William Lee - Eco-Systems

The second of my graduate projects was finding a way to apply the sleekness of contemporary architecture with living wall system. Many walls in our towns and cities can be viewed as blank, featureless canvases that could provide excellent opportunities to create living designs. This was the inspiration that led me to develop an exterior tile cladding system, which controls and manipulates plant growth as a medium to create pattern. The tiles, which sit on top of existing living wall systems, aims to create visual harmony by allowing vegetation to better integrate into the urban environment.

Green or living walls are essentially vertical structures that are covered with vegetation. Patrick Blanc is arguably the founder of modern vertical gardens and credited with capturing the publics imagination in the 1990’s. Often living walls look effective from afar but up-close do not look sleek or well finished, my cladding aims to combine the look of contemporary architecture when creating green walls.

The ever-increasing government and local authority recognitions of findings, and with credible case studies from cities all over the world to the benefits on green walls, this is an area that has huge demand for design to re-address how the built environment can be better integrated into the natural environment through the use of building-intergraded vegetation. For more information and to look at other projects check out my my website.

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Green/Living walls - Patrick Blanc

We are living in an increasingly industrial world, since 1750 (the start of the industrial revolution) there has been a conflict of interest between our urban and rural spaces. With the transition away from agricultural-based industries towards machine-based manufacturing, came an influx of population from the countryside into towns and cities, which swelled in population. Nowadays, problems of the early-industrialised cities have become a thing of the past, however the modern city dweller is still living in places that may have a detrimental affect on their health.

A report by the ACS journal Environmental Science & Technology, found that concentrations of nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) and microscopic particulate matter (PM), both of which can be harmful to human health, exceed safe levels on the streets of many cities. Past research suggested that trees and other green plants could improve urban air quality by removing those pollutants from the air. The study concluded that careful placement of grass, climbing ivy and other plants can reduce the concentration at street level of NO₂ by as much as 40 percent and PM by 60 percent.

The popularity in ‘green/living wall’ is growing steadily, greater concerns about our environment and habitat loss has made artist and designers to reconsider the role plants can play within the design process. Using plants as a medium can often be unpredictable and hard to manage, however Patrick Blanc is a true master of manipulation nature, into ore-inspiring masterpieces. He has pioneered and developed the systems that allow for green walls to work so successfully. With sweeping green foliage his projects transform buildings into lungs of the city.

Not only do living walls bring beauty back into the urban environment but they also provide additional benefits. Living walls help to reduce traffic noise and temperature. They help to improve air quality by reducing dust and particulates and help to reduce the amount of heat lost from a home. Another significant benefit is the increase in biodiversity, along with aid for food and shelter for wildlife. The importance of which can be see in the projects to bring bees to urban locations. Along with this living walls may have a positive impact on both physical and mental health and wellbeing.