Eco-friendly architectural designs are both beneficial to the community and the environment as well as socially responsible. If you are looking to incorporate an eco-friendly design into your office, consider a living green wall, which has numerous benefits. As we run out of green space in cities across the nation, living green walls can transform an urban space into something beautifully natural.
What is a Living Wall?
A living wall, more commonly known as a green wall or even as a vertical garden, is a wall that is either partially or completely covered with vegetation. These sustainable walls are the hottest trend in green design, but they are not a new concept. The concept of living green walls dates back to the 1930s and have been now gaining attention from businesses of all sizes looking to improve their eco-friendly status. These beautiful structures are made of panels of plants and use hydroponics (growing plants without soil) to grow inside or outside of buildings. Though they do differ from plants like ivy since they are intricately planned and placed in a structure away from the building.
Benefits of Living Walls: Sustainable Building Designs
Aside from being aesthetically-pleasing, there are numerous other benefits of having a sustainable building design with a living wall. These benefits include:
● Improved Indoor Air Quality The average person spends over 90% of their time indoors. During this time, people are exposed to numerous indoor air pollution such as carbon monoxide, formaldehyde, benzene and countless other toxic fumes. Luckily, all plants absorb and clean air pollutants. While having a single plant can help clean a small amount of air, having a living wall allows for hundreds of plants to clean the air in a safe and environmentally-friendly way. All plants take in carbon dioxide and release oxygen, which helps keep people awake and alert. A living wall is a space-efficient (and caffeine-free) way to improve employee productivity in your office!
● Energy Savings Living walls can help keep your building cool in the summer and warm in the winter. Studies have shown that the surface of an exterior living wall can be up to 10oC cooler than that of an exposed wall, meaning that less heat is radiated into the building (though in the winter, an exterior living wall can act as an additional barrier to keeping the cold out). For interior walls, the plants can help cool the building as each individual plant goes through a process known as transpiration, where they cool their surrounding environment ever so slightly. This effect is magnified with a living wall, and some studies have found that interior green walls have helped cut electricity bills by up to 20%!
● Health & Wellness As mentioned, increased oxygen from plants helps keep people awake and alert. However, living walls provide several health and wellness benefits that can improve more than just worker productivity. Studies have found that people who are exposed to plants (versus those who are not in the same room as a plant) are more productive, less stressed and leave feeling more awake. Plants also help to increase focus, which can lead to an increase in productivity, creativity, problem solving capability and more.
● LEED Credits LEED, or Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, is a nationally recognized green building certification system. The addition of a living wall to a building can give you extra “points” towards how “green” your building is, and may even take you from being LEED Certified to a higher level of certification!
Go Green with KMB
KMB looks to incorporate numerous “green” aspects to every project, and a living wall is no exception. With numerous health, environmental, energy, and cost benefits, a living wall is a great sustainable option for your building. We believe in the value of providing eco-friendly benefits to the community and environment. Contact us today to learn more!