Just yesterday, I was making the case for bringing more nature into urban environments, to soften the perceived and real effects of density and thus make density more appealing.
Today, I came across maybe the best example I have seen. It is certainly the best I have seen integrated into a vertical wall; this is key in downtown districts, where green space on the ground can be hard to come by.
The project has just been installed at the University of Washington’s College of Built Environments and, with appropriate recognition of the benefits of multi-tasking by city greenery, it is called the “Biodiversity Green Wall, Edible Green Screen & Water Harvesting Demonstration Project.”
Not too good for sound bites, that name, but it certainly is descriptive.
Nancy Rottle of the University’s landscape architecture faculty and associated Green Futures Lab, which designed the project, says it is intended “as a billboard for new sustainable practices, and to discover to what extent green walls and screens can help promote biodiversity, produce food and reduce energy use. By harvesting water to irrigate the green wall, the project will reduce potable consumption and may lessen stormwater impacts.”
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By Kaid Benfield
