Green Roofs are becoming blase, perhaps, as design moves into living walls. A number of the Solar Decathlon teams have incorporated some form of living wall -- think garden on the walls of the house. These walls help cool the house in the summer (reducing solar gain), water management (reduced storm water runoff as they take water from the roof), and have the potential for helping feed the residents (think tomatoes, grapes, herbs ...).

Teams with living walls include, among others, three "Ms":

• Madrid
• Montreal
• Maryland

The living wall offers a real benefit in rain water mitigation, offering the potential for reducing the burden on storm sewers and, down the line, pollution into water systems. And, the green vegetation provide a cooling effect in summer. And, well, part of the Solar Decathlon is overall environmental impact -- the gardens increase greenery, improving the air.

For these superinsulated buildings, the insulating implications of six inches of soil might not be critical, but think about most buildings in temperate climates, which are unlikely to have R-40 or so in the walls. Thus, an additional factor is the interesting question of backfitting opportunities. Vertical walls could be relatively easy backfits onto many buildings and many homes around the world. And they might offer the potential for significant energy savings along with fresh tomatoes for the dinner table.

Comments (10)

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written by USA homes , October 18, 2007

It looks fantastic! Good solution for preventing houses from heating in summer.

Green Roofs & Walls
written by Bjorn Hanson , October 19, 2007

Check out www.g-sky.com

QuaiBranly's vertical wall
written by Increase PR , October 19, 2007

Look at this:

http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Mur_vegetal_quai_branly.png


It's a museum in Paris:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musée_du_quai_Branly

These would be brilliant sound barriers.
written by James M , October 19, 2007

I think some civil engineers really need to pick up on this. If they incorporated these into the sound barriers that ran between busy highways and city neighborhoods, it would be a beautiful feature that would help clean up the air and cancel out noise quite well. The only thing I would be worried about is mowing sideways!

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written by Lorenzo Rambaldi , October 19, 2007

This is really a good idea, Sometimes simpler ideas are the most effective.
Come to visit our site... www.energyislife.org

Small error
written by Albert , October 22, 2007

Your link for the Montreal house goes to the Maryland house (as does the link for the Maryland house).

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written by G , November 01, 2007

Check out US based Green Living Technologies.....www.agreenroof.com

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written by jigzila , November 06, 2007

the last thing we need is more grass to maintain. Love the idea though. I would love to see this on the inside of building too.

Topiary Joe Living Walls, Living Logos f
written by joe kyte , November 11, 2007

I have been wanting to build 3D horses coming out of downtown walls, have designs for incorporating green gargoyles, corporate logos on rooftops and grow your own tree houses...have a look see!

topiary joe's living logos, living walls
written by joe kyte , November 25, 2007

Here is the site! I am currently building a recycled tire wall all planted with natives to become a backdrop for the new waterfall in our towns' new public garden. That and a planted 12' coffee cup in the front yard to become CupOJoe, a drivethrough planted and fogged Living Sculpture planted with perennials....topiaryjoe.com

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