In 2005 Greg Wittstock built what he says was the largest sloping green roof in North America to cover the parking lot at the headquarters of Aquascape, a backyard-pond company he founded outside Chicago in 1991. Topped with a layer of earth and prairie vegetation, the roof was part of a complex Wittstock ordered when Aquascape was enjoying explosive growth and seemed on its way to surpassing his goal of $100 million in annual revenue. The project featured Koi ponds, babbling waterfalls, a mini soccer field, a batting cage, a basketball court, a gym and a spa. But by February 2011 the roof had caved in on Aquascape, first figuratively: When the real estate market collapsed in 2008, the backyard-pond business collapsed with it. And then literally, when 700 feet of steel-reinforced ceiling collapsed under the weight of 2 feet of snowfall turned to ice. Luckily, the roof came down on a Sunday, when nobody was on-site, but by the time construction crews swept up, Wittstock had seen his revenue cut in half to $29.5 million and he'd had to lay off almost 45% of his staff.
展开▼
