It was a site challenge I'd never encountered on a 3,000 square foot residential rooftop in New York City's upper West side. The edge of this pre-war rooftop had pavers already installed and left a four-foot border of 1.5" pebbles between the pavers and the parapet. The problem was, if residents walked on them, the Penthouse below could hear it .... not a good thing. 
 
So, the challenge became to design a rooftop garden that offered shade, seasonal plantings, provided interest and prohibited residents from walking on the pebble border. My solution was to introduce a "ribbon" of 30" wide planters interspersed with the same width bench that curved around this hard-angled rooftop that would prevent residents from accessing the pebbled areas.  
 
The building’s board selected our design from three offered. It could not have been a more rewarding project. The design and garden still flourish today and function exactly as design intended. Not only was this a success in our eyes and the clients ... but John Mini received an industry award for the installation as well. 
 
These pictures show the working sketches and plans as well as the finish photos. These CAD renderings would not have been possible without help from my colleague here at John Mini, Keith Behringer. Together as a team, we were born to solve. 

Scott Ahlborn, Sales & Design