Our Story

Roofscapes is a startup from the MIT School of Architecture and Planning. The company was founded in 2020 by MIT graduate students Tim Cousin, Olivier Faber, and Eytan Levi with the mission of transforming untapped rooftops into green roofs as a way to mitigate climate change and to provide new outdoor spaces in cities.

Tim, Olivier, and Eytan met back in 2014 as they started architecture school together at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, Switzerland. After further studies between ETH Zurich and the University of Tokyo, they worked in various architectural practices in the UK, Japan, Switzerland, Denmark, India, and Australia, including Junya Ishigami in Tokyo, Herzog & de Meuron in Basel, COBE in Copenhagen, and Rahul Mehrotra in Mumbai. Tim, Olivier, and Eytan decided to finish their education together at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where they studied between the Department of Architecture and the Center for Real Estate.

In the summer of 2018, they spent a week with their friend Louis de Saint-Affrique brainstorming a project that would tackle untapped spaces in Paris. The idea for green rooftops over pitched roofs was born, and it has evolved into Roofscapes. In the spring of 2020, Roofscapes was incubated at the MIT DesignX accelerator, and was awarded the first prize of the 2020 DesignX cohort. In 2021-22, Roofscapes has been selected by Urban Lab - the City of Paris’ laboratory for urban innovation - to design and build a first pilot project over a roof in Paris.

Our Story

Roofscapes is a startup from the MIT School of Architecture and Planning. The company was founded in 2020 by MIT graduate students Tim Cousin, Olivier Faber, and Eytan Levi with the mission of transforming untapped rooftops into green roofs as a way to mitigate climate change and to provide new outdoor spaces in cities.
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Tim, Olivier, and Eytan met back in 2014 as they started architecture school together at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, Switzerland. After further studies between ETH Zurich and the University of Tokyo, they worked in various architectural practices in the UK, Japan, Switzerland, Denmark, India, and Australia, including Junya Ishigami in Tokyo, Herzog de Meuron in Basel, COBE in Copenhagen, and RMA in Mumbai. Tim, Olivier, and Eytan decided to finish their education together at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where they are currently graduate students between the Department of Architecture and the Center for Real Estate.

In the summer of 2018, we spent a week with our friend Louis de Saint-Affrique brainstorming a project that would tackle untapped spaces in Paris. The idea for green rooftops over pitched roofs was born, and it has evolved into Roofscapes. In the spring of 2019, Roofscapes incubated at the MIT DesignX accelerator, and was awarded First Prize upon completion. This year, Roofscapes have been selected by Urban Lab, the City of Paris urban innovation incubator, to build a first pilot project over a roof in Paris.

Our Values

Ever since we began studying architecture, we’ve been interested in tactical urbanism as a strategy to work within the existing fabric of cities. We envision a time when real estate development and architectural production will need to work almost exclusively with what’s already built.
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Through Roofscapes, we want to transform existing cities for the environmental, social and economic changes of the 21st century.
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We believe that architects should be responsible for creating bottom-up frameworks to include everyone’s contribution to the built environment.
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We believe that the best way to mitigate climate change consists in anticipating its impact through resilience strategies, such as green roofs over surfaces that currently absorb solar heat.
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We wish to question and reconfigure the social hierarchies of inherited spatial structures, for instance with green roof networks creating new datums in urban skylines.
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We thus imagine economic development at the service of environmental and social needs.
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We hope that you will join us in our journey.

Our Values

Ever since we started architecture school, we’ve been interested in tactical urbanism as a strategy to work within the existing fabric of cities. We believe that architects should be responsible for creating bottom-up frameworks to include everyone’s contribution to the built environment. We envision a time when real estate development and architectural production will need to work with what’s already built. Through Roofscapes, we want to transform existing cities for the environmental, social and economic changes of the 21st century. We believe that climate change will best be mitigated by anticipating its impact through resilience strategies, such as green roofs over surfaces that currently absorb solar heat. We wish to question and reconfigure the social hierarchies of inherited spatial structures, for instance with green roof networks creating new datums in urban skylines. We thus imagine economic development at the service of environmental and social needs. We hope that you will join us in our journey.

