Green facades Green facades give not only the building or wall an exciting new look but another great opportunity to create green areas. A positive thing is that the green facades can be adjusted to the precise situation that is on site. Environmental benefits: - Reduced temperatures and has a positive impact on reducing heat islands - Good for biodiversity, since the opportunity of incorporating different plants is high - Improved value of the property - Plants improves the air quality - The facades also benefits the tenants and other who visits the specific place There are some aspects however that must be considered. Let us start from the bottom. Plantbed The plantbed has to have the right soil volume for the roots of the plants to be able to grow in. Most times the soil volume is lower than necessary, and a drip irrigation must added. It does not cost much, and it can help your facade to survive and look its best. So why not add it directly?! The plants should be decided based on how you want the façade to look like. You should think practical and aesthetic. -Practical – which latitude is the facade situated in, how deep is the soil volume? How long will the plants become? Will they “climb” on the wires or are they self-adhesive? How long wires are we working with? -Aesthetic- Which approach should the facade give? Which plants grow in the winter/summer; can I combine them? Will the wires be covered all the way up? Material The material of the wall is essential to know since the attachments must be adapted to the specific situation. It is important that they are stabile because when the plants have “climbed” up the wires they exposed to the power of the wind. Placement The placement of the wires is important to consider as well, how much space should be between them? We always recommend that the distance between the wires should be ca. 600mm. The wires ought to not be placed to close to windows, and we do not recommend attaching the wires horizontally. In both cases it means extra maintenance to cut and direct the plants. The horizontal version is not a natural way of growing for the plants. Even if there are circumstances to take into account it is an easy way to transform a simple facade to a living wall, that benefits the environment and the people. One more thing to consider is that nowadays we have many “normal” simple walls, which means that not much transformation needs to be done to create a whole new beneficial look! What are your thoughts?