Terrace garden free essay sample

In gardening, a terrace is an element where a raised flat paved or graveled section overlooks a prospect. A raised terrace keeps a house dry and provides a transition between the hard materials of the architecture and softer ones of the garden. We have a very long tradition of gardening and landscaping. Our literatures and mythologies are full of references to these. Man always thought of natural landscape as his ideal habitat. Adam originally lived in the Garden of Eden. Most of the world mythologies place that the men of primitive people build their abodes considering themselves as part of landscape. Mans fascination for landscaping never decrease. The Egyptians had elaborate gardens with many types of birds. Romans were fond of gardens in their villas. Chinese reveled in garden designs. English, Italian and Japanese made an effect to innovate landscape ideas. And Persians developed a concept of paradise the garden with all landscape elements. In turn, Babylonians built terrace upon terrace of gardens which were designed using the Persian landscape elements. These gardens are not created on constructed terrace but the site actually terraced. They gave rise to idea that we can have gardens on terraces separated from the ground by concrete slab. JUSTIFICATION Terrace gardens are most often found in urban environments. Plants have the ability to reduce the overall heat absorption of the building which then reduces energy consumption. The primary cause of heat build-up in cities is insolation, the absorption of solar radiation by roads and buildings in the city and the storage of this heat in the building material and its subsequent re-radiation. Plant surfaces however, as a result of transpiration, do not rise more than 4–5  °C above the ambient and are sometimes cooler. This then translates into a cooling of the environment between 3. 6 and 11. 3 degrees Celsius (6. 5 and 20. 3  °F), depending on the area on earth (in hotter areas, the environmental temperature will cool more). The study was performed by the University of Cardiff. A study at the National Research Council of Canada showed the differences between Terraces with gardens and Terraces without gardens against temperature. The study shows temperature effects on different layers f each Terrace at different times of the day. Terrace gardens are obviously very beneficial in reducing the effects of temperature against Terraces without gardens. â€Å"If widely adopted, Terrace top gardens could reduce the urban heat island, which would decrease smog episodes, problems associated with heat stress and further lower energy consumption. † Becoming green i s a high priority for urban planners. The environmental and aesthetic benefits to cities are the prime motivation. It was calculated that the temperature in Tokyo could be lowered by 0. 11–0. 4  °C if 50% of all available Terrace top space were planted with greenery. This would lead to a savings of approximately 100 million yen. Singapore is very active in green urban development. Terrace gardens present possibilities for carrying the notions of nature and open space further in tall building development. When surveyed, 80% of Singapore residents voted for more Terrace gardens to be implemented in the citys plans. Recreational reasons, such as leisure and relaxation, beautifying the environment, and greenery and nature, received the most amounts of votes. Planting Terrace gardens on tops of building is a great way to make city more efficient. The planters on a Terrace garden may be designed for a variety of functions and vary greatly in depth to satisfy aesthetic and recreational purposes. These planters can hold a range of ornamental plants: anything from trees, shrubs, vines, or an assortment of flowers. As aesthetics and recreation are the priority they may not provide the environmental and energy benefits of a green Terrace. Planting on Terrace tops can make urban living more self-sufficient and make fresh vegetables more accessible to urban people. NEED OF TERRACE GARDEN Terrace gardens are becoming a common feature in todays urban environment. The phenomenon of landscaping on the terraces and Terrace tops has evolved due to excessive exploitation of the urban land. Bricks, concrete and asphalt have replaced greenery on horizontal as well as vertical planes. Skyscrapers, parking areas and network of roads have acquired a major of urban land. The modern means of transport compels us to create amenities such as bus- stands, railway stations and airports which have pushed away the vegetation and natural green spaces from acres of urban land. In such congested environment, Terrace tops and terrace of buildings provides a valuable potential source of outdoor space accessible to users of buildings. Behind the idea of terrace gardens and Terrace top landscapes is an urge to bring back greenery, which is pushed away from urban areas. These are necessarily green areas created on the concrete slabs. Their need has increased with designing of high- rise buildings which deprive their occupants of any visual contact with nature. Terrace gardens bring back this missing link between the man and nature, though on moderate scale. Terrace gardens improve the quality of view from the surrounding higher buildings and can be specifically designed to be viewed from above. In cities around the world, terrace gardens are commonly created at three different levels, which are: i. On Terrace top of a building. ii. Porches, window boxes, portico balconies and such projected levels out of tower block, above the ground level iii. At the podium level, around the base or on Terrace of large basements. Terrace gardens, designed with proper understanding of basic requirements and structural care, are able to create a pleasant natural environment at any level in the building. Terrace landscape provides the outdoor areas for social inter- change that otherwise is almost impossible to obtain in densely developed cities. This, in turn goes a long way in bringing about the much needed psychological and physical relief to stresses and strains of todays urban life. APPLICABILITY â€Å"In an accessible Terrace garden, space becomes available for localized