Green Walls from green roofs.com
April 2008
Green Walls: Outer Beauty, Inner Function
By George Irwin, The Green Wall Editor
All Photos Courtesy George Irwin unless otherwise noted
As a child I was mesmerized by the bean seeds starting to poke up over the rim of old cafeteria milk carton that had the top cut off. I clearly remember my teacher lining up the milk cartons, mostly chocolate, along the window sill. As the week went on the mass of bean seeds look like a single carpet - I thought that was neat. And as a teenager I always admired the clean cut and straight lines of a professionally manicured lawn. Seeing the dark and light striped green color variations of the outfield grass I would ask myself how they did that - and I thought that was cool. As a young landscape entrepreneur the site of mass annual plantings, over grown trellises and displays of natural wild flowers would make me stop and look, and that too, was pretty awesome. These are all very specific things that caught my attention.
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Touchy, feely and gorgeous in Rochester, NY using Green Living Technologies, LLC; |
These visual experiences are all related to color, shape, texture and presentation; the point is it was eye catching. You don’t need to be a psychologist to realize that visual affects are an attractant and at times stimulating. Of course there is more to just visual attractants than plants; in fact, anything can be a visual attractant depending on what it is and who it is perceived by - but green walls are different, and I haven’t met anyone yet who didn’t think a green wall wasn’t “cool.”
Here we will discuss the use of green walls as visual attractants, artistic ｅxpressions, marketing campaigns and one of a kind pieces of art. Although most will find the green wall itself a work of art, you have to look beyond the initial beauty to see that there is also environmental and economic function.
In my last article, “An Intro to Green Walls and Green Roofs: Living Architecture at its Best,” we left off with the understanding that seeing plant material on a vertical surface stimulates curiosity and verbal excitement with words like: Cool, Wow, Neat, Different, and sometimes even words of disbelief: “Is that real?” It is these same people that are bringing the green wall to the attention of others with ｅxpressions like, “Look at that, Isn’t that neat, and Check this out;” they express a call to action that recruits others to share the visual experience with them. The Austrian designer Friedenreich Hundertwasser could be considered the modern artist and visionary who promoted the concept of living vertical architecture, and even to this day visitors are amazed at his integration of vegetation and architecture on green wall and greenroofs. See some of his work green wall below:
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Hundertwasser-Haus, Vienna, Austria: 1977-1986; Photo Copyright Glenn Bristol; | |
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RIT Green Living Wall™ |
A recent example came from a project at a much respected college, Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT). A small monolithic 100 square foot Green Living™ Wall system, nothing of vibrant color, was being installed in a brand new LEED™ certified building there. If the installer hadn’t tied off caution tape, students and faculty alike would have walked right up to where the installer was working to touch the wall. In addition, those same passers by came back with more people to show them, and the audience soon multiplied.
Right now, 100% of our calls about green walls come as a desire for a cosmetic addition to an indoor space or outdoor facade. But, it is also becoming more prevalent from our other business partners and corporate clients that incorporating a green wall can also be a stoke of marketing genius. My inaugural article also described in brief about the Anthropologies green wall in Huntsville, Alabama. one of the unanticipated benefits about that green wall is that it attracted people resulting in an increase of retail traffic. Since then, we are not the only ones who have realized the marketing potential; we have been working on three additional green wall projects for the same company, and they, too, realized the impact.
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Lexus and Pangea Organics' “Nurture Nature” event specialty GLT display. |
Earlier this year we were contracted by Lexus and Pangea Organics for the NYC kick off event “Nurture Nature” wanting to rent a full 10’x10’ custom green wall and logo as a backdrop for the guest speakers! Using a combination of indoor plants and wheat grass grown in between the Pangea logo, the backdrop maintained the attention of all the guests long after each speaker was done, and of course they walked right up to it and touched it in disbelief. The green wall gave the guests something to remember and in addition they will more than likely remember the sponsors commitment to being green. To infuse the attendee's memory even deeper with the message of cool green, a single cell Green Living™ Desk Top (a mini green wall specifically designed to accommodate a single plant) had been created with the sponsor's name and logo and given away as a parting gift.
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Lexus and Pangea Organics' “Nurture Nature” organic, living parting gifts. | |
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Pure Yoga in New York City; GLT rendition. |
Pure Yoga, an Asian based company, has expanded into NYC with its first international location and is making a public statement by using the Green Living™ Wall system as its facade. Opening in June of 2008, the 1,000 square foot Green Living™ Wall was designed by plant artists, creating a mural of vegetation. Currently there are multiple blue chip corporations working on a green wall realizing it is a visual attractant. These are small but influential marketing examples of companies who are seeing the visual impacts of implementing green walls.