Our Team

Caroline Rozensweig

Architectural Designer

Caroline graduated last year from an undergraduate in architecture and design from MIT, and was the first to join the Roofscapes team, upon completion of the MIT DesignX Incubation.

Eva Then

Urban data researcher

In her studies, Eva has specialized in urban studies and computer science. Fluent in french, she helps Roofscapes navigating urban GIS data and as well as business developement.

Eytan Levi

Co-founder

Eytan holds a Master in Architecture and a Master of Science in Real Estate Development from MIT. Eytan's long lasting interest lies in the development of innovative schemes that enable the upgrade of existing structures.

Izzi Waitz

Communication Manager

Izzi is a sophomore studying architecture at MIT. Specializing in digital design, media and representation, she is essential to Roofscapes communications and graphic identity.

Jonathon Brearley

Architectural Designer

Jonathon is a 3rd year graduate student at MIT working on a variety of wooden structures and construction. He joined Roofscapes to offer his expertise on the design of our first pilot project.

Latifa Alkhayat

Architectural Designer

Latifa is a designer and artist specializing in material experimentation and digital fabrication and currently works on Roofscapes' upcoming pavilion at the 2021 Seoul Biennale.

Olivier Faber

Co-founder

Olivier is a student in the Master of Architecture at MIT, where he works on building science, climate resilience and urban biodiversity preservation. Olivier is a founding member of ClimARCH, a student-led climate advocacy group at MIT.

Tim Cousin

Co-founder

Tim is a student in the Master of Architecture at MIT. As much in design than building and research, Tim as developed an interest in wooden structures, mainly through the scope of digital fabrication and structural optimization.

Nina Huttemann

Architectural Designer

Nina studies architecture and design at MIT, with an interest in sustainability and life cycle assessment which contributed to Roofscapes early developement.

Caroline Rozensweig

Caroline graduated last year from an undergraduate in architecture and design from MIT, and was the first to join the Roofscapes team, upon completion of the MIT DesignX Incubation.

Eva Then

In her studies, Eva has specialized in urban studies and computer science. Fluent in french, she helps Roofscapes navigating urban GIS data and as well as business development.

Izzi Waitz

Izzi is a sophomore studying architecture at MIT. Specializing in digital design, media and representation, she is essential to Roofscapes communications and graphic identity.

Nina Huttemann

Nina studies architecture and design at MIT, with an interest in sustainability and life cycle assessment which contributed to Roofscapes early development.

Jonathon Brearley

Jonathon is a 3rd year graduate student at MIT working on a variety of wooden structures and construction. He joined Roofscapes to offer his expertise on the design of our first pilot project.

Our Team

Caroline Rozensweig

Architectural Designer

Caroline Rozensweig

Architectural Designer

Caroline graduated last year from an undergraduate in architecture and design from MIT, and was the first to join the Roofscapes team, upon completion of the MIT DesignX Incubation.

Eva Then

Urban data researcher

Eva Then

Urban data researcher

In her studies, Eva has specialized in urban studies and computer science. Fluent in french, she helps Roofscapes navigating urban GIS data and as well as business developement.

Eytan Levi

Co-founder

Eytan Levi

Co-founder

Izzi Waitz

Communication Manager

Izzi Waitz

Communication Manager

Izzi is a sophomore studying architecture at MIT. Specializing in digital design, media and representation, she is essential to Roofscapes communications and graphic identity.

Jonathon Brearley

Architectural Designer

Jonathon Brearley

Architectural Designer

Jonathon is a 3rd year graduate student at MIT working on a variety of wooden structures and construction. He joined Roofscapes to offer his expertise on the design of our first pilot project.

Latifa Alkhayat

Architectural Designer

Latifa Alkhayat

Architectural Designer

Latifa is a designer and artist specializing in material experimentation and digital fabrication and currently works on Roofscapes' upcoming pavilion at the 2021 Seoul Biennale.

Olivier Faber

Co-founder

Olivier Faber

Co-founder

Tim Cousin

Co-founder

Tim Cousin

Co-founder

Nina Huttemann

Architectural Designer

Nina Huttemann

Architectural Designer

Nina studies architecture and design at MIT, with an interest in sustainability and life cycle assessment which contributed to Roofscapes early developement.