i have been very curious about the currently ubiquitous green walls and i stumbled upon this article at archrecord. ok now there are even more reasons for us to be smelling the roses, and growing an urban farm. its really not just about aesthetics.
Musée du Quai Branly in Paris by Jean Nouvel is covered with over 150 species of plants
Basically for GREEN ROOFS there are two types. intensive (accomodate grass, shrubs, small trees, arbors and amenities) and extensive (just grass and smallish plants).
Shallow Assembly (extensive) Diagram 1 Growth media 2 Moisture retention mat 3 Drainage board 4 Protection fabric 5 Membrane (adhered) 6 Dens Deck 7 Approved insulation 8 Substrate
Deep Assembly (Intensive) Diagram 1 Growth media 2 Protection fabric 3 Drainage gravel 4 Protection fabric 5 Root barrier 6 Extruded polystyrene 7 Membrane (adhered) 8 DensDeck 9 Approved insulation 10 Substrate
you can have a hybrid of both types to cater to different parts of the building.
as for GREEN WALLS, the plants are usually held away from the wall to prevent them from damaging the structures.
there are two types of green wall, one of them is the ‘facade greening’ method which refers to the walls that are covered by climbers such as IVY that starts climbing from the ground. Ivy is a self-clinging climbing plant, and it will not damage the wall as long as there aren’t any surface vulnerabilities that the small roots can extend into. it is a pretty inexpensive. there are also twining climbers such as clematis and wisteria which will require additional support as seen on the picture below. steel-anchor and cable systems are taking the place of wooden trellises for this purpose.
metal screen with vines at Finnish Embassy in Washington, D.C.
the second type of green wall is the ‘living wall’ where planted are rooted in a growing medium attached to the wall. the example of the vancouver aquarium used a galvanised steel support structure anchored one inch away from a windowless wall, where no water proofing is needed over the high density concrete. G-SKY green wall panels were placed into the frame.
These 12-inch square polypropylene modules, 3–3/8 inches deep, had been preplanted in a nursery so that, unlike a green facade of climbing plants, this wall was completely green immediately after installation. In the future, individual modules can be easily removed and replaced if necessary.
the vertical garden is irrigated and nourished by an automated drip system fed from the ranwater collected from the roof top. the gravel bed serves to drain off any excess water.
they grew strawberries on the wall so children could eat from it. and the species planted are all selected because they grow in a native habitat with natural conditions similar to that of the aquarium building walls.
