Living walls or green walls are self sufficient vertical gardens that are attached to the exterior or interior of a building.
The king of vertical garden is french designer Patrick Blanc. Blanc is a French Botanist who has been credited with the idea. He has a long list of building integrated vertical gardens, with the majority located in Paris. His system consists of a steel frame for structural integrity, a waterproof backing material to keep water off of the building, and felt fabric for the plants to adhere and grow into.
Since Blanc started the idea of Living Walls, other companies such as ELT Living Wall Systems have come with their own wall planting systems that allow you to plug plants into individualized compartments. ELT now sells through Smith & Hawken complete with irrigation system.
Here, epiphytes, are stuck into a recessed wall at an installation at the Bardessono Hotel in Yountville, which is a LEED Platinum Certified hotel. Epiphytes, or airplants, attach themselves to objects without need for soil and do not need irrigation, which makes them perfect for such an installation. There is no watering system in place and the plants draw their nutrients and water straight from the air. This fantastic vertical wall was created by Flora Grubb Gardens in San Francisco. Flora Grubb Gardens is also responsible for the framed living wall below, which is like a tiled mosaic of succulents. Built inside of a large and deep frame, the succulents each have their own pocket and are tightly packed in against each other.
Here are my favorites around the globe!
Caixa Form Museum, Madrid.
Brooklyn’s Oulu Bar & Lounge.
Sky Farm, Las Vegas
A proposed $200 million sky farm in the city of Las Vegas would be the world’s first 30-story vertical farm. This building would have 30 floors of indoor farm land, and it is estimated that a vertical farm such as this one could produce enough food to feed 72,000 people per year.
Musee du Quai Branly, Paris, France
This popular French museum near the Eiffel Tower in Paris is home to one of the best examples of vertical garden work by artist Patrick Blanc. The living wall here is about 200 meters long and 12 meters tall. It’s absolutely stunning!
