Living walls, also known as green walls, vertical planting systems, vertical gardens, plant walls or vegetated walls have been successfully adding value and beauty to interiors around the world for many years. While some date back to the 1970’s and are still beautifying their interior spaces today, advances in living wall installation systems design, engineering, and plant hybrids have made them easier than ever to install and maintain.
Benefits of Living Walls
Living Walls are a perfect example of how plants can be featured as works of art unto themselves. These walls can be used as a focal point, and larger walls are often found in building lobbies, atriums, and reception areas. Plants with different colors and textures of foliage can be woven into clever designs, such as a corporation’s logo or an aerial view of the surrounding area. Blooming plants can also be included in certain systems to add seasonal interest and color. As the plants grow and change, a green wall takes on a life of its own, become a living, changing piece of art.
Studies show that plants naturally reduce our stress and make us feel more at ease in our surroundings, and appeal to our innate biophilic senses.
For patients in a healthcare facility a green view is critical for positive health outcomes. When surrounded by foliage and nature, patients typically respond better to treatments, shorter hospital stays, and recover faster with less complaints and medication. Many primary healthcare staff members are drawn to indoor spaces with living walls in hospitals, clinics, retirement residences, and long-term care facilities as a means of achieving a restorative escape from the stress of their jobs.
Living walls also contribute to our overall wellbeing, which affects our mood, health, and productivity. Positive moods created by wellbeing are associated with:
· Enhanced learning and more efficient decision-making on complex tasks.
· Greater use of logical reasoning techniques in problem solving.
· Higher benefits for all parties, and more innovative approaches in negotiating.
· A more focused attention which leads people to see things differently, to notice more details, and search more broadly for solutions and alternative interpretations.
Dr. Roger S. Ulrich, Ph.D. has done extensive research on the benefits of indoor plants for health care patients and staff. He found that simply looking at environments dominated by green plants, flowers and/or water significantly promoted recovery and reduced stress in patients, and only a few minutes were needed to produce this effect and promote restoration. He found that views of plants elevated positive feelings such as pleasantness and calmness and reduced negative feelings such as fear, anger, and sadness. Blood pressure, heart activity, muscle tension and brain activity could all improved by viewing plants. In addition, recovery from stress was much faster or more complete when individuals were exposed to natural settings.
Living walls naturally filter indoor air through the absorption of carbon dioxides and volatile organic compounds. There have been many studies which prove that plants and the microbes found in soil media absorb harmful VOC’s and convert them into compound which plants use for food. This leads to fewer health complaints such as headaches and respiratory irritations, as well as increases in focus and attention. This process is significantly enhanced with bio-filtration living walls that integrate the wall into the vicinity of HVAC system air intakes.
Common areas utilizing plants, such as green walls, create spaces for employees to work together in collaborative groups. As shown, the presence of interior plants can increase productivity and inspire creativity amongst employees.
Plants naturally absorb sound and soften noise pollution. Many of our home and workplace stress levels are affected by noise. Living walls form excellent noise barriers which soften ambient acoustics to emulate our natural environment.
One of the benefits of interior plants is that they help cool & warm the air around them through the process of evapotranspiration - the movement of water from the soil, through the plant and into the atmosphere. Large interior living walls are also very good at moderating temperature in urban indoor spaces and reducing the heat island effect by cooling indoor temperatures.
Living walls add interest to any space by adding a unique environmentally friendly design element and providing a strong visual support of corporate green strategies. Studies have shown that a company’s building may be viewed as a symbol of its environmental and social performance and may be an attraction for job candidates.
Moreover, living walls become by default the main focal point in reception areas, entrances, and lobbies, providing a perfect opportunity to display corporate logos and associate the your brand with smart environmental stewardship.
Space-Saving
LivePicture living wall systems are stylish, space-saving solution to include plants in any interior environment and require minimal maintenance. Rooms with limited space for plant pots will benefit from the installation of LivePictures on even the smallest wall areas.
Cassettes
The cassettes are made of breathable Expanded Polypropylene (EPP) material on the front side, Polypropylene (PP) on the backside. The cassette is fitted with microfibre textile with capillary action consisting of 80% polyester and 20% polyamide. Cassettes can be replanted many times over whenever a living wall is due for a fresh new design.
Frame
The frame of the LivePicture is made of powder coated steel and is fully recyclable.
Tank
The tank within the LivePicture is made of polyvinylchloride (PVC) and is fully recyclable.
