One of the main environmental shortcomings perceived by the inhabitants of the capital city of Tirana, Albania is the lack of green areas inside the city itself. As the result, the increase of the green areas is one of the most sought after results of every new municipal administration. The current administration has identified the building of the green roofs as one of the activities that they will support in order to mitigate the above mentioned problem. SGP sees in this occasion an opportunity in promotion of environmentally sustainable technology that has a good potential for replication.
Green roof is a roof of a building that is partially or completely covered with vegetation and a growing medium, planted over a waterproofing membrane. Green roofs serve several purposes for a building, such as absorbing rainwater, providing insulation, creating a habitat for wildlife, increasing benevolence and decreasing stress of the people around the roof by providing a more aesthetically pleasing landscape, and helping to lower urban air temperatures and mitigate the heat island effect.
The project will be implemented on the roof area of the Faculty of Architecture and Urban Planning benefiting from the technical expertise of the academic staff and also acting as a laboratory for the student curricula.