How Can A Building Be A Positive Force Of Nature And Community?

At the heart of the project lies a 10.5-acre living roof—the world’s largest green roof installation at the time.

Ford Rouge Center Landscape Master Plan,
Dearborn, Michigan

William McDonough + Partners led the master planning and revitalization of this historic site and facility. The ambitious 20-year plan pioneered strategies and technologies for brownfield redevelopment, sustainable industry, corporate citizenship and environmental regeneration. The new master plan integrated a new form of stormwater management infrastructure that saved the company $35 million in capital costs over conventional systems. At the heart of the new system lies a 10.5-acre living roof—the world’s largest green roof installation at the time.

By relying on a landscape-based infrastructure requiring a minimum use of pipes, the new stormwater system cost less than one-third that of conventional practices, and created a powerful and highly-acclaimed business case model for sustainable design. The natural stormwater system also created new and revived habitats on the site for native birds, butterflies, insects and microorganisms, generating a larger biological order. 

A green roof was the most compelling solution to the stormwater problem at the Rouge. The idea made intuitive sense: The soils and grasses that comprise functional living roofs absorb water just like the soil and plants in a healthy landscape. Within five days of the roof going down, local killdeere had nested and laid their eggs in the sedum. Turns out that those who had said a 10-acre green roof was ‘for the birds’ were right after all.

Client

Ford Motor Company

Program

Master plan and stormwater management plan

Area

600 acres

Status

Completed 2000

Team

William McDonough + Partners
Nelson Byrd Woltz
D.I.R.T. Studio, Landscape Planning Partners