Planting
The plants used in the pre-cultivated cassettes in LivePictures are grown in Aquatopia’s greenhouses in order to fully establish root systems before they are delivered and installed on site. They are selected to match their intended growing environment, and create an aesthetically pleasing, biodiverse display.
LivePicture Frames
LivePictures hang like picture frames on any indoor wall surface, and embody innovation, design, and landscaping to deliver stunning biophilic effects. The frame includes an integrated watering system with reservoir to ensure that the plants are provided with water for four to six weeks. The innovative patented construction requires no electrical connection, no plumbing, and no drainage. LivePicture living wall systems can be easily and quickly mounted on any wall using just a few screws and they can even be moved around to suit changing workplace space allocation needs.
Modular Green Wall System
The LivePanel living wall system transforms bare walls into warm vibrant displays, instantly. Just like the LivePicture living wall system, LivePanels use the same planting cassettes, but with the added benefits of full size customization and optional automated irrigation. Each row of plant cassettes is placed in a gutter profile that also serves as a water reservoir which can be topped up manually or by using an optional automated irrigation & fertigation system. The plants absorb water from the reservoir by means of capillary action only as needed, thereby preventing insect and disease problems caused by overwatering.
Vertical Green Design Freedom
LivePanel allows interiorscape professionals complete freedom when designing green walls. The system can be installed against both new and existing spaces, and it is light enough to even be installed on non-load bearing walls! LivePanel living wall systems blend seamlessly with any interior design with an unlimited choice of trim options. LivePanel systems provide all of the biophilic benefits of large-scale custom-built living walls, but at a fraction of the cost, and complete design flexibility.
Gutter Profiles & Mounting Materials
The extruded 6063-T5 aluminum gutter profiles are anodized with a durable black finish for optimal corrosion resistance. The profiles are provided with end and transit caps & hose tails made of fiberglass polyamide, with durable EPDM rubber seals. Stainless steel mounting hardware is used to mount the LivePanel living wall system directly to wall surfaces.
Planting
Just like Live Picture living walls, plants used in the pre-cultivated cassettes for LivePanels are grown in Aquatopia’s greenhouses in order to fully establish root systems before they are delivered and installed on site. They are selected match their intended growing environment, and create an aesthetically pleasing, biodiverse display.
LivePanel Living Walls
The patented LivePanel living wall system is a unique and innovative technology that is perfectly suited for buildings where small to mid-sized green walls form part of the interior architecture & design.
Changing The Living Wall Status Quo
Highly engineered, complex hydroponic systems typically found in many public spaces depend on plants being installed in a soilless medium with a constant flow of chemically infused water flooding the root systems. This can lead to a variety of insect and disease issues since many tropical plants cannot tolerate constant irrigation.
Nearly all tropical plants rely on a balanced ecosystem to flourish, which includes well drained soils in order to stimulate a diverse microbiome. The complex set of technical components required for hydroponic living walls is vulnerable to failure which can lead to large-scale plant dieback, disease issues, and insect infestations. Moreover, the power required to operate water pumps, sensors, injectors, and controls, combined with the constant monitoring of water pH, TDS, and nutrient levels, requires specialized knowledge, adding considerable costs to the ongoing operation and maintenance.
In summary, these systems are very expensive and rarely meet client expectations.
A Better Living Wall
Aquatopia has achieved better plant growth outcomes using soil-based living wall systems, which emulate nature and create a more balanced microbiome.
The patented Gro-Wall™ Vertical Garden System is a self-supporting matrix of durable, eco-friendly, polyethylene modules made from recycled battery casings, and mounted directly to the wall surface using stainless steel hardware. Each module holds an engineered planting tray which can accommodate 6.5 litres of soil media, perfect for flourishing plant growth. Each tray features a secure locking mechanism and a built-in water reservoir to drain excess water. The trays allow for last minute design changes, individual plant maintenance, and easy access to irrigation components.
Gro-Walls™ also provide targeted drip irrigation of individual plants, with optional automation and fertigation controls which maximize water efficiency and preventing overwatering. Plants can be grown in planting trays to full size in advance, creating a fully established foliage display on the day of installation. Removal of individual plants can be achieved in seconds, allowing for full creative and maintenance control of the living wall feature. This is especially useful for dividing and repotting plant material as it grows and allows for easy regular cleaning and inspection of surfaces & system components behind the foliage.
Gro-Wall™ Vertical
Garden Systems
Gro-Wall™ Vertical Garden systems facilitate installation of medium and large-scale vertical gardens where individual plant access and irrigation are critical. These are ideally suited for multi-story features in large atriums and indoor courtyards.
