Goodbye to a living wall in British Colombia

Thomson Rivers University in British Columbia have a lovely 760 square foot living wall. Well, they had one. It was installed in 2011 sadly, it seems, it's location (near the library and the humidity jeopardizing the books), maintenance cost ($20,000-$30,000/year, which breaks down to $26-$39/square foot per year!!!), and general disinterest (70% of those surveyed wanted it gone) combined to mean it's all over.

Here's the wall in better times...

New protocols for indoor biophilic design

Interior designers are developing new protocols to address design strategies for incorporating green walls and other biophilia into their practices. The American Society of Interior Designers (ASID), led by Randy Fiser, has committed to the protocols through the 2014 Clinton Global Initiative (CGI). Let's see what they come up with!

-An urban farming initiative in Calgary is building an earthship greenhouse to provide year-round produce.

-The company who provided living walls for the 2012 London Olympics is going "into administration". For those in North America who may not be familiar with the process, it's the step before bankruptcy. But it's not bankrupt yet, let's see if they can restructure and pull it out.

Sydney rules living architecture!

Sometimes the stars aline and cool stories from one place hit the web at the same time.

The beautiful picture above is from a decommissioned ship west of Sydney. Living...and floating...architecture! How would the world look if more ships were turned into buoyant gardens... bobbing around in harbours around the world?
-Sydney’s University of Technology is introducing Sydneysiders to living walls with edible plants or as some call them, edible walls. Although that term always strikes me funnily, but maybe that’s the next frontier? Walls that produce food...and that you could eat? Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factoryesque!

-If you're in a horticultural therapy program or just studying on your own, here are some flash cards to help your preparation.


-Los Angeles has upped the ante and is now offering all property owners $2 per square foot (up from $1.50) to rip up their lawns and to plant drought tolerant plants!

-Here’s a story which I thought would’ve gain wider attention. Milwaukee is well-known for its environmental leanings, they are one of a few municipalities with a green roof rebate. So I sympathize with small landowners that bigger ones are getting special treatment...and three times the rebate.

GILA word of the week: Fruit activist

Whether you consider the installation and care of fruit trees as “art”, is another matter, but more fruit trees in the world, especially on city streets, is definitely a good thing.

-Well, that didn’t take long. Several parties are interested in what remains of the Sweet Water Organics facility, including some former employees and local professors and entrepreneurs. Their complete proposal hasn’t been released yet, however it includes a commercial kitchen which can serve the fish and vegetables processed in the adjoining facilities.

-In September I posted a story about an aquaponics operation in Abu Dhabi. The facility was quietly kept under wraps until it was up and running and very little information about the people behind the idea was ever released. This is the first article I have seen which talks about the manager and driving force behind the project, Jabber Al Mazroui. They even have been able to grow watermelon!

-Whenever I give a talk about living walls I reference on of the most well-known examples, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. Now it seems the gardens were never in Babylon, but 300 miles further north in Ninevah.

Europe's Green Infrastructure conference starts May 13

This year's International Green Roof Association (IGRA) will be held in Hamburg, Germany from May 13-15 2013.

Most living architecture professionals have their hands full right now planning and installing. Our first green roof of the year is coming up soon, in preparation for that I was checking out North American native stonecrops and stumbled across a great website. I am doing my best to find an updated website, so far, no dice. But the International Crassulaceae Network would be tremendous find for anyone in the industry. Check out this list of native North and South American sedum species plants; I have never seen anything like this!  

Virtual Living Architecture Summit - 2013 + permaculture conferences

Starting tomorrow, January 9 and continuing through February 8 greenroofs.com is hosting the 2013 virtual summit. Check it out if you have time!

Also starting tomorrow is a permaculture conference at Oregon State University. This one lasts even longer...until March 22, 2013.

Often folks interested in permaculture feel more comfortable with college/university based permaculture offerings, which is totally understandable. Here are a few more if the Oregon State dates don't work for you:

California State University - Stanislaus
Indiana University - Bloomington
University of Massachusetts - Amherst

Green roofs set to get a big boost in DC...8 years from now?

-Washington DC is grappling with how to deal with its stormwater and is considering expanding its popular green roof program to help with some other green infrastructure technologies as well.

Several questions are raised by the article, for instance, what has the District been doing over the last 8 years since they were sued by the federal government to put these stormwater drains in place? And do they really need another 8 years to experiment with the various green technologies before backing them completely?

-In Victoria, Australia a local advocate is imploring green infrastructure enthusiasts to use a local policy to fund their projects. If you follow his lead, you have up to $10,000,000 at your disposal for either green roofs or green walls!

-More great ideas for how everyone can enjoy local, organic foods. A few months ago I featured a forward thinking community gardener who accepted any form of payment, including SNAP benefits (food stamps). Another organization has taken it a step further. With the Double Value Coupon Program you can use SNAP benefits at over 400 different markets across the USA.

-A couple of weeks ago I wrote a bit about the new and the first true vertical farm in Sinagpore. Here's a more in depth article about how it came to be and what their designs are for the future.

Happy Friday!!!
 

2012 Urban Agriculture Summit starts tomorrow + Green Roof Research Summit Aug 16 -17

One day left to sign up for the Urban Agriculture Summit in Toronto. I guess, technically, you could sign in the day of, but I would advise you to beat the rush...word is this is going to be packed!