small-scale urban agriculture, a source of local food production. An urban garden can supplement the diets of the community it feeds with fresh produce and provide a tangible tie to food production. At Trent University, there is currently a working Terrace garden which provides food to the student cafe and local citizens. Available gardening areas in cities are often seriously lacking, which is likely the key impetus for many Terrace gardens. The garden may be on the Terrace of an autonomous building which takes care of its own water and waste. Hydroponics and other alternative methods can expand the possibilities of Terrace top gardening by reducing, for example, the need for soil or its tremendous weight. Plantings in containers are used extensively in Terrace top gardens. For those who live in small apartments with little space, square foot gardening, or (when even less space is available) living walls (vertical gardening) can be a solution. These use much less space than traditional gardening (square foot gardening uses 20% of the space of conventional rows; ten times more produce can be generated from vertical gardens). These also encourage environmentally responsible practices, eliminating tilling, reducing or eliminating pesticides, and weeding, and encouraging the recycling of wastes through composting. The regions where these incentives will most likely be found are areas where failing storm water management infrastructure is in place, urban heat island effect has significantly increased the local air temperature, or areas where environmental contaminants in the storm water runoff is of great concern . An example of such an incentive is a one-year property tax credit is available in New York City, since 2009, for property owners who green at least 50% of their Terrace area. AIM The difference you feel when you go from an asphalt parking lot to a tree-shaded park on a hot summer day. It is also the difference in temperature between a city and the rural area that surrounds it. Dark surfaces absorb and radiate heat, raising temperatures as much as 6 to 10 degrees Fahrenheit. The result is more than uncomfortable. It has consequences for our environment, our checkbooks and our health. If your Terrace top is a dark color, you are paying too much for your air conditioning. These dark surfaces absorb heat, and so it takes more energy to cool the building’s interior. Not only must your air conditioner work harder to keep your building cool, but power plants, one source of air pollution, must work overtime to keep up with the increased demand for energy. The result is higher prices and degraded air quality. The key to reducing the Urban Heat Island Effect is to reduce the total area of dark, heat-absorbing surfaces such as Terrace and pavement. Dark Terraces can be made cooler by coating them with reflective materials, similar to the way light clothes are more comfortable than dark clothes on a hot day. Many light-colored roofing materials cost about the same as dark-colored Roofing materials. Solar panels are another solution. They help shade a Terrace in addition to generating clean, renewable energy. The use of vegetation on a Terrace is an excellent option. Plants reflect heat, provide shade, and help cool the surrounding air through evapotranspiration. A Terrace garden cuts the energy use within the building, especially for cooling. The insulation a garden provides helps conserve both heating and cooling energy. Terrace top gardens absorb rainfall and reduce urban runoff that otherwise would collect pollutants and empty into sewers. A Terrace garden filters and moderates the temperature of any water that is released to the sewer. In addition, plants actually filter the air. Plants improve air quality by using excess carbon dioxide to produce oxygen. On a neighborhood or regional level, temperatures are lowered and air pollution is reduced when the overall area of dark surfaces is reduced and the area of reflective and shaded surfaces is increased. The layers of a Terrace garden protect the constructed Terrace from damage and can extend both the warranty and the useful life of the Terrace. A Terrace garden can add usable leisure space to a property that is attractive not just to people, but to wildlife such as birds and butterflies. In fact, limited land resources, expensive sources of energy, and ancient sewer systems overwhelmed by storm water runoff have all contributed to the success of the green terrace gardening in urban areas of all over the world. Tokyo, is the first city to mandate building vegetation must constitute 20 percent of all new construction. OBJECTIVE Terrace gardens are used to: †¢Reduce heating (by adding mass and thermal resistance value) A 2005 study by Brad Bass of the University of Toronto showed that green Terraces can also reduce heat loss and energy consumption in winter conditions. †¢Reduce cooling (by evaporative cooling) loads on a building by fifty to ninety percent, especially if it is glassed in so as to act as a terrarium and passive solar heat reservoir – a concentration of green Terraces in an urban area can even reduce the citys average temperatures during the summer †¢Reduce storm water runoff Natural Habitat Creation †¢Filter pollutants and carbon dioxide out of the air which helps lower disease rates such as asthma Filter pollutants and heavy metals out of rainwater †¢ Help to insulate a building for sound; the soil helps to block lower frequencies and the plants block higher frequencies †¢ If installed correctly many living Terraces can contribute to LEED points Increase agricultural space. With green Terraces, water is stored by the substrate and then taken up by the plants from where it is returned to the atmosphere through transpiration and evaporation. Green Terraces not only retain rainwater, but also moderate the temperature of the water and act as natural filters for any of the water that happens to run off. Many green Terraces are in many green Terraces are installed to comply with local regulations and government fees, often regarding storm water runoff management. In areas with combined sewer-storm water systems, heavy storms can overload the wastewater system and cause it to flood, dumping