Black Grass

For an office building at Touwen, a small compound that is currently under construction in the historic center of Amsterdam, we proposed a black wooden facade as a reference to the sheds that could have been here.

Since the neighboring structures are taller and look upon the slightly sunken two story building, a sculptural ‘vegetation roof’ would be attractive. But green (or red for that matter) would appear sort of ‘discontinuous’.

Could we use BLACK grass?

We soon discovered a blackish plant, the Ophiopogon Planiscarpus Nigrescens that perhaps could do the trick. But according to Stephen Tas of Sant & Co, our consultant and collaborator on the project, the layer of soil on the roof would not thick enough for this particular kind of plant. We had to skip this counter intuitive idea and use the more common Sedum instead.

But the current state of the roof is not that bad either: the particular kind of soil deployed here to embed the Sedum in is nearly black. And as such gives the impression of a volcanic island…

http://www.nlarchitects.nl/www/under-construction/Touwenterrein