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Rain Master Irrigates Largest "Green" Roof in California
As part of its commitment to a healthier environment and its ongoing efforts to reduce carbon emissions, Rain Master is nearing completion of a Central Irrigation Control system for what has been hailed as the most complicated living roof ever constructed. The Rain Master Control system will enable the California Sciences Academy in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, the greenest museum ever built, to forgo a traditional tar and asphalt roof in favor of a plant-covered "green" canopy that will not only save energy, but will transform carbon dioxide into oxygen. The Morrison Planetarium, Kimball Natural History Museum, and Steinhart Aquarium, along with eight scientific research departments and 20 million scientific specimens, will be housed in the single Academy building, expected to be the largest public LEED Platinum Certified structure in the world when it opens in October of 2008. The new system utilizes Rain Master's Advanced OASIS software to provide the correct amount of water necessary to maintain the 1,7 million native California plants and wildflowers blanketing the seven 'hills' spread out over the roof's 10 000 m2. Beneath the soil lies a sophisticated, layered drainage system, and below the drainage system are seven concrete domes, as designed by lead architect Renzo Piano to reflect the city's undulating topography.
The Academy will utilize two separate OASIS Central Control Systems; the rooftop will be monitored by the Academy of Sciences irrigation management personnel, while the system for the surrounding grounds will be monitored by the Golden Gate Park personnel. The OASIS Central collects and disseminates information between several Rain Master DX2 satellite controllers and the OASIS on-site weather stations. The Central constantly monitors the DX2 controllers that communicate with 100 zones on the park grounds, and 38 zones on the roof. Each zone is designated to distribute water according to its programmed parameters. The OASIS program, in conjunction with flow sensors, continually monitors and records all irrigation water flow which can then be viewed on screen or in a report format selected by the operator. "It's very important for the roof to have the proper irrigation management because the shallow soil profile has a very low holding capacity for water," Marty Dickson said. "In addition, the grade change on the roof adds to the difficulty of maintaining moisture in the soil because water gravitationally flows away from the top of the mounds and toward the lower areas. "There were unique communication requirements between the weather stations and the Central computer," Mr. Dickson continued. In order to address these issues, the drainage system is shaped in the form of a massive egg crate, providing miniature reservoirs across the roof deck which guarantees a perpetual water supply directly under the soil.
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Mr. Piano, a Pritzker Prize winner, was joined by landscape architect
John Loomis of the SWA Group of Sausalito. Marty Dickson, of Dickson and
Associates, designed the irrigation.
