Vertical gardens, vertical walls, green facades

No other project that combines building and nature, has such a visual impact that a vertical garden, or how French people say, a green wall. With a great diversity of colours and dozens of plant species, vertical gardens are real landscape artworks.

They can have different sizes and we can meet them in the most unexpected locations all over the world. Their popularity has grown in recent years: 80% of them were built after 2007 and 93% after 2009.
This system was invented by professor Stanley Hart White from the University of Illinois. He obtained the patent for it in 1938, but development and propagating this concept was performed in late 80’s by the French biologist, Patrick Blanc. Because of their visual impact and spreading the message of grandeur, vertical gardens are often landscaped in the public area of institutions and corporates.

The project with the greatest surface has 2700 m², in Los Cabos International Convention Centre in Mexico, but we can also mention the landscape works from Edmonton International Airport (Canada), Changi International Airport (Singapore) or Chhattrapati Shivaji International Airport (Mumbai, India) and the list is not complete.

There are several building systems in order to achieve walls covered with vegetation, but the following features must be considered: architectural possibilities, location of the green wall, materials used and financial possibilities. These landscapes known as bio-walls, eco-walls, vertical gardens can be installed in the interior of the buildings, but also outside. Depending on the building technology, these vertical gardens can be fixed on walls, free standing, in modules with plants attached to the wall etc.

The generic name of green wall, covers three types of structures with vegetation:
Green facade – a system with climbing plants guided by supports. These plants can cover a wall, a fence, they can climb on the roof, or provide shade for a balcony. They can be attached to an existing building, but can be also separate systems in the middle of a garden or wherever we want. Plants are rooted in the soil or different containers filled with fertile soil, if they are mounted higher. Depending on the species, microclimate, fertilising systems, after a few seasons they can reach maturity.
Green wall – made of modules and vegetation panels, fixed on the wall or independent. Modules can be manufactured of different materials: plastics, expanded polystyrene, textile, ceramics or concrete. A great variety of plants can be used, at a considerable density, being more advantageous than green facades.

Perennial flowers, ferns or herbs are just a few examples of species that can grow on these supports. This modular green wall can be installed under any climate, can adapt to any condition, shade or full sun, inside or outside the building.
Retaining walls with vegetation are actually stabilizing structures for steep slopes with angles of 45° up to 88°. While the solid structure of such construction stops land slippage, vegetation prevents erosion by fixing the soil. In most cases, they are built of different tiles, filled with planted or sowed fertile soil. Mature vegetation should cover the entire structure, fulfilling its aesthetic role.

Modular green façade system made of textile materials

The Fytotextile system, delivered globally by Terapia Urbana, represents a cutting-edge technological solution for creating professional vertical gardens. It is a patented product resulting from years of research and development carried out by the Urban Greening and Biosystem engineering group at the University of Seville.

It is a flexible, multilayer modular system, made from organic and synthetic technical textile materials, designed for creating green façades with semi-hydroponic crops on vertical surfaces. It consists of thin, flexible layers of synthetic and organic materials, specifically designed to provide an optimal growing environment for medium and large green façades. The technology is based on a pocket matrix for semi-hydroponic cultivation, allowing a high planting density of up to 49 plants per square meter, ensuring fast and aesthetically pleasing vegetation coverage.

From a structural point of view, Fytotextile modules are composed of three main layers with specific functions that ensure plant health and building protection.

• The outer layer is breathable, allowing optimal airflow even at low wind speeds, ensuring excellent root aeration and high transpiration capacity.
• The intermediate layer is the irrigation layer, responsible for uniform water distribution and moisture retention.
• At the base, there is a waterproof layer acting as a protective barrier, preventing water from penetrating the supporting wall structure.

The system stands out through high technical performance and rigorous certifications. In terms of safety, it is classified according to European standards with fire reaction class B-s2, d0. Durability is confirmed through accelerated aging tests, with the outer material demonstrating tensile strength more than 10 times higher than the maximum load encountered under normal conditions. It also performs excellently in freeze-thaw cycles, maintaining its physical and mechanical properties unchanged.

System installation is described as fast and easy for professionals, involving the mounting of a galvanized steel profile structure onto the existing wall. The textile modules are fixed onto this structure using special rail-type profiles and secured with self-drilling screws. Irrigation is integrated and can be of two types: an open (run-to-waste) system for small and medium installations, or a closed-loop recirculating system for large projects. Both are automated and remotely monitored via dedicated control units.

Operational efficiency is another strong point, with the fully planted and water-saturated system weighing between 28 and 35 kg per square meter. Water consumption is optimized, ranging between 2 and 6 liters per square meter depending on the specific needs of the selected vegetation.

Terapia Urbana also offers specialized variants such as Fytotextile-FR for projects requiring strict fire-resistance certifications, and Fytotextile-C+ for very hot climates, the latter having enhanced water retention capacity. To date, the system has been successfully installed on more than 38,000 square meters of living walls worldwide.

Regardless the methods used, vertical gardens have undeniable advantages:

• Bring to life unused, boring urban places.
• Have a particular visual impact starting from the beginning and even when the vegetation is resting.
• Increase the value of the building.
• Reduce the Urban Heat Island effect during summer
• Reduce temperature with 5° inside the building in summer and it’s a great insulator during winter (in case of an exterior vertical garden). 500 Euro/m² can be saved from the maintenance costs of the office buildings.
• Closed circuit systems of irrigation – it’s not a major consumer of running water.
• 1 m² of vegetation produces the quantity of oxygen a person needs for a year and retains 130 g of dust.
• A vertical garden of 60 m² is able to capture 40 tons of harmful gases per year.
• Improve efficiency of employees and reduces discomfort in the working area through its appearance.
• Can be installed quite quickly.
• Have a great variety of suitable plants.

Vertical gardens and green walls have a great visual impact with their great diversity of colours and dozens of plant species, they are actually real artworks.

Our team of experts is at your disposal with turnkey projects and long-term maintenance from the early stage of designing. We use reliable building materials, plants especially developed for rooftop gardens and high quality vegetation rolls. Every landscape work offers the best cost/effectiveness/safety balance and every project is adapted to our customers’ aims.

We are able to landscape deck type green terraces with pedestrian traffic, intensive or extensive green roofs on the top of industrial halls, inside or outside vertical gardens for office buildings, and intensive green gardens with special relaxing zones, landscape green roofs with pedestrian traffic for shopping malls and many other ecological constructions.

To increase the ecological value of the building, solar panels can be also installed. We are happy to help you with green projects, system solutions, estimates, and consultancy in the field.