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The story behind One Central Park starts with two artists who shared the same vision; architect Jean Nouvel, and French artist and botanist Patrick Blanc. One Central Park offered Nouvel and Blanc a canvas of an entirely new scale. Here they built an integrated experience for living in harmony with the natural world – That’s where we came in!
We were lucky enough to be able to showcase a huge number of The Container Connection’s Greenwalls in this design, which was achieved by building thousands of low profile troughs into the great structure you see today. These were made to incredibly high architectural standards, in order to withstand the elements and to fit in with all of the other engineering required in a high rise sustainable building such as One Central Park in Sydney. The image attached is a view of the pop up external terraces that have our purpose built low profile planters and are working incredibly well.
“Landscape is architecture,” declares Nouvel. “Here we have created a continuity so the façades extend the park into the sky”
The latest report to Interior Plantscape Association from Plants and Urban Air Quality Group, School of Life Sciences, University of Technology Sydney (UTS), titled ‘Towards Development of Indoor Plant Walls for Improved Indoor Air Quality’ has been released. This study, although preliminary, contributes to the baseline scientific information needed for the development of indoor plant-walls and other living-green installations.
Carbon Dioxide Reductions
Excess CO₂ causes drowsiness with levels in higher concentrations indoors, mainly from occupants’ breathing but also from any non-flued gas appliances.The study found that plant walls have the ability to reduce Co2 levels from 13 percent up to 23 percent, when provided with adequate lighting, therefore having significant benefits to the health, wellbeing and productivity of occupants.
Airborne Particulate Matter Reduced
The study also suggests there was a trend towards reductions of extremely fine airborne particulate matter (PM) in urban areas, including inside commercial or other buildings. PM is emitted from fossil fuel combustion, which mixes with natural dust etc, causing city haze. These ultra fine particles are known to be a serious health hazard. Lung and cardiovascular disease, and well as the increasing incidence of autism, have been linked in particular with levels of airborne particulate matter.
Importance of Findings
With 80% of the Australian population living in urban areas and spending about 90% of our time indoors, the ability of plant walls to reduce levels of all types of indoor air pollutants has significant advantages. The use of any living-green installations to refresh indoor air in air-conditioned city buildings could also reduce the energy load on the building, and its footprint, contributing to the goal of urban sustainability.
“This study is important since it reinforces previous studies demonstrating the benefits of indoor plants and gives us a clear direction for future research,” Prof. Margaret Burchett from UTS Plants and Urban Air Quality Group said.“It is clear that investing in indoor greenery and plant walls more than repay the costs in terms of occupant well-being and performance so investigating the most effective methods of incorporating plant walls makes sense.”
The Interior Plantscape Association and UTS would like to thank the previous New Zealand Association PAWA (Plants At Work Association) for funding this Indoor Plant Walls project and Mr Jock Gammon, Junglefy Pty, Ltd., for providing access to the plant-wall installations studied.
For further information please contact Prof. Margaret Burchett from the research team at the Plants and Urban Air Quality Group School of Life Sciences, University of Technology Sydney, Margaret.burchett@uts.edu.auNerida Hills, Interior Plantscape Association President thepresident@interiorplantscape.asn.au or visit ipa.asn.au
Leersum, 6 June 2016 – The front wall of recently opened European distribution centre in the Belgian community of Laakdal, from world’s largest manufacturer of sports shoes, is growing the largest green wall of Europe. The green wall surface consists of just under 100,000 plants spanning over 2,000 m2. The applied green wall system, LivePanel, consists of a carefully selected range of plants, including Alchemilla, Bergenia, Campanula, Geranium and Nepeta. The innovative new building of the leading sports brand is powered by fully renewable energy from solar panels, wind turbines and a geothermal system.
Saving water
BSI Bomenservice, based in Baarn, is responsible for installation and maintenance. The giant planted wall is equipped with an integrated irrigation system, permanently distributing enough moisture and plant food. “The client required a sustainable green wall with minimum water consumption. After an extensive selection process of available systems, we chose Mobilane’s LivePanel in consultation with the architects. The minimal water consumption, the relatively low weight and the proven performance of the green wall system in combination with the excellent quality/price ratio were the key factors,” say Mobilane and BSI Bomenservice.
Innovative
The plant wall consists of Mobilane’s modular LivePanel system. Mobilane is a supplier of innovative green systems. The green wall is not soil-bound and contains a total of 11,000 exchangeable plant cassettes. Each row of cassettes is placed in an aluminium duct profile which also serves as a water reservoir. The plants in the cassettes are automatically watered by an innovative capillary irrigation system operated by wall sensors. The innovative system requires little maintenance, is leak-free and not susceptible to breakdowns. Once disassembled, the living wall can be recycled in full.
Exclusive to TCC in Australia and New Zealand.