The Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts has revised its plans for the building’s green roof.A year-and-a-half ago, the Kentucky Center announced plansto replace the building’s aging roof with a green one. It would have covered the entire structure—including the highly visible barrel vault—with plants. But the whole project would have cost $3.75 million, and the center didn’t get the necessary funding and has scaled back those plans.Vice President Abby Shue says the new plan is to start small. The Kentucky Center will launch a pilot project and install a 7500 square foot section of green roof for about $300,000.“And so we determined that the best solution for us would be to look at doing a pilot project on a smaller area of the roof to make sure that we understand the maintenance that is associated with a green roof and to be sure that this is the solution we would like to pursue for re-roofing the entire building moving forward,” she said.There will also be test panels created to see whether a green roof would make sense for the building’s barrel vault. Shue says the pilot project will be installed sometime early fall.Green roofs require more up-front costs than regular roofing, but have numerous environmental benefits. They have high insulation value and reduce heating and cooling costs, as well as absorbing storm water runoff and reducing the urban heat island effect.