The aforementioned are green walls of marketing substance, so how does one embrace the green wall as part of their own lives? Let’s take it one step deeper, the "Green Walls as Art" term coined by Green Living™ Technologies, creates or better yet incorporates limited edition, one of kind pieces or the adaptation of the vegetation to complete an application that is outside the standard. The Green Wall as Art is not a square mural on a building facade. Rather, plant material combined with geometric shapes, a variety of material finishes, sizes, colors and even the perception of the green wall itself makes up the artistic venue.
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MFO Park in Zurich, Switzerland |
In fact, the inspiration of Green Walls as Art came as a combination of plants and the structural element inspired by the MFO Park in Zurich, Switzerland. The custom cable system allowed the plant material to resemble starbursts, intriguing and ironic that the park is used as a platform of multi media and artistic events such as a place to gather socially, concerts and art festivals - unbeknown that the park itself is art. This urban park raises form the ground as the vegetation reaches for the sky.
The work of Green Living™ Technologies sculptress Susan Rowley (Rochester, NY) has also included the aesthetics of green wall technology and custom sculptures. Pictured above is a limited edition green wall hand crafted from stainless steel. Each piece has a one of a kind finish since each one is done by hand. Also pictured is the work of Greenscreen’s columns and 3D curves. Combining geometrics and architectural design to the green wall will always provide visual impact.
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Technology meets art: Left: NY sculptress Susan Rowley combining sleek stainless steel with soft plant material; Right: Look at this shape - imagine the possibilities! Source: Greenscreen | |
A leading designer of stunning visual green wall mural art is Patrick Blanc, who hails from France, and author of the soon to be released The Vertical Garden: From Nature to the City. His "vertical gardens" are renown for their scale, innovation and great variety of plant material, and he is the creator of Le Mur Végétal, a copyrighted system:
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Musée du quai Branly vegetated "Vertical Garden" wall by Patrick Blanc in Paris, France; | |
Can we agree that the green wall is a form of art that attracts people to it like the sound of a waterfall? So then is the green wall the silent waterfall? Green walls are more then beauty, the added bonus is they are also functional. Go figure that they do more than look good, who would have known! Enough sarcasm, let's get serious for a second: did you know according to the American Farmland Trust the usable farmland in the U.S. is shrinking by 2.2 million acres per year (http://www.wvfarmlandprotection.org)? The changes in land use to our urban society have caused huge increases of runoff and flooding. The same changes are causing habitat destruction for flora and fauna and, of course, there are the common results of increased urban heat island effect, noise pollution, poor air quality, etc. This is not an excerpt to explain the effects of over-development but to stimulate thinking how green walls are also functional.
Let’s assume our society stops the clock on development. Using farmland, for example, we may not have enough to sustain the growing population, but be sure there are plenty of new developments with zero-land lots with plenty of vertical space. Who is to say we couldn’t utilize the green wall as crop production? Yes, we have seen grapes on trellises, but really how about growing peppers or tomatoes? Vertical growth is already happening across the globe on roofs in many cities like Toronto, New York, and Singapore, for example.
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Changi General Hospital in Singapore. The Hydroponic microfarm on its atrium roof since 1988 feeds patients; | |
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Green Living™ Technologies, Strawberry Establishment for Green Wall |
And from our end, Green Living™ Walls are being manufactured in 4” (11cm) to 6” (15.25cm) depths to accommodate a variety of deeper rooted plant material and editable crops. The first commercialized walls (4) will be installed this summer (2008) in the Los Angeles California region in collaboration with www.urbanfarming.org and Cal Poly Tech to produce editable crops for homeless people. Green Living Technologies has partnered with Cal Poly to conduct further research to consist of storm water collection, heat absorption and acoustic values. The edible walls will contain a variety of crops that can be eaten raw to include: beans, tomatoes, peppers, leafy greens and strawberries. The lower cells of the wall will contain larger crops such as cucumbers, melons and eggplant supported by the ground itself while the roots thrive in the media within the green wall. In R&D look for dwarf blueberries and no-bog cranberries and let’s not forget vertical herb gardens!
Many butterfly feeding and breeding habitats have been destroyed by pesticides and urban development (http://www.projectwildlife.org). Butterflies are easy to attract; you just have to know what they like to eat. Caterpillars eat "larval" plants like milkweed, marigolds, Queen Anne’s lace, and violets. Butterflies like "nectar" plants, like the butterfly bush, the beauty bush, sunflowers, lilacs, snapdragons, and zinnias. So select plants that are diverse in color and bloom at different times, and you will attract butterflies all summer long. Using butterflies as an example, green walls can be planted to refurbish and repopulate natural areas that have been destroyed quite effortlessly.
