What’s up with Green Walls?

Green walls are sometimes more than walls made from recycled content or a more sustainable material. The kind of "green" that I mean here is a wall covered with greenery, aka plant life.

Green roofs have been around for a few decades, but green walls are a newer invention. Systems for green walls incorporate irrigation, a growing medium for living plants and are oftentimes made in stainless steal containers.

Green walls are an attractive option for outdoors as well as inside. I'm particularly fascinated with indoor applications.

Green Walls are Good Feng Shui

An ingenious solution: One of my feng shui teachers, R.D.Chin, recommended a green wall to a corporate client that had office space in a tower. The green wall was meant to "ground" the employees by connecting them to the natural world.

By incorporating greenery to an office space in this manner creates the unexpected. Employees benefit from better quality indoor air (oxygen and moisture production), as well as potential water re-use (some systems filter gray-water for re-use elsewhere in the building). For these reasons, green walls are sometimes used for managing sick building syndrome. (The World Health Organization reports that roughly one-third of all new and remodeled office and residential buildings are linked to sick building syndrome. Most illnesses are linked to poor indoor air quality.)

In addition, plants improve the work experience by contributing to greater productivity and well-being.

Photo credits: GSky Plant Systems