GREEN ROOF TOPS FOR KANE COMMONS

FOR DEVELOPER KOHLER,
GREEN IS THE TOP CHOICE FOR ROOF

Text and Photos by Michael Horne

[From time to time this department has visited Kane Commons, an eco-friendly development rising on the bank of the Milwaukee River on a site where the author once lived. For the next few days the installation of green roofs on the project should provide some interest to passersby on either side of the river. After that the roofs should themselves provide plenty of interest as they go through nature's cycles while doing their jobs of providing shelter, oxygen and insulation while minimizing runoff and wear and tear.--Ed.]

The first section of green roof is installed at the future home of developer Julilly Kohler this morning, Tuesday, May 12th, 2009 at Kane Commons, 1158 E. Kane Pl., Milwaukee. Contractors from Performance Roofing Systems of Richfield labor on the innovative project.



The section to the left in the photo above will be installed next with the "Prevegetated Invisible-Modular Green Roof System" components seen stacked to the right. The workers will tie themselves off on harnesses before working on the sloped surface of the roof of the straw bale home, Milwaukee's first such residence. Four other buildings in the 13-unit riverfront Kane Commons complex will be outfitted with green roofs by the end of the week. Units range from under $200,000 to over $1 million.




The live roof components are engineered and manufactured entirely in the United States by LiveRoof, LLC of Spring Lake Michigan.



A delighted Julilly Kohler takes a photograph of the rooftop workers from the grounds of her development. The units, along the Milwaukee River just north of E. Brady Street, incorporate numerous green features, including geothermal heat.
The site was the birthplace of the organic living movement in Milwaukee when the East Kane Street [sic] Food Co-op was founded there in 1970. Thirty-nine years later, the organization is now known as Outpost Natural Foods Co-op, and has grown to three locations in Milwaukee. The co-op was long gone, and the site was largely vacant when Kohler purchased it.