I know I was curious. What would the living roof (or “green roof”) at Levi’s Stadium look like, and what possible purpose could it serve? I’ve seen different outlets report that over 40 native plants would live atop the suite tower, but our tour guide drew the correlation between 16 different plant types and a certain 49ers quarterback’s jersey number.
Numbers aside, the roof is an interesting place to hang out, it reduces the “heat island effect” (where the temperature is higher in a certain urban area than the surrounding rural areas, due to things people do and create), and there are 1,162 solar panels up there. I haven’t been above the stadium to see those panels, but the roof itself provides some interesting views. Apparently you can see all the way to San Francisco on a clear day. I was walking to the north side of the roof to check out whether that claim was true, but the tour was over and a security person made me head back to the elevator. But I caught this view of San Jose and the surrounding area of Santa Clara to the south.
To the south west is Great America. Considering how the area around Levi’s is probably going to change quite a bit in the coming years, with hotels and other developments cropping up as Super Bowl 50 draws near, does anyone else think the Demon-led amusement park might be on borrowed time?
And just to the left of those views is the southern scoreboard. As someone who enjoyed attending games at Candlestick as a fan, but felt like we were taken back in time whenever a replay was shown on the smallish, square, standard definition scoreboard, the two screens above each Levi’s end zone seem like IMAX by comparison.
One can theoretically stand on the roof and watch the action on the field, which sounds utterly insane. Why worry about a silly football game when you can look at a bunch of plants, the spectacular San Jose skyline or the roller coaster formerly known as Top Gun? But for the purists out there, if you can find a spot that isn’t covered by stadium lights, it’s a nice vantage point.
As for the plants themselves, there are several beds with different types of greenery, separated by narrow stone walkways.
The solar panels are on top of the white structure on the left in the photo directly above. They cover the entrances to the roof, along with a bar that’ll surely carry several delicious kale-filled salads (and enough alcohol to create the need for security personnel to patrol the perimeter of the roof to ensure no one falls off).
So that’s the living/green roof on top of the suite tower of Levi’s Stadium. For those more interested in football than eco-friendly this, or CO2-reducing that, I took a bunch of photos of the 49ers museum last week. One of these days I’ll provide a photographic tour of that spot as well.
