Contact with nature is not just an amenity: it's important for well-being. Green walls liven up urban spaces while improving building performance.
I live in Vermont, where agriculture is an integral part of our culture. I drive past the farms as the seasons change and see when the corn is high or when too much rain has made plowing impossible. And the family sees the results at the local farmer's market. Whenever I visit urban areas, I inevitably end up at the local park or waterfront for my early-morning runs.
I value this connection with the natural world--or biophilia--and maybe it's more than just a lifestyle choice. Biophilia has been shown to have tangible benefits, including reduced stress, improved productivity, and faster healing, to name a few, but integrating greenery among limited--and expensive--urban real estate is no easy task. Maybe the answer is to think vertically.
What is a green wall?
Exterior green walls, sometimes referred to as living walls, green facades, eco-walls, and a variety of other names, use frames mounted to exterior walls to support vegetation growth. Their greenery helps- break up the urban landscape of concrete, glass, and steel;
- improve the thermal performance of a building by creating shade and an air space between the plants and the building;
- absorb carbon dioxide;
- mitigate stormwater runoff;
- and reduce heat and noise.
GSky exterior Pro Wall System
But green walls have to be well designed and maintained or else you can end up with mold, moisture damage, or dead plants. GSky's exterior Pro Wall System reduces these risks using a stainless steel frame and panels that incorporate a structural growth medium. The plants are pre-grown to design specifications, monitored for temperature and moisture, and watered automatically using a drip irrigation system.Designing the wall is no easy task. It begins with careful assessment of the site, water and drainage consideration, seismic and wind loads, and power and placement of the irrigation system. Local plants are then selected and pre-grown in a nursery before the panels are installed along with the frame, irrigation, and monitoring system.
The monitoring system is automated, setting off alerts if there is a problem with the irrigation, and can be paired with GSky's maintenance program. These green walls do not have to be a single shade of green, either. Using different plant species, you can create designs within the greenery.
More basic green walls
GSky also offers its Basic Wall Container System, which contains a trellis and integrated containers to support vine growth. The containers are three feet and five feet high, and the vines can be either pre-grown or allowed to grow naturally, which could take up to two years.You can't get plant designs with these systems. They are meant for large exterior walls, and can even include a catwalk behind the façade of plants for easier maintenance on high walls. Like the Pro Wall System, they come with an irrigation and monitoring system.
Keeping the "green" in "green wall"
Providing the benefits of biophilia using a green wall only works if the plants are actually green. GSky ensures its systems perform with warranties of ten years on the planters, five years on the irrigation system, and a "100% Plant Health Guarantee" when paired with the maintenance contract.We've updated our green walls section in GreenSpec and added a couple of new products. Check them out. While green walls might not be ideal for every building or climate, the more greenery we can add to urban environments, the more I'll feel at home while visiting.
Comments
Posted 1/25/12 4:27 PM by Robert Riversong
I always liked ivy-covered walls, but they can be bad for the masonry. In principle, why not create green walls by design?
Actually, perhaps the closest relation to this is urban performance art. It takes effort and serves no functional purpose, but enlivens the asphalt jungle for those who haunt its streets.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lXh2n0aPyw
Actually, perhaps the closest relation to this is urban performance art. It takes effort and serves no functional purpose, but enlivens the asphalt jungle for those who haunt its streets.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lXh2n0aPyw
Posted 1/25/12 9:20 PM by Tristan Roberts
Sure beats glass,cement ,an steel.
Posted 1/25/12 10:41 PM by Tim Miller
I take issue with Robert Riversong's "knee-jerk" reaction to this article, because it seems to me that the company mentioned, GSky, has gone to great lengths to design green wall systems that recognize and avoid the problems that can occur with them - as far as is possible when one has no control over whether the O&M operator is responsible or not.
Further, I see nothing wrong in building owners using green walls to advertise their green credentials. To my mind, it isn't "greenwashing" - most of that occurs in sales blurb, nor is it attempting to justify an unnatural human environment - if you're going to take that attitude, we'd all still be clad in fur and living in natural caves! What it is, is shouting out loud: "I'm trying to make a difference - an improvement - to this often sterile modern world by bringing a bit more of Nature into people's working lives".
Riyadh, where I live, has of late experienced a "gray tsunami" of aluminum composite panel building cladding, which I would dearly love to see relieved by green walls, even if only up to a limited height; but the problems are the extremely dry atmosphere and high solar radiation, coupled with limited water supplies.
The city authorities have, however, "greened" it by providing parks, a considerable amount of planting in roadway median strips (including palm trees that produce dates) and trees in the sidewalks, together with landscaped highway intersections. Much of this planting is irrigated with TSE - treated sewage effluent - which is presently likely to be unacceptable for use in green wall applications in many locations around the world, no matter how good the purification, until the global fresh water supply becomes really desperate. And, unfortunately for us, it looks as if that time is rapidly approaching.
Further, I see nothing wrong in building owners using green walls to advertise their green credentials. To my mind, it isn't "greenwashing" - most of that occurs in sales blurb, nor is it attempting to justify an unnatural human environment - if you're going to take that attitude, we'd all still be clad in fur and living in natural caves! What it is, is shouting out loud: "I'm trying to make a difference - an improvement - to this often sterile modern world by bringing a bit more of Nature into people's working lives".
Riyadh, where I live, has of late experienced a "gray tsunami" of aluminum composite panel building cladding, which I would dearly love to see relieved by green walls, even if only up to a limited height; but the problems are the extremely dry atmosphere and high solar radiation, coupled with limited water supplies.
The city authorities have, however, "greened" it by providing parks, a considerable amount of planting in roadway median strips (including palm trees that produce dates) and trees in the sidewalks, together with landscaped highway intersections. Much of this planting is irrigated with TSE - treated sewage effluent - which is presently likely to be unacceptable for use in green wall applications in many locations around the world, no matter how good the purification, until the global fresh water supply becomes really desperate. And, unfortunately for us, it looks as if that time is rapidly approaching.
Posted 1/26/12 5:57 AM by Tony Marshallsay
You should read the article by George Irwin, Green Wall Editor at www.greenroofs.com "Death of a Green Wall". Great example of no fluff reality on green walls, not to mention if you want a pictorial dissertation contact them directly. He was a great help teaching our company about the reality of green walls. We were thinking about the Gsky wall and the failure rate and plant replacement was just too high for our life cost on the project. As for green washing I'm not opposed to the Eco-marketing opportunity I think it's awesome to see successful green walls vs print advertising or billboards.
Posted 1/26/12 10:28 AM by Pam
Tony Marshallsay, there's nothing "kee-jerk" about being critical, even cynical, of yet one more attempt to pretty up a sinking Titanic while ignoring the imminent collision with reality. It's particularly ironic that all the "greening" of Riyadh you speak of with such admiration is made possible only by the conversion of an ancient earth-bound nation (Saudi Arabia) into the largest contributor to global warming in our fragile world.
Posted 1/26/12 11:10 AM by Robert Riversong
Great idea to help urban living and beauty but what is the cost and the cost to the building as far as maintenance?
Also will it work in New England?
Also will it work in New England?
Posted 1/28/12 4:56 PM by Bob
The only true statement here is "green walls are one way for building owners to advertise their green credentials." It's just another form of greenwashing and justifying unnatural human environments by the superposition of a few natural specimens.