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Green Living™ Technologies |
Poor indoor air quality (IAQ), also known as “Sick Building Syndrome,” can be many times worse than the air outside (www.epi.state.nc.us/epi/air). Pollutants can cause or contribute to short and long-term health problems, including asthma, respiratory tract infections, allergic reactions, headaches, congestion, eye and skin irritations, coughing, sneezing, fatigue, dizziness and nausea. Some facts:
• Indoor air pollutants can cause discomfort, and reduce attendance and productivity. Recent data suggest that poor IAQ can reduce a person's ability to perform specific mental tasks requiring concentration, calculation, or memory.
• Indoor air pollutants hasten building deterioration. For example, uncontrolled moisture can result in mold growth that leads to the structural decay of building components.
• Poor indoor air quality strains relationships among employees, family members, parents, teachers, students and school administrations.
• Indoor air quality problems can result in liability issues or lawsuits.
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Green Living™ Technologies |
According to NASA, the use of indoor plants has proven to remove such chemicals as Benzene, Formaldehyde and Trichloroethylene. My experience with this is that we have an indoor growing facility in the same area of manufacturing and although we haven’t done a formal study, it is true that the area with the plants is a much more comfortable area, supporting the psychological benefits argument to having indoor plants. Indoor plants are also supported by the U.S. Green Building Council. Numerous studies including those done by over 10 prominent researchers worldwide demonstrate that the ability of plants to metabolize Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) increases with extended exposure to VOCs. The health effects of exposure to VOCs are consistent with Sick Building Syndrome effects, including eye/nose/skin irritation, headache, and lethargy. Several studies have also shown lower workplace stress, a decrease in fatigue and enhanced productivity by adding indoor plants to their interior environment. Two points are available in LEED - Office Interiors Indoor Environment Quality Credit IEQ-15 'Indoor Plants' to encourage and recognize the installation of indoor plants that improves indoor environment quality.
Green walls also improve exterior air quality. Air quality is directly linked to the urban heat island effect. Adding green walls results in a reduction in urban temperatures through the reintroduction of plants that would positively affect air quality by the reduction of smog days and air born particulates.
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Green Living™ Tabletop w/ Basil |
Remember that kid in the beginning of the article who was impressed by the bean plants? He is all grown up now with his own kids and refuses to let another bean plant die. Seriously, green walls can be introduced to the classroom. Instead of growing that little bean in a washed out milk carton we can now open up the minds of students from 1st grade to higher educational studies with opportunities to introduce data and newer technologies.
Without assuming, there may have been a notion of the same song and dance about the obvious benefits of green walls in comparison to green roofs such as the prevention of storm water runoff, curbing the heat island effect, monetary savings and doubling the life expectancy of the roof membrane, etc. And all are valid and key points. This article was to get you to think outside the box - who would have thought to use green walls as a major contributor of crop production and to replenish butterfly habitat? Well, we're not quite done, either. How about job creation? Green walls in all their beauty and function create green jobs through manufacturing, training, installation and maintenance contracts and so yes, the obvious theory in comparison to green roofs becomes more apparent.
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Musée du quai Branly by Patrick Blanc in Paris, France; |
Thanks for reading and it was my intention to get you to think about the many possibilities for green wall applications, how they are used and what some of the benefits are that we can implement now. For now, green walls provide a visual impact that cannot be denied and our feedback from clients say that since there are plants it must be “green,” when in fact the beauty is only as deep as the wall itself - what you don’t see is just as important.
George A. Irwin
March 2008
guest feature and inaugural column for The Green Wall Editor
An Intro to Green Walls and Green Roofs: Living Architecture at its Best
By George Irwin, Industry CEO and President
All Photos Courtesy George Irwin
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Left: Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago, IL, Source: Carl Stahl DecorCable Innovations; | |
Green Walls Part I: Nomenclature
Since the days of Babylon, vegetation has been growing on, in or around both the horizontal and vertical planes of buildings, more specifically the roofs and walls. The most recent green trends have been including a variety of what the industry is calling “Green Walls, Living Walls, and Vegetated Façades,” and we have heard many more names, too. The green roof movement has naturally evolved to green walls - no pun intended, but the green roof has now climbed over the parapet and down, or up the walls.
Designers, architects and engineers now have the possibility of encasing a building in some type of live vegetation whether for aesthetics, function or notoriety. This article is the first in a multi part introduction to “Green Walls” that will define the nomenclature contributed by the leaders of green wall manufacturers, installers, designers and architects with support from Green Roofs for Healthy Cities (GRHC) and Green Walls 101© (GW 101).
Green roofs have multiple design and material components and so do green walls. Each project must be addressed with a variety of application possibilities, limitations, functionality and aesthetics. In order to understand the potential components relevant to specific applications we have to define the terminology of “Green Walls.”
