[Greenbuilding] Living wall

Sun Feb 6 18:56:51 CST 2011

Gennaro might consider Green Living Technologies' living walls.
http://agreenroof.com/walls/wall-mounted-systems/

GLT manufactures panels composed of 6"x4" cells. The cells can be 2", 4" or 6" depth, depending on the type of plant to be grown. A 12" x 24" panel would have 12 cells arranged in two 6" wide columns, with six cells per column. Usually one plant per cell. Ornamental plants need only 2" or 4" depth; vegetables need 6".  

Water drips from the top of the panel down through the column, from one cell to the one below. A living wall can be watered manually with a drip pan at the top and a catch basin at the bottom or, especially with larger walls, through drip irrigation lines.

The cells are packed with a proprietary soil mix which includes beneficial bacteria. Fertilizer is delivered along with irrigation water (fertigation).

Until recently, the largest living wall in the world was the 17 story tall living wall at the PNC bank in Pittsburgh, composed of thousands of GLT panels:
http://agreenroof.com/2010/05/pnc-bank-2/

Students from Steve Ritz' class at Discovery High School installed a living wall at the NBC Experience store on W. 49th St. in Manhattan which is open to the public:
http://agreenroof.com/2010/11/nbc-glt-universal-is-green-nyc-rockefeller-center/

For ornamental plants they make the panels out of aluminum. For food growing they use stainless steel. The panels are manufactured in Detroit. They use recycled materials in their products, I'm not sure the percentage in the aluminum and stainless steel panels.

Robin Osler, of Elmslie Osler (eoarch.com), spoke at a US Green Building salon three years ago about the urban food chain she had designed. GLT living walls were attached to the exterior walls of buildings in Los Angeles' skid row. Shelter residents have been growing tomatoes, strawberries, lettuce, and other food plants in these walls for the past three years.

GLT is the manufacturer. Typically you work with one of their partners who provide as much or as little assistance as needed: design the wall, provide horticultural recommendations (which plants can be grown together, have the same light and water requirements); provide stamped architectural drawings; install; provide maintenance. In the northeast that partner is Parker Plants. If you work with one of their partners, so they know the wall is installed and taken care of properly, they extend the manufacturers' warranty indefinitely -- which might get to the fifty years Gennaro said he was looking for. 

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Today's Topics:

   1. Re: living wall (Gennaro Brooks-Church)
   2. Re: Max Temp Storage Water Heaters+TemperatureSensors
      (Carmine Vasile)
   3. Re: living wall (nick pine)
   4. Re: living wall (Gennaro Brooks-Church)
   5. Re: living wall (Kathy Cochran)

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Message: 1
Date: Sun, 6 Feb 2011 10:48:58 -0500
From: Gennaro Brooks-Church <info at ecobrooklyn.com>
To: Green Building <greenbuilding at lists.bioenergylists.org>
Subject: Re: [Greenbuilding] living wall
Message-ID:
        <AANLkTik9DfVAkZZ_k08sOP=OQD9GyhF-3fH-SjOPkd+g at mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

I'm a huge admirer of Patrick Blank. He is really a pioneer of the art
and has taken it to an international level.
But despite his genius I think his system is completely flawed and
unsustainable.
At the core of his problem is that he uses almost exclusively
non-native plants. He also uses hydroponics instead of soil.
This requires an entirely artificial biosphere that needs constant
energy or else it will die immediately. You need to constantly feed
the plants with nutrient rich water to recreate the fake environment -
this consumes vast amounts of water, chemicals, monitoring and
electricity. It is fine for a luxury hotel but not good for your
average person who wants the plug and play genius of a native
biosphere.

The tweaking I am looking into is native plants, soil and an abundant
supply of gray water. The gray water is supplied by the inhabitants of
the building and if the inhabitants left the wall would probably die.
But this kind of dependency is a natural one that incorporates humans
into their surroundings - our life naturally feeds the plants just
like the plant life feeds us. We become a team player in the
permaculture of the building as it breathes its cycles.

