Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

Green Wall Stands Out

  • 03/01/17
green wall

The green wall on the front of the Culinary and Allied Health building demonstrates KVCC’s commitment to sustainability in a seamless and aesthetically pleasing way.

Green walls transform ordinary wall surfaces into vertical gardens. That transformation from commonplace wall into vertical landscape adds a living element to a building. Green walls are visually appealing, inviting and inspiring, and beneficial to the environment. For example, green wall plants release water vapor that cools the air, helping naturally cool the buildings on which they are installed.

Many green wall installations are still retrofits on existing buildings. However, it has become increasingly common for new construction to be designed from the start with a green wall as an integral architectural feature of a building.

This was the case with the green wall on the front, east-facing façade of the Culinary and Allied Health Building on the Bronson Healthy Living Campus of Kalamazoo Community College (KVCC) in Michigan. “The green wall is not an appendage to the building but an essential element,” says Mike Collins, executive vice president, enrollment and campus operations, KVCC.

The building was designed with a green wall that stands out as a signature statement of commitment to sustainability while fitting seamlessly into the building and its surrounding landscape. Set within a two-foot-deep niche designed into the façade as a recessed frame, the green wall is surrounded by windows on three sides. The windows outline the green wall with light. Their green and blue glass colors symbolize earth and sky to express the building’s design theme.

The 324-square-foot green wall extends the three-story height of the building. Constructed with the LiveWall system from LiveWall, LLC (Spring Lake, MI), the KVCC installation features 30 8-inch and 255 16-inch LiveWall planter modules. The modular LiveWall system was selected because it is engineered with consideration to both the structural and horticultural elements of a green wall.

www.livewall.com

This article originally appeared in the issue of .

Featured

  • California K–12 District Finishes Renovations on Multi-Sport Stadium

    The Alameda Unified School District (AUSD) in Alameda, Calif., recently announced the completion of a renovation project on the Encinal Jr. & Sr. High School stadium, according to a news release. The district partnered with Quattrocchi Kwok Architects (QKA) and Bothman Construction on the facility, and funding came from Bond Measure B.

  • Chartwells Launches Campus Dining Evaluation Framework

    Contract food-service management provider Chartwells Higher Education recently announced the launch of BLUEPRINT, according to a news release. The evaluation framework was designed to provide a data-driven and customizable roadmap towards optimizing campus dining services and, by extension, the student experience.

  • Deferred Maintenance Issues Growing at Universities, Gordian Reports

    U.S. colleges and universities are falling increasingly behind on facilities maintenance and repair, according to Gordian’s 13th annual State of Facilities in Higher Education report. The deferred capital renewal burden has reached $156 per gross square foot, an 8% increase over the previous year.

  • South Carolina District Starts Construction on $50M Middle School Renovation

    The Aiken County Public School District in North Augusta, S.C., recently held a groundbreaking ceremony for the $50-million renovation and expansion of North Augusta Middle School, according to a news release. The project’s funding comes from the 2024 renewal of a one-cent sales tax approved by local voters.