With ecological designer Freya Bardell, a day-long Green Roof and Living Architecture workshop at M_A. The day starts with a light lunch and a discussion about the pros and cons of creating living membranes upon built surfaces. The rest of the day is dedicated to installing a basic green roof system on top of M_A. Participants have the opportunity to assist in a research and art project by creating a portable roof tile to take home with them. These tiles represent all of the steps in creating a green roof inhabited by native plants chosen from a wide variety on site. Over the course of a year, plant data is recorded by all the participants, then compiled by Freya and shared with the public in the form of an art exhibit. The goal is to gain knowledge on whether our selected plant species thrive within the Los Angeles bioregion and to create a living work of art. Freya Bardell works for the living architecture firm, Rana Creek, and is the founder of Greenmeme, a Los Angeles-based design collective.

Another green roof workshop took place in Spring 2007, as well as a solar water heating workshop.

The project involves collecting data about the growth pattens of various native plants within our community. That information is collated in a database accessible here