Everberg, Belgium --A low-density rigid polyurethane foam product is being used to allow grass to cover a large building in Dehradun, India, Huntsman said in a press release.
Huntsman said that the material, designated Vydro is a low density,water management system. It is being used on Green Hills the new headquarters of the Indian-government-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (OGNC), Hutsman said. It added that the building is five-storeys high and covers a floor area of 14,600, and is the single largest Vydro substrate project to date - and is also the most unusual.
Shaped like a mountain range, the building has sustainability at its core and is covered in grass, enabling it to blend seamlessly into the local landscape.
Originally the gradient of the building was going to be less than 35 and the design team had planned to use a conventional green roof system. However, circumstances dictated that some of the final angles exceeded 70. This meant a new roofing solution was needed. After testing Vydro on the project it became possible to cover the building in insulating grass as originally planned. said Huntsman. Vydro is low density said Huntsman at 30kg/m, which considerably less than competing lava stone 1500kg/m, said Huntsman. The firm added that the polyurethane can retain up to 30 times its own weight in water and can be rehydrated over multiple growing cycles.