Garage Rooftop Meadowscape

Completed 2025

Landscape Design Julie Farris XS Space
Landscape Contractor DigitNYC
Irrigation Sosa Irriscape
Photography: Chaunte Vaughn and
Christian Sabo

Set above a two-car garage in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn, this 320-square-foot green roof transformed a blank freestanding garage rooftop into a verdant, pollinator-rich meadow-like landscape visible from the windows of surrounding brownstones. Prior to installation, the roof was structurally reinforced and waterproofed to support the growing medium, then planted with a drought-tolerant, native and native-adjacent palette of plants — including Yarrow, Nepeta, Blue Grama Grass, Little Bluestem, Salvia, and Prairie Dropseed — selected specifically for their ability to thrive in just four inches of lightweight, perlite-based soil. And although the soil is just 4” deep, which is shallow by conventional green roof standards, the planting reads as a full, textural meadow, achieving a visual density typically associated with much deeper soil depth.

Beyond its beauty, the roof performs significant environmental work at a small scale: it captures and delays an estimated 4,000 gallons of stormwater annually, filters roughly 13 pounds of airborne particulates, and reduces surface temperatures 30-50 degrees relative to a standard membrane roof — mitigating urban heat island effect while easing pressure on the neighborhood's combined sewer system.

The overall project demonstrates that meaningful ecological infrastructure need not be confined to large-scale or institutional sites; with thoughtful structural planning and a resilient plant palette, even a modest garage roof can become a functioning piece of the city's green infrastructure, offering habitat, environmental benefits, and daily beauty to everyone who may either stop to look up from the street level, or down onto it from their window.