I think it seems hardly impossible that such beautiful living walls will catch on in china at present.But I really love them that is environmentally friendly and lively!It will be a effective way to solve the pollution!
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Living Wall
Photograph by Bertrand Garbel, Hemis.fr/Getty Images
A living wall bursts with vegetation at Paris's Musée du Quai Branly—a type of green wall that's catching on in some big cities.
These vegetated surfaces don't just look pretty. They have other benefits as well, including cooling city blocks, reducing loud noises, and improving a building's energy efficiency. (See a complete list of green wall benefits.)
What's more, a recent modeling study shows that green walls can potentially reduce large amounts of air pollution in what's called a "street canyon," or the corridor between tall buildings.
For the study, Thomas Pugh, a biogeochemist at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany, and his colleagues created a computer model of a green wall with generic vegetation in a Western European city. Then they recorded chemical reactions based on a variety of factors, such as wind speed and building placement.
The simulation revealed a clear pattern: A green wall in a street canyon trapped or absorbed large amounts of nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter—both pollutants harmful to people, said Pugh. (Related: "Pictures: 10 Green-Tech City Solutions for Beating the Heat.")
Compared with reducing emissions from cars, little attention has been focused on how to trap or take up more of the pollutants, added Pugh, whose study was published last year in the journal Environmental Science & Technology.
That's why the green-wall study is "putting forward an alternative solution that might allow [governments] to improve air quality in these problem hot spots," he said.
—Christine Dell'Amore
Published March 25, 2013
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Vertical Garden
Photograph from UIG/View Pictures/Getty Images
Living walls can be indoors or outdoors, such as this one blooming on the Citi Data Centre in Frankfurt, Germany.
"Vertical gardens," as they're sometimes called, can visually enhance an otherwise forgotten space, noted Paul Erlichman of the Toronto-based group Green Roofs for Healthy Cities.
"Walls are the more underutilized spaces in our urban areas," he added. (See National Geographic pictures of green roofs.)
There are three types of green walls: Living walls, green facades, and retaining living walls, he said.
In green facades, vines and climbing plants or cascading ground covers grow into supporting structures, according to the Green Roofs for Healthy Cities website.
Living walls are composed of pre-vegetated panels, modules, planted blankets, or bags that are affixed to a structural wall or free-standing frame. Finally, retaining living walls are engineered living structures designed to stabilize a slope.
Published March 25, 2013
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Going Green
Photograph by Sandra Raccanello, Grand Tour/Corbis
In Madrid, plants turn a wall in the Paseo del Prada bright green.
Green walls are particularly useful in reducing pollution in street canyons, which are "a particular kind of oddity in that they tend to trap air within them, while over the city as a whole the air circulates freely," Thomas Pugh noted. (Take a pollution quiz.)
Because a green wall's vegetation is working with a much smaller volume of air in a street canyon, he added, it's more effective at absorbing or trapping the pollutants than if it was tackling a whole mass of air above the city.
However, Pugh cautioned, "we need more research to understand just how effective green walls can really be in real locations."
Published March 25, 2013
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Colorful Tableau
Photograph by Franck Guiziou, Hemis.fr/Getty Images
A green wall creates a colorful tableau in Copenhagen's Kongens Nytorv (Royal Square).
The European Union sets standards for air pollution and imposes fines if levels within a country exceed those levels, noted study leader Thomas Pugh.
London and some cities in Western European countries in particular have had trouble keeping air pollution in check—making green walls a possible solution. (Also see "Pictures: London Leaps Hurdles in Green Olympic Games Bid.")
Published March 25, 2013
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Against the Wall
Photograph by Carol Sharp, Eye Ubiquitous/Corbis
The ability of green walls, such as this one at the Musée du Quai Branly in Paris, to cool street canyons is especially key in the summertime, Thomas Pugh noted.
"If you have a surface covered in plants," he said, "when the sun's heat hits them, instead of just warming up they send a lot of energy back into the atmosphere as water vapor. Whereas a concrete wall would heat up and send [the heat] back into the canyon." (Learn more about Earth's atmosphere.)
Published March 25, 2013
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Green Gold
Photograph by L. Wheatley, Garden Picture Library/Getty Images
A vertical garden (pictured) won the gold medal in the 2011 Chelsea Flower Show in London.
Each year Green Roofs for Healthy Cities issues the Green Roof & Wall Awards of Excellence. The 2013 winners will be announced in October at CitiesAlive: 11th Annual Green Roof and Wall Conference in San Francisco.
According to the organization's website, green walls may improve your mood as well as your health. (Read about cities as solutions.)
"Studies have shown that visual access to natural settings leads to increased job satisfaction and productivity … and post-operative recovery rates in medical facilities," the website says.
Published March 25, 2013
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How Green Walls Work
Illustration by Jason Treat, National Geographic. Source: Patrick Blanc
Many living wall systems also have built-in irrigation systems in which water is harvested at the bottom of the wall and recirculated back to the top, as seen above.
The types of plants on green walls differ, but can include grasses, vines, and other climbing plants—all of which must have strong root structures, Green Roofs for Healthy Cities' Paul Erlichman said. (Test your environmental knowledge.)
Published March 25, 2013
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See Pictures of Ten Green Solutions for Beating the Heat
Photograph by Wong Maye-E, AP
Published March 25, 2013
17 comments
1 Like
We have been working with Living Walls for 8 years now, and sell various systems from Hydroponic to Consumer friendly products. Horzonital is out and Vertical is IN.
For a better example of the next generation of "performative" wall surfaces, check out the biowall at Drexel University's PISB, the largest living biofilter in North America!
I´d like to make interest in that practic anti-earthageing to all the goverment leaders, so simple so far to consider the polution solution.
1 Like
This is exciting! I hope this becomes more widespread - useful AND beautiful. I'm imagining city streets bursting with greenery, overflowing with unlimited opportunities for creativity in design and implementation, an everyday opportunity to immerse ourselves in nature. Some questions arise: would this create a surge in landscape architecture? Would this eliminate graffiti? Could fruits and vegetables be grown for the public's picking? Would greenery become a new medium for mural art? Would more birds poop in the street? Philosophical stuff here...perhaps the future will not be cold, stark, and streamlined like it is often depicted in the sci-fi flick of the week - instead maybe it will be pulsing with life and imagination.
I'm interested why National Geographic hasn't posted anything about their very own Green Wall that we installed for them in 2011, http://gsky.com/projects/national-geographic-channel/?? We're the largest provider of Green Walls in the United States, handling about 80% of the market.
1 Like
"We" have so much "innovative thinking" available - "We" just need more "Minds" to work through it!
BUT,MAY BE THE PLANTED AREAS WILL BE A HOME TO SOME UNWANTED CREATURES.
SO,HOW IS IT SAFE.?
@ANANYA DASH What "unwanted creatures?" You mean the harmless, beneficial insects and arachnids that thrive under healthy natural conditions? Have you never lived in a home with an actual, green yard in your entire life? "Creatures" are a fact of living, or they should be for anyone but a sheltered germophobic nut.
@ANANYA DASH With hundreds of Green Walls installed, we've never had an issue with pests. Please check out website for more information, www.gsky.com.
You know, green walls on existing buildings and 'Bosca Viricale' new construction might just make cities pleasant places to live instead of the sterile, money-grubbing warrens they are now.
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