Architecture of Rooftop Gardens, as a New Dimension of Public Space in London. Case Studies in Qualitative Research

Abstract This paper focuses on rooftop gardens as a widely accessible space located on the rooftops of public buildings. Rooftop garden is a type of space which takes up a considerable surface on the rooftops of buildings, such as office towers, hotels, shopping malls, and serves the purpose of public space available to everyone. This relatively new public utility space arouses visitors’ interest, which is shown in the Authors’ research. This paper presents a qualitative research and results of the research conducted in three rooftop gardens in London. The investigations were concerned with: way of use, site attractiveness, maintenance and popularity level of each site in relation to the others. For this purpose, surveys were carried out among people who had visited at least one of the three study sites. Two non-participant observational surveys were also carried out during the warm and cold months. Conclusions were formulated as a result of the research described in this paper. During the research a profile of users visiting such public spaces as roof gardens was established. The characteristic architectural features of the roof gardens were also determined, so that their space could be considered accessible to all, attractive and willingly visited.