BATAVIA, Ill. -- Chicagoland will come one step closer to boasting one of the largest naturally growing sloped "green roofs" in North America when Aquascape Designs, Inc. breaks ground on Aqualand, its new environmentally advanced world headquarters in St. Charles, IL, on Wednesday, July 14, 2004.
Aquascape Designs will hold the groundbreaking ceremony at the future
site of the new facility at 2N3222 Kautz Rd, across from Dupage Airport.
Construction is slated to begin this summer with completion scheduled for
August 15, 2005.
Technologically Advanced, Environmentally Sound
The facility, designed by the architectural firm of Artisan Design-Build of Monroe, WI, will be one of the most technologically and environmentally advanced buildings in North America. The design incorporates a host of innovative ideas intended to save energy, water and other resources. A key feature will be a 240,000 square-foot steeply sloped green roof, a virtual prairie meadow in the sky which will help to cool and insulate the building and, most importantly, manage storm water runoff.
"We are a company committed to the environment," said Greg Wittstock, founder and CEO of Aquascape Designs, Inc. "That is what we do every day, offer people a way to turn their backyards into beautiful, ecologically balanced environments. Our new Aqualand headquarters takes that approach to the corporate level. No company knows better than ours how important it is to work with nature and not against it."
Green Roofs Are Growing Trend
Green roofs - roofs designed to be covered with growing vegetation - are a concept pioneered in Europe over the past 25 years that has recently earned increased interest in the U.S. and Canada.
The City of Chicago has been a leader in the green roof movement. In 2001, Chicago launched a green roof experiment when it turned a 20,300 square-foot section of the City Hall roof into a rooftop garden. The Soldiers Field and North Burnham Park Redevelopment project, sponsored by the Chicago Bears and the Chicago Parks District, has a 5.5 acre green roof capping a parking lot. This gently sloping roof forms a public park along the Chicago waterfront.
The world's largest green roof is currently that of the Ford Motor Company's newly overhauled River Rouge manufacturing facility in Dearborn, MI. That 10.4 acre green roof is a flat roof. The 5.5-acre roof on the Aquascape facility will be steeply sloped. Though not all private roofing projects are tracked, it is thought that this ill be the largest steeply sloped green roof yet to be built in North America.
The sloping roof and its planting of purple coneflowers, black-eyed Susans and creeping sedum will blend form with function, creating a beautiful "garden in the sky" that will also reduce rainwater drainage to a minimum. The Aqualand green roof will reduce storm water runoff released into the city sewer system to practically nil.
Water Only Where You Want It
In addition to the green roof, the facility will feature large glass walls strategically placed to harvest sunlight, offering an affordable source of high-quality illumination for the interior. There will also be an abundance of waterfalls and water gardens on the nearly 16-acre site. Aquascape Designs as the pioneer and remains the industry leader in naturally-balanced, ecosystem water gardening. In the early 1990s, Aquascape reinvented the aradigm for building backyard ponds and water gardens.
The traditional method of building ponds then called for concrete linings and relied on chemicals and other artificial methods to control algae and other problems. The Aquascape method introduced an integrated approach that ncorporates a strong synthetic liner, natural rocks, fish, bacteria and a filtered waterfall and skimmer system to create a naturally balanced ecosystem. The result is not only more natural-looking and aesthetically pleasing ponds, but ponds that are much easier to maintain year after year.
Interestingly, a company whose product is a key component in Aquascape's popular line of water gardening systems will be a key partner in building the green roof on the Aqualand project.
Aquascape Product Partner Plays Key Role
Carlisle Syntec, Inc. of Carlisle, PA is the supplier for the fish-safe synthetic liners that form the underlayment of Aquascape ponds. Carlisle also happens to be a leading supplier of the synthetic underlayment that is a vital component of green roofs. Green roofs are basically a "sandwich" of different materials including a synthetic liner to prevent water leakage into the building and other elements including a growth medium for the plants.
"We were very pleased to know that our green roof will have a Carlisle liner," said Aquascape's Wittstock. "We know the quality of their product, and it gave us great confidence going forward that this idea would not be 'all wet.'"
Aqualand on Parade of Ponds
The groundbreaking ceremony for the Aqualand facility will be held during Pondemonium," a weeklong series of events sponsored each July by Aquascape Designs, Inc. For professionals, the week includes:
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Aquascape's annual "Pond College," a two-day educational event drawing nearly 600 Aquascape contractors and retailers from across the U.S. and Canada.
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A waterfall-building contest on the future site of the Aqualand building, where professional contractors and distributors from across North America will compete in a waterfall-building contest. The public will be invited to vote on their favorite waterfall as part of the annual Chicagoland parade of ponds.
For the public, the week includes:
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The 12th Annual Chicagoland Parade of Ponds, Saturday and Sunday, July 17-18. The 2004 tour includes the Aqualand site and its newly built waterfalls plus more than 200 Chicagoland water gardens open to ticket holders. Tour sites are open Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Parade of Ponds tickets are $15. Admission for children 12 and under is free. To purchase tickets by phone call (630) 326-2400. Or, find the location of nearby garden and pond centers where tickets are also available by visiting http://www.aquascapedesigns.com. All money raised from ticket sales to the Parade of Ponds goes to local and national charities.
Aquascape Designs, Inc. is a privately held company founded in 1991. It sells water gardening systems under the Aquascape brand to professional contractors, and DIY pond kits and accessories under the NurseryPro brand to water gardening retailers, throughout the United States and Canada. The company, with sales of more than $50 million annually, has 135 employees and is currently located at 1200 Nagel Avenue, Batavia, IL 60510. The company plans to move into the new St. Charles Aqualand facility in December of 2005.