Living greenwalls, sometimes known as vertical gardens or plant walls, are a fantastic way to bring more greenery into urban environments. Considered to be a leader in biophilic design, living walls offer many visual benefits to any indoor or outdoor structure.
What are living walls?
A living wall is a vertical garden where plants are rooted into a structure that is then attached to a wall. They are a fantastic way to introduce plenty of greenery into many buildings that otherwise do not have green spaces.
Living green walls don’t just have visual appeal, they also help with improving air quality, reduce ambient temperatures and noise levels and make people happier.
Benefits of living greenwall systems
There are plenty of benefits of living green walls, below we look at some of the best ones.
Living greenwalls purify the air
The plants in green walls can help to reduce the amount of poor air quality in a building as they naturally convert CO2 into oxygen-rich air.
Studies have shown that just one meter square of a living wall can help to reduce over 2kg of CO2 each year – an impressive statistic!
Living Greenwalls boost well being
Humans crave nature. It helps to calm us and restore our balance. By consciously bringing the outdoor in or by upgrading concrete jungles with plenty of beautiful green plants, we subconsciously connect with the natural world and this boosts our well-being and makes us happy.
Living Greenwalls reduce stress and boost productivity
It doesn’t matter if you’re working from home or in a corporate environment, productivity is key for any business and one of the best ways to boost productivity in the workplace is by creating a green environment.
Offices that have plenty of greenery in their surrounding environment help people to perform complex tasks. In fact, a study by researchers in the Nordics found that people who performed more complex tasks in a green environment were twice as likely to get things done quicker and better than those who were surrounded by concrete walls.
The reason these people performed higher was that they were able to give their minds a rest by looking at plants, which restored their ability to focus.
In addition, when you work in a green environment it also helps to reduce blood pressure, muscle tension and headaches as plants help to stimulate relaxation – bonus!
To put it simply, plants have a huge effect on employee satisfaction.
Living Greenwalls reduce the ambient temperature
Vertical gardens can offer much more than being a focal point, they can also help to reduce energy costs too. When you install an outdoor living wall, it helps to reduce surface temperatures by absorbing and reflecting light, therefore, reducing air conditioning costs in the summer and saving emissions in the process.
Living Green walls reduce noise levels
As well as helping you with your energy savings, living walls can also help to reduce ambient noise. Think about it – have you ever been in a room of people chatting away and found it hard to hear yourself think? That’s often because of the surfaces around you. Sounds have a much harder time bouncing off plants than off hard surfaces such as walls and floors.
Studies have shown that installing a green wall, acts like a sound barrier and can reduce noises by up to 10 decibels!
Living Green walls mean less vandalism
That’s right, working or living in a green environment brings people together. Studies have shown that small-scale greenery has a positive effect on how well people get on in their neighbourhoods.
Green walls help to enhance biodiversity
Green walls can be designed to help insect and animal life thrive, something that is incredibly important for urban areas where the majority of greenery has been taken away in favour of high-rise buildings.
Living Walls can help with food production
Living walls are perfect for many small gardens in densely populated areas as they can help to bring life to an otherwise unused space. They can be planted with fruits, vegetables and herbs as well as plants to help transform your outdoor area.
Living walls can transform a space
While many office environments do have windows which allow you to look outside, sometimes what’s out of the window is uninspiring.
Installing a living wall can help to transform an office space by bringing the outside in. This can help to enhance employee satisfaction, especially if the office is in a built-up environment with little surrounding natural beauty.
Find out more about biophilic design
A living wall adds value to your property
Another key benefit of a living wall is that it can add significant value to your property. This is because they make the building surface stand out and help to reduce energy costs. Two factors are incredibly important to potential buyers.
A living wall improves your brand’s reputation
As well as all the other benefits of living green walls, they can also help to improve your brand’s reputation.
When clients and prospective hires visit your workplace, you want them to leave with a fantastic first impression and one thing that can help with that is a living green wall.
Living walls help to create an inviting environment and help your brand appear environmentally conscious, which is what many consumers and clients want today.