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The Le Méridien Oran Hotel & Convention Centre in Oran on the Mediterranean coast in the north west of Algeria is a new and spectacular building complex consisting of a convention centre and a five star hotel with adjacent gardens and sea-front promenade. Of a total green area of 12,000 m² in the complex, approx. 4,500 m² are above the underground garage.

The island nation of Singapore has a land mass the size of which is comparable with that of Hamburg. Due to the scarcity of land, it is no surprise, therefore, that there is a preference here for high-rise buildings. Such is the case with Fusionopolis, a complex consisting of three towers with up to 24 floors each and a total floor area of 120,000 m². As an R&D Centre, it provides the basis for the new high-tech centre, “One North”, together with the biomedical centre, Biopolis. A further six buildings are planned.

New York City, NY – Recipients of the 2011 G������ and Wall Awards of Excellence were announced on October 25th and claiming top honors in the Intensive Institutional category was New York City's impressive new elevated public park, the High Line.

The Awards of Excellence recognize outstanding accomplishments in living architecture and are presented each year by G������s for Healthy Cities, the North American green roof and wall industry association.

In June 2009, New York Central Park got a serious competitor: the High Line Park. Where freight trains used to roll, New Yorkers are now not only taking walks, but also sitting in the sun and enjoying the view of the Empire State Building, the Hudson River and the Statue of Liberty – and all this while suspended above the streets. At the beginning of April 2010, the two millionth visitor was welcomed to the High Line. 

On the Asian side of Istanbul in the suburb “Ümraniye” adjacent to an “IKEA-market” which was already opened in May 2005 a future-oriented shopping center of the Metro Group Asset Management (MAM) was opened in August 2007, after only about two years of construction. The new shopping center “Meydan”, which in Turkish means "marketplace" or "meeting point", according to the client stands for a completely new concept in shopping malls. As the „first shopping square of the world“, according to MAM, the new building with its open architecture is designed to invite to shop and linger.

It is now generally accepted that the combination of green roofing and photovoltaic systems provides numerous synergy effects: for example, the weight of the green roof serves as a structural weight for anchoring the solar module. The design allows for load distribution right across the roof, therefore avoiding point loads which would be created if concrete elements were used for anchorage. In addition, it is much more difficult to transport the concrete elements up to the roof area. The green roof substrate, on the other hand, can be easily piped up to the roof.