Inês d’Orey’s Green Roofs Grey Roofs is a photography and video project that reflects on the environmental benefits and transformative potential of green roofs in urban environments, focusing on the city of Porto.
Green roofs are composed of a layer of vegetation planted over a system installed on a built structure, either on top of a flat or gently sloping roof or over an underground building. When properly designed, they consist of different materials arranged in layers that ensure the healthy development of vegetation while protecting the physical integrity of the underlying structure.
Beyond their environmental value, green roofs can contribute to the transformation of urban space in multiple ways: improving the microclimate, trapping toxic dust particles, enhancing sound insulation, promoting biodiversity, increasing energy efficiency, reducing building maintenance costs, creating additional usable space in the city, improving quality of life, and enabling the production of fresh local food.
Through photography and video, Green Roofs Grey Roofs creates a space for questioning the relationship between sustainable practices and their potential to transform the city, inviting reflection on sustainability, ecology and culture in the construction and renewal of urban space.
The project was developed as part of SUSTENTAR Lab – Bienal’23 Fotografia do Porto, organised and produced by Ci.CLO – Plataforma de Fotografia, with the support of Fundação Marques da Silva.
