Fukuoka City, Japan

A habitat patch can be made from multiple adjacent smaller features, as in Fukuoka City, Japan, where a large green roof expands the functional area of a nearby park. The roof of the pioneering ACROS Fukuoka Prefectural International Hall by Emilio Ambasz has almost 1 ha of vegetation on terraces stepping up from the 4-acre Tenjin Central Park. The stair step design starts at ground level, connecting the rooftop to ground habitats and reducing the vertical connectivity challenge of most green roofs. The shrubs and flowering plants of the green roof complement the vegetation of Tenjin Central Park which, as in many urban parks, is dominated by trees and lawns but has relatively little area for shrubs. Together these features create a much larger patch (>5 acres) with more complete habitat diversity.

Learn more about this project here and here.

Key Elements: Patch Size, Special Resources