The term “Green Wall” is a global term used to reference a variety of vegetated wall surfaces. Within the term “Green Wall” we have two specific categories: Green Façades and Living Walls.
• ‘Green Facade’ or facade greening, features a training structure that supports vines or climbing plants growing upward from the ground away from the building (GW101, 2008). Green Facades can now be dissected into two additional categories of product applications:
• A multidimensional, welded wire trellising system.
• A variety of stainless steel cable and mesh systems.
Both systems support a variety of climbing plant material, can be customized and some are available in a variety of colors.
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‘Green Facades’ | |
• ‘Living Wall’ is part of a building envelope system, comprising pre-vegetated or planted on-site panels containing plants, growing medium or liquid nutrient installed in or on a frame, secured to a structural wall or it can be free standing (GW101, 2008).
Living Walls can also be migrated into two distinct categories:
• Hydroponics wall which uses recirculation water to deliver nutrients directly to the roots of the plant material.
• Soil or growing media based walls. These walls are made up of a variety of modules that retain growth media to support plant material.
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‘Growing Media Based Living Walls’ | |
Recognizing the correct terminology is the start to deciding on a green wall system. Be warned not all systems are the same there are pros and cons to each system. Not all are “Do it yourself” applications, some perform only with a specific plant type or have a variety of mounting procedures and structural requirements...and more. For more information contact the manufacturer.
Green Walls Part II: The New Green Roof?
In case you don’t read the newspaper, watch the news, have internet access or any other media attention whatsoever, green roofs have proven themselves over and over again long term to be part of a Best Management Practice (BMP) in the fight of global warming. Long term data has proven that Green Roofs, when constructed correctly can:
• Retain and / or slow down a significant amount of stormwater runoff resulting in less erosion, reduced heavy metals in our water ways...etc…
• Double the life expectancy of a roof membrane
• Add acoustical value
• Regulate a building's internal temp
• Clean the air
And etcetera, etcetera, etcetera…
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The Marketplace at Oviedo Crossing, Oviedo, FL; System: Greenscreen |
There is one problem with the green roof and all its beauty and function...Unless it is yours and you have access to it, no one else can see the green roof (unless you are in an adjacent building).
Green Walls, on the other hand, can be a public display of beauty, art, ｅxpression and just as important as green roofs...functional. Green roofs have long term quantifiable data associated with them. Without boring you with statistical details, it can be theorized that a green wall will provide similar or associated benefits. Here is where the benefits may vary, depending upon the array of systems available; trellis systems, cable systems, growth media based systems, or a hydroponic system. With multiple systems come multiple benefits that may or may not carry from one to another.
A true correlation of green roof related benefits must be under a similar design. For example, the use of a 3” growing media based system should have a benefit correlation to a 3” depth green roof with similar vegetation properties. These same benefits cannot be expected with a trellis or cable system. However, the facades (trellis and cable system) can offer a multitude of other benefits not offered by a soil based system. This is part of the pros and cons mentioned in Part I. As a designer or architect it is up to you to decide on the system and its functionality. (Note: As a designer why not incorporate a multitude of systems in one project?)
The connection to the benefits will rely on the system, we can agree on that. Specifically speaking, what benefits do all the systems share? Cosmetics and aesthetics...fact is, when constructed correctly the green wall applications are very alluring and appealing. What do aesthetics do for me? As a non environmental benefit we used the example of the 2,000 square foot Green Living™ Wall for Anthropologies, a high end retail store in Alabama, and it attracted additional pedestrian traffic immediately to the store front - it can only be assumed that the increase in traffic equates to a rise in internal traffic / shoppers, increasing revenues for the retailer as a result of the extra attention, capturing those sales based on an interest in the green wall.
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Left: Anthropologies; Right Green Wall Detail; Source: Green Living™ Technologies | |
No matter what the system or plant material, there is a definite attraction to seeing a potpourri of plants cascading from the vertical heights of what would otherwise be an orthogonal boxlike structure. Some of the manufacturers have the ability to custom manufacture specific dimensions, create curvatures, and are now are incorporating green walls as art both indoors and out - green walls and green roofs as living architecture!
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Left: MFO Park in Zurich, Switzerland; Right: National Wildlife Federation Headquarters in Reston, VA | |
Whether you are an interior decorator, architect, landscape architect or just simply interested, visit www.greenroofs.org for more information on attending "Green Walls 101 Introduction to Systems and Design" in a city near you. You can also visit Green Living™ Technologies in NYC on April 26-27, 2008 at the Go Green NY Expo and on April 29 – May 3rd in Baltimore, MD, at the 2008 Sixth Annual Greening Rooftops for Sustainable Communities Conference.
Be sure to visit Greenroofs.com again for additional Green Wall articles!