If you would prefer some more technical green roof talk, hosted by the University of Maryland is the first (annual) mid-Atlantic green roof science and technology symposium. A number of respected green roof researchers will be there from North America, Europe and Australasia.

London's green walls

It seems natural to do some more posts related to green infrastructure and the Olympics, after all, it is the Olympics! How about taking a look at some of the green walls in London that you could see if you're there right now. Let's start with the most recent addition:

-The one above can be viewed close to the Eurostar Terminal. The creators of the wall, Biotecture, are one of the go to firms in England.  

-The Athenaeum Hotel's green wall, eight stories tall, is a Patrick Blanc project. There were more dramatic pictures to choose from and you can have a look at the hotel's website, but this one I was drawn to from a technical point of view, as you can see the wall looks somewhat sparse up close. Most green walls have the plants really packed in, there is no "dead space" to play with. But as you can see having plant upon plant is not necessary to create something absolutely beautiful.

-This one is for the people. Near the Westfield Shopping Centre, this 2010 green wall is still going strong. Of note, check out the irrigation requirements. 3 Liters of water per square meter every two days, for comparison the top picture requires about 2 liters per square meter per day. 

-The London Westminster hotel, formerly the Mint Hotel, had their green wall installed in 2011. It's currently the tallest in London, snatching the title from the Athenaeum. And a lot bigger too, more than 10 times the size.

-No list would be complete without London's National Gallery living interpretation of Van Gogh's "A Wheatfield, with Cypresses".

There are plenty more around London, when you're not taking in the Games or sights (if you are there post Games), see how many you can find. 

verticiel has a new website!!!

It has taken some time. No, actually, a really loooooong time, but our new website is done.

Comments are welcome, what do you think?

New Jersey says "yes" to green roof incentives; Sydney says "maybe"

Some great green roof news in the last few days. We can now add New Jersey to the list of North American cities (soon to be) offering incentives for green roof installations. 

Sydney, Australia is also considering adopting various green roof and green wall incentives. Fun fact of the day, although just a city, Sydney has a population 1/2 the size of New Jersey in 1/900th of the space!

-In other green infrastructure news, Pittsburgh will be making a deep investment in their tree canopy. Hurray!!! 

-Last year I wondered what the hold up in Detroit was for the Hantz urban agriculture project. After years of waiting Hantz may finally get approval from the city, but this article describes some of the reasons for opposition to the farm. Does this seem familiar, Fort Lauderdale?

India's great green wall

-In downstate and upstate New York there are a few new opportunities for interns and PhDs alike in food systems and stormwater management.

-A new living wall product has hit the web. Good luck to these folks, they have exceeded their own expectations 5 fold!

-Exactly a year ago we read about plans for a great Green Wall across the Sahara to stop desertification. It appears to have hit some snags, but India seems to want to give it a go.

The lexicon of living architecture : The Vertical Street

-A company in Australia has proposed a vertical city. First time that I've heard that term, let's see where it pops up next. Hey, this could be a game. I'll call it "follow the meme". Or perhaps "follow the fad". "Track the trend"? Okay...I'll seriously stop.

-Haven't seen too many master's thesis on green roofs, so we should consider ourselves lucky to learn so much about the Plateau Mont Royal green roof in Montreal. A 91% decrease in air condition requirements? Wow.

-Did anyone else catch the "bad" and the "good" living wall discussions at Treehugger?

-Is there a land grab going on in Africa? I only know a little about PR, but claiming that your company pays "40% higher than the minimum wage in Mozambique", still might mean that you're getting away with highway robbery. What's more minimum wage in Mozambique apparently varies...greatly.

-Finally, Beirut is getting it's first green roof.

Radio replay

Oops, last week I forgot to post that verticiel Inc. dropped by the Green Majority radio program (CIUT 89.5 FM) February 12 to talk about green roofs, living architecture and Toronto's new Green Roof Bylaw. Listen to the podcast, and tell us what you think!

A few things...

Fantastic article which shows (and images!) which shows how various greening measures can be added to buildings. My particular favorite is the last image, showing how all the technologies discussed, and a few others everyone is familiar with, can be applied.

Speaking of retrofit, anyone know where to get updates of Dockside Green building in Vancouver? I think they still have 6 years until it's done.

Once upon a time I heard that the province of Prince Edward Island had no building codes. I couldn't believe it, but never verified Came across this article from last fall, it looks like PEI hasn't adopted province wide codes, which mean in some places the codes could be very lax. Maybe non-existent? This still isn't confirmation, I'll keep diggin' because I like to dig.
Oh, and Pittsburgh is greening their code as well.

Can artists take techniques from sustainable food production and apply that to art production?”

And the winner of today's "most misleading green story headline designed to get press" award goes to the University of California, Irvine for releasing this:
"Urban 'green' spaces may contribute to global warming, UCI study finds". Truly stunned, it was the first thing I read.
The second line reads "Turfgrass management creates more greenhouse gas than plants remove from atmosphere". Ya don't say? Lawns, not such a good thing? Management of lawns even worse? However this part is vital:
"... greenhouse gas emissions from fertilizer production, mowing, leaf blowing and other lawn management practices are four times greater than the amount of carbon stored by ornamental grass in parks, a UC Irvine study shows. These emissions include nitrous oxide released from soil after fertilization. Nitrous oxide is a greenhouse gas that's 300 times more powerful than carbon dioxide, the Earth's most problematic climate warmer."

The rest of it, oy.