Sourced from the Detroit Free Press

You might imagine a Buddhist monastery in the mountains of Korea, surrounded by nature and silence.

But located near the heart of Hamtramck, a working-class neighborhood home to more than 30 ethnic groups, an east-meets-west Buddhist monastery stands proudly as an essential piece of the city.

The Detroit Zen Center was founded in 1990 as a spiritual organization with a mission to teach meditation and sustainability, according to vice-Abbot and director Myungju. The center's motto is to shine one corner of the world.

After 29 years of operation and serving thousands of visitors and residents in the art of Buddhist meditation and manual work, the Detroit Zen Center has taken the next step in sustainability and installed a green roof on top of the meditation hall, which will open in Spring 2020.

"We have in Hamtramck a serious issue with storm water management," said Myungju. "As a result of flooding, these buildings were abandoned for years."

Due to this issue, when the Detroit Zen Center took over the buildings it's priority was to figure out a way to solve the storm water management problem.

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Detroit Zen Center Hopes to Make Hamtramck the Green Roof Capital of Michigan - Living Architecture Monitor magazine