When it comes to deciding on the best type of green facade for your building, there is a wide range of choice available – it certainly isn’t limited to one type only!
In fact, every green facade will have unique requirements and needs to be customised to suit the building and the site conditions.
Here are some of the green facade options available.
1. Ground-based facades
Ground-based systems are where the plants are grown from ground level either in soil or containers.
This type of installation supports self-climbing plants grown on a steel mesh trellis or wire cables. The formation will depend largely on the type of greenery chosen – i.e. whether leaf-stem climbers, twining plants or scramblers and so on.
Case examples:
- Eve Apartments in Erskineville, Sydney. In this installation, the climbing plants are grown from the ground-level courtyard and extend upwards over several storeys, supported on 4mm Jakob stainless steel vertical cables.
- Advanx East Apartments podium carpark, Rushcutters Bay, Sydney. This project involved installing a Webnet mesh facade to support climbing plants on the above-ground carpark to improve its aesthetic appeal.
2. Wall-based systems
These systems entail growing plants at different levels on the wall face rather than from the ground. This includes the planter box approach – where boxes or containers holding the growing medium and plants are fixed to the supporting steel frame.
This approach can often allow for faster growth and denser wall coverage than climbing plants on ground-based facades.
Case example:
The Sydney Super Yacht Centre carpark at Glebe uses this approach, where pre-grown plants in planter boxes are supported by a stainless steel Webnet mesh facade. The aim of this project was to beautify an otherwise uninspiring carpark structure.
3. Mixed or hybrid installations
A mixed system facade combines several approaches in one installation. It could possibly include some or all of the following – green wall panels, twining plants, climbers and planter boxes.
Example:
The Westfield Warringah Mall at Brookvale in Sydney utilises a mix of green facade and green wall approaches. Green wall panels are suspended on 4mm wire cables installed on circular columns throughout the centre. At the same time the columns are wrapped in Webnet mesh designed to support climbing plants.
Considerations for the best type of green facade
Here are the factors to consider when making your decision.
- Goals and aims
This is all about what you hope to achieve by installing a green facade, which is important to determine at the get-go. For example your goals may include shading, cooling, beautification, privacy screening, reduced energy bills or even all of the above.
- Type of structure
Green facades can be installed on apartment buildings, undercover carparks, shopping centres, office blocks and other structures. The type of structure, where it’s situated, and its surrounding environment and climate will all feed into the type of green facade that will work best.
- Building load-bearing capacity
This needs to be assessed early on to enable precision engineering of the installation. This helps to ensure the facade won’t have a negative impact on the building, will last a long time and be resistant to forces such as strong winds and weather.
- Best materials
Stainless steel makes an ideal material for outdoor green facades due to its superior strength, weather resistance, longevity and low-maintenance requirements. It also comes in a variety of formats – including wire cables or rope in various formations, or pre-formed Webnet mesh.
For support or more information
If you would like information on the best type of green facade for your building project, or you have a project you would like to discuss with us, don’t hesitate to get in contact with our team.
