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2006 winner

W.P. Hickman Systems won NRCA's 2006 Excellence in Design Award competition for its roof system design for Hammerschlag Hall, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh. The south wing of Hammerschlag Hall was transformed from a deteriorating ballasted EPDM roof system into a green roof. The 3,982-square-foot (370-m²) roof system, which was conceived in collaboration with architecture and engineering students from Carnegie Mellon, was designed to serve as a living laboratory to monitor energy use and stormwater runoff. Some features of the roof system include:

• Electrical monitors to track roof system temperature and rainwater runoff
  
  
• Several layers consisting of a concrete deck covered by thermal insulation and waterproofing membrane; protection and storage layer; drainage and capillary layer; root-penetrable filter layer; extensive growing media; and vegetation
  
  
• A top layer consisting of grasses, perennial plants and flowers, and a small pond
  
  
• A 24-hour camera that projects images onto the Internet