Gennaro Brooks-Church

Cell: 1 347 244 3016 USA
www.EcoBrooklyn.com
22 2nd St; Brooklyn, NY 11231

On Sun, Feb 6, 2011 at 2:37 AM, Steve <steve at greengeek.ca> wrote:
> the Cambie Whole Foods Market in Vancouver (510 West 8th Avenue) has
> an excellent green wall system; it uses plastic trays that hold square
> bags of soil with holes cut for the plant stems, and metal braces to
> hold the bags in place. The system has drip irrigation and as of the
> last time I saw it (November), appeared to be thriving. I don't know
> the manufacturer of the system but it's the best external system I've
> seen, and based on it's simplicity should be cheaper than ELT and
> GSky, and far more robust than the Woolly Pockets. It looked similar
> to the Tournesol product, but that wasn't it.
>
> One of the first living wall systems I ever saw was when I was back in
> school, at U of Guelph's Humber campus.. Alan Darlington of Natureaire
> (now Nedlaw) built a 4 storey living wall in the atrium, and we got to
> watch the wall constructed and then maintained over the following
> year. I considered doing my co-op placement at Natureaire, and
> indicated my interest during one time I spoke with Dr. Darlington, but
> shortly after I signed the lease on an apartment in Toronto and they
> were in Guelph so it didn't work out. Overall a fascinating system,
> but very high maintenance.
>
> For indoor green walls, I'm a big fan of the Patrick Blanc style
> system.. simple and very effective. I don't know if I'd try to put one
> outside though... it can be done, but they don't always fare so well,
> especially in a harsh climate. Might work here in Victoria BC though.
>
> -Steve
> --
> http://www.greengeek.ca
>
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------------------------------

Message: 2
Date: Sun, 6 Feb 2011 12:02:59 -0500
From: Carmine Vasile <gfx-ch at msn.com>
To: GB Forum <greenbuilding at lists.bioenergylists.org>
Subject: Re: [Greenbuilding] Max Temp Storage Water
        Heaters+TemperatureSensors
Message-ID: <SNT144-w508091CD9D95232ED516A79AE80 at phx.gbl>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

Eli: If you are using stream water, make sure the flow-switch will not be fouled or jammed by small debris. Also, with no drainwater heat recovery system -- which everyone on this Forum hates -- you will need approximately 1/3 x 65 = 221/3 kW @ for shower flow rates near 21/4 GPM; half that @ 11/8 GPM.
Carmine

On Feb 2, 2011, at 12:59 PM, elitalking wrote: Can you recommend a brand of electric tankless heater.  I am looking to be able to get 120F.  I could probably make due with less.  This would not allow me to mix cold creek water during draught conditions.  Therefore, I would need to use only cistern water.  The ambient water temp is 55F.  To get to 120, I need a rise of 65F.  I suppose I could slow the flow rate to get a higher temperature.  The normal flow rate is likely around 3 gpm.     Thanks for your input.     Eli    ----- Original Message -----   From:   natural   building   To: Green Building   Sent: Wednesday, February 02, 2011 11:04   AM  Subject: Re: [Greenbuilding] Max Temp   Storage Water Heaters+TemperatureSensors
Eli, this begs the question: if you are already replacing the   water heater, why not get an on-demand electric tankless system that supplies   water to the bathroom only when you want it?  More compact than any tank   so you can put it somewhere convenient and it would eliminate virtually all   the unavoidable standby losses associated with a tank?
  Regards,
                Steve Satow
  www.naturalbuildingsite.net  naturalbuilding at shaw.ca

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Message: 3
Date: Sun, 6 Feb 2011 13:22:27 -0500
From: "nick pine" <nick at early.com>
To: <greenbuilding at lists.bioenergylists.org>
Subject: Re: [Greenbuilding] living wall
Message-ID: <C14132BD52C0402FB8BDF91E2A8D3304 at nickacer>
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1";
        reply-type=original

Gennaro Brooks-Church writes:

> I want a living wall with soil, not a climbing wall with climbers...

