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Living Walls And Improving Office Air Quality
Breath new life into the workspace and go green to lift the health and mood of your staff.
This biophilic design trend of living walls is revolutionising the office space. The inclusion of nature within a working environment fosters a healthy and productive space and helps its dwellers to reach their ultimate potential.
On a basic level, a living wall is a wall made entirely from plants – but let’s get a bit more technical.
Living plants are assembled onto a skeletal structure, which is then hung up to create a vibrant, green wall. The wall then has the ability to grow vertically. These structures not only enhance a building’s look and feel but also improve indoor air quality by acting as a natural air-filtration system. (Obviously, using artificial plants will look great but you will lose the air-quality improvement aspect.)
Living plants function and thrive by sucking in pollutants from the atmosphere, such as carbon dioxide, and then churning out oxygen. It’s no wonder organisations the world over are opting for living walls as a way to improve the health and wellbeing of their staff.
"Living walls act as a natural air-filtration system"
So, what can plants do that conventional air filtration systems can’t?
Well, plants remove contaminants from the air while replenishing all that lovely, lovely oxygen. An air filtration system can’t make fresh oxygen, nor can it eliminate pollutants – it can only capture them.
Plants can also provide air humidification without the energy costs of a filtration system. Living walls also help reduce noise pollution because plants have sound-absorbing qualities. And the plants’ leaves also add much-needed insulation in colder climates, while cooling the air in hotter periods.
It’s not only staff who will benefit from a living wall – your building will thank you too, as the foliage can provide protection from UV rays, which will deter the walls from absorbing water from any heavy rainfall. Green walls are especially beneficial in our ‘concrete jungle’ cities, where natural foliage is few and far between – adding a splash of colour, life and nature in a condensed area.
And everyone knows the colour green is a mood-booster, so a living wall can put a spring in people’s steps and result in increased productivity within an office setting.
