Backgrounder

Client: Royal Ontario Museum
Date: June 2010
Summary: Appeared in the Royal Ontario Museum media kit.

 

Elizabeth Samuel Garden

The Elizabeth Samuel Garden is a 10,000 square-foot green roof located on the south side of the Royal Ontario Museum’s Philosopher's Walk wing. Liza's Garden, as Elizabeth wanted it to be known, is visible through the south-facing window of the c5 Restaurant Lounge at the pinnacle of the ROM's Michael Lee-Chin Crystal.

Opened in June 2008, Liza's Garden was the gift of several trustees to honour Elizabeth Samuel, who passed away in March that same year. A longtime patron of the ROM, Samuel was a founding member of the Board of Governors and a former Chair of the Board of Trustees, continuing the Samuel family's century of extraordinary generosity in building the Museum.

Designed by Plant Architect Inc. in consultation with Gardens in the Sky, Liza’s Garden turns an ordinary roofscape into much more than a standard green roof; it’s a dramatic vista for patrons of c5 and a luxuriant foreground for the distant Toronto skyline. 

Liza’s Garden features a staggered grid of trees and plants. Designed to capture the movement of the wind, the tilted plant beds reflect the sky and catch rain and snow between them. Plants were chosen in consultation with ROM curators of botany to evoke abundance, a key distinction between garden and green roof; this is particularly remarkable as the roof is able to support just three inches of soil. As an added advantage, the roof enhances the sustainability of the ROM by retaining storm water, reducing the heat island effect, and providing a habitat for birds and insects. 

The roof garden was funded in Liza’s honour by her former board colleagues, family, friends, members of the Department of Museum Volunteers, and other generous donations made in her memory. Additional support was provided by the TD Friends of the Environment Foundation, the City of Toronto Green Roof Incentive Program, and an anonymous donor.

            

Design Team: PLANT Architect Inc.

PLANT was awarded a CSLA Regional Merit award for Liza’s Garden and was

selected by competition to lead the Nathan Phillips Square Revitalization Project.

Green Roof Consultant: Gardens in the Sky

Lighting Consultant: Suzanne Powadiuk

Structural and Roofing Membrane: Halsall Engineering