vegetated roofs through a demonstration project applied on campus. Recent trends both nationally, such as the signing into law the Paris climate agreement and the restructuring of a ministry to address climate change, and internationally, such as the recent COP26 agreement, indicate that issues surrounding sustainability will continue to be important in the coming years. The project and its outputs will contribute towards the University’s SDGs while providing valuable hands-on research experience to a number of undergraduate students from both the Architecture Department and the Civil Engineering Department