Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google


U Iowa Grows a Green Roof

  • By Dian Schaffhauser
  • 09/02/14
U Iowa Grows a Green Roof

The University of Iowa recently opened its new $126 million interdisciplinary biomedical research center, which sports what it claims is a first for the state: a green roof. The 6,440 square-feet of rooftop on the Pappajohn Biomedical Discovery Building will feature soil six inches deep with green plantings. This rooftop greenery is intended to reduce rainfall runoff, filter water, reduce energy used on the interior for heating and cooling and prolong the life of the roofing materials. Runoff reduction is particularly important to the university, which lost several structures in a 2008 flood.

The facility, which is pursuing gold LEED certification, will include multiple microclimates to accommodate a variety of plantings, according to coverage in the Daily Iowan. Also, because portions of the roof can be seen from many of the building's offices, the green will provide a visual break for occupants.

Among the operations in the center will be six floors of research labs and a mix of wet and dry labs. Among the major areas of research will be diabetes, cardiovascular, auditory, lung biology and biomedical imaging. One level will contain the Iowa Institute for Biomedical Imaging, with several MRIs.

The pre-grown plantings come from Roof Top Sedums, an Iowa company that has also provided the greenery for a roof at the University of Missouri Patient Care Tower, a Kansas State University roof, and a roof at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln.

U Iowa will be growing an ever bigger rooftop garden system as part of the construction for a new art building, replacing one damaged in the flood. That building is expected to be opened in May 2016.

About the Author

Dian Schaffhauser is a former senior contributing editor for 1105 Media's education publications THE Journal, Campus Technology and Spaces4Learning.

Featured

  • Jason Palm

    AI, Identity, and Speed: Cybersecurity Priorities for Higher Ed

    Fortinet Security Operations Specialist Jason Palm explains how AI is raising new security challenges for higher education, requiring stronger governance, identity protection, threat detection, automation, and incident readiness.

  • circuit patterns

    Anthropic Launches Lower-Cost Claude Sonnet 5

    Anthropic has released Claude Sonnet 5, positioning the model as its most autonomous mid-tier offering to date and a lower-cost alternative to its flagship Opus 4.8 system. The company said the model can plan multi-step tasks, operate tools such as browsers and terminals, and complete agentic work at a level that previously required larger and more expensive models.

  • Glowing route lines merging into single gold pathway

    Microsoft Merges Copilot Apps Into a Single User Experience

    Microsoft recently announced it is consolidating its consumer Copilot app and Microsoft 365 Copilot app into a single destination, addressing a fragmented product strategy that has required users to navigate separate applications for AI chat and productivity tools.

  • Blue digital wireframe classical building structure

    Before AI, Fix Your Data

    Institutions don't have to solve every data problem before they can begin using AI responsibly. But they do need to treat information as a strategic asset — not a byproduct of operations — and start building toward AI-ready data now.