raw sewage into the local waterways. Green Terraces decrease the total amount of runoff and slow the rate of runoff from the Terrace. It has been found that they can retain up to 75% of rainwater, gradually releasing it back into the atmosphere via condensation and transpiration, while retaining pollutants in their soil. Often, phosphorus and nitrogen are in this category of environmentally harmful substances even though they are stimulating to the growth of plant life and agriculture. When these substances are added to a system, it can create mass biological activity since they are considered limiting factors of plant growth and by adding more of them to a system, it allows for more plant growth. SCOPE In fact, limited land resources expensive sources of energy, and ancient sewer systems over whelmed by storm water runoff have all contributed to the success of the terrace gardens in urban areas . Over 800 green roofs can be found in Germany alone, a leader in building codes and incentives for green roof installation. In Asia, Japan has become a center for green roof technology. Its capital, Tokyo, is the first city to mandate building vegetation must constitute 20 percent of all new construction. Green roofs have been installed across America in steadily increasing numbers over the past decade, and research is being conducted in North American universities on the impact of green roofs on the environment, economy, and energy resources. Some major corporations, like Ford Motor Co. , The Gap, and H. J. Heinz Co. , have recently installed green roofs, and the approved design for the new World Trade Center includes a rooftop garden. LIMITATIONS The main disadvantage of green roofs is that the initial costs of installing terrace garden can be double that of a normal terrace. The additional mass of the soil substrate and retained water places a large strain on the structural support of a build. This makes it unlikely for intensive green roofs to become widely implemented due to a lack of buildings that are able to support such a large amount of added weight as well as the added cost of reinforcing buildings to be able to support such weight. Some types of green roofs do have more de manding structural standards especially in seismic regions of the world. Some existing buildings cannot be retrofitted with certain kinds of green roof because of the weight load of the substrate and vegetation exceeds permitted static loading. Depending on what kind of green roof it is, the maintenance costs could be higher, but some types of green roof have little or no ongoing cost. Some kinds of green roofs also place higher demands on the waterproofing system of the structure, both because water is retained on the roof and due to the possibility of roots penetrating the waterproof membrane. Another detractor is that the wildlife they attract may include pest insects which could easily infiltrate a residential building through open windows. Due to these cause mainly finance required at initial setup of terrace garden it is difficult to develop terrace gardens but terrace gardens are the demand of modern urban areas and people have to fulfill it. METHODOLGY It is possible to raise vegetables all through the year even in the middle of the city. All it takes is a terrace and a little bit of effort. If someone wants to make tomato chutney for breakfast, Mohandas walks to his terrace garden and handpicks the tomatoes himself. Sakthivel gets his family’s daily dose of greens from his garden; Shankara Baham gets his medicines from the herbal garden on his terrace. Residents of Ashram Avenue in Mugalivakkam, Mohandas and friends have dedicated their free time to â€Å"making their terraces green. † Of the 80 houses in the area, eight have terraces that are covered with luscious vegetable patches. Each of the gardens supports one family — the owners rarely buy vegetables from outside. The idea is to make ourselves self-sufficient using the limited space available†. A terrace garden can be created in any shape, design and any raised location. Places like a multi storied building, hotels, restaurants or institutes are the places one can follow terrace gardening. Converting your barren space into a lush green patch will de-stress an individual and also provide a healthy environment. Create a desired layout for your terrace garden and carefully plan the number of shrubs, small trees, lawn and others. Always remember that you do not go in for a plant with a tap root system as the roots of these plants tend to grow beyond the roof and is a threat to your building. Make sure the roof or the selected place is strong enough to support the weight of the soil and gravel. The terrace and the soil should have the required drainage system so as to avoid the garden being turned into a damp soggy area. One has to construct sufficient drainage chambers around their terrace garden. Small drainage pipes leading to the main drainage pipe should be maintained in your terrace garden. Always remember that if the water is not drained properly, it will cause great damage to your building. Make sure that there is no leakage in your terrace garden in order to avoid soggy walls. One should select light weighted manure like the mixture of the garden earth, manure and soil remains. Once you’re ready with all the above required steps, you can start laying brickbats according to your planned layout. Spread a layer of completely formed bricks on your terrace. The bricks have to be totally burnt in order to facilitate the drainage of water. Also one can make use of ridged sheets in order to maintain an effective drainage system. The sheets should be placed carefully in order to lead the pipes to the drainage system. In order to avoid the manure and the earth from depositing in between the brick spaces, one has to spread the wire mesh (HDPE net) on the bricks. One can paint and make the terrace area colorful and make it look realistic by adding a swing. Plants like creepers, flowering plants and vegetables can be grown in your terrace garden.  Once you have finished planting the saplings, water the plants regularly and provide the required amount of manure. FLOW CHART Flow chart Picture composed in corel draw.