How about a hexagonal vertical hairnet made of used tires?

Nick

------------------------------

Message: 4
Date: Sun, 6 Feb 2011 13:56:35 -0500
From: Gennaro Brooks-Church <info at ecobrooklyn.com>
To: Green Building <greenbuilding at lists.bioenergylists.org>
Subject: Re: [Greenbuilding] living wall
Message-ID:
        <AANLkTik1cNwdkvgZFkcqy1nHU3tGoamv3ztZ_4eY2Xps at mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

I've seen those. The problem is that the living wall looks like a
hexagonal vertical hairnet made of used tires, which is a very strong
aesthetic that not everyone likes. And the tire wight adds up really
quickly. The best design I've seen is around the milk crate style,
similar to the Tournesol VGM.
You can source that on your own. Recycled, long lasting, modular and
once filled out the crates can't be seen. Those crates range from one
foot deep to three inches so you can make a vertical landscape of
different depths and root requirements.
But it still raises the question of how to structurally hold the crates.
Gennaro Brooks-Church

Cell: 1 347 244 3016 USA
www.EcoBrooklyn.com
22 2nd St; Brooklyn, NY 11231

On Sun, Feb 6, 2011 at 1:22 PM, nick pine <nick at early.com> wrote:
> Gennaro Brooks-Church writes:
>
>> I want a living wall with soil, not a climbing wall with climbers...
>
> How about a hexagonal vertical hairnet made of used tires?
>
> Nick
>
>
> _______________________________________________
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------------------------------

Message: 5
Date: Sun, 6 Feb 2011 11:23:54 -0800
From: "Kathy Cochran" <kathys_old_house at goldrush.com>
To: "'Green Building'" <greenbuilding at lists.bioenergylists.org>
Subject: Re: [Greenbuilding] living wall
Message-ID: <04e101cbc633$686cbea0$39463be0$@com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

What about rebar and bailing wire through the slightly angled crates  ??
I'd try it but don't know what I could plant in it that the deer wouldn't
eat.  Otherwise, wouldn't it make a fine herb garden ?

Kathy Cochran

San Andreas, California

From: greenbuilding-bounces at lists.bioenergylists.org
[mailto:greenbuilding-bounces at lists.bioenergylists.org] On Behalf Of Gennaro
Brooks-Church
Sent: Sunday, February 06, 2011 10:57 AM
To: Green Building
Subject: Re: [Greenbuilding] living wall

I've seen those. The problem is that the living wall looks like a
hexagonal vertical hairnet made of used tires, which is a very strong
aesthetic that not everyone likes. And the tire wight adds up really
quickly. The best design I've seen is around the milk crate style,
similar to the Tournesol VGM.
You can source that on your own. Recycled, long lasting, modular and
once filled out the crates can't be seen. Those crates range from one
foot deep to three inches so you can make a vertical landscape of
different depths and root requirements.
But it still raises the question of how to structurally hold the crates.
Gennaro Brooks-Church

Cell: 1 347 244 3016 USA
www.EcoBrooklyn.com
22 2nd St; Brooklyn, NY 11231

On Sun, Feb 6, 2011 at 1:22 PM, nick pine <nick at early.com> wrote:
> Gennaro Brooks-Church writes:
>
>> I want a living wall with soil, not a climbing wall with climbers...
>
> How about a hexagonal vertical hairnet made of used tires?
>
> Nick
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Greenbuilding mailing list
> to Send a Message to the list, use the email address
> Greenbuilding at bioenergylists.org
>
> to UNSUBSCRIBE or Change your List Settings use the web page
>
http://lists.bioenergylists.org/mailman/listinfo/greenbuilding_lists.bioener
gylists.org
>

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