{"id":314,"date":"2017-08-09T15:45:21","date_gmt":"2017-08-09T15:45:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/www.gh360.ca\/?p=314"},"modified":"2017-08-29T17:57:27","modified_gmt":"2017-08-29T17:57:27","slug":"plant-wall-makes-for-a-breath-of-fresh-air","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gh360.ca\/?p=314","title":{"rendered":"Plant wall makes for a breath of fresh air"},"content":{"rendered":"A<\/span>n invention initially designed to improve interstellar air quality is now the University of Guelph-Humber\u2019s plant wall.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt started with bio-systems and outer space habitation and turned into a bio-filtration technology that cleans the air we breathe,\u201d said the creator of the plant wall, Dr. Alan Darlington.<\/p>\n

Darlington, the president of Nedlaw Living Walls said he introduced the idea of a bio-filter plant wall to Guelph-Humber in the early 1990s, which is when he said the design stage started.<\/p>\n

He said Guelph-Humber\u2019s plant wall acted as a prototype as it was one of the first and largest bio-filters ever created.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince then, we\u2019ve probably done around 300 installations across the world and it all goes back to the University of Guelph-Humber,\u201d Darlington said.<\/p>\n

Nedlaw Living Walls worked with Birgit Siber, a principal at Diamond Schmitt Architects, which is the same company that designed Guelph-Humber.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were ambitious with Guelph-Humber\u2019s plant wall. Not only is it beautiful, but it is very good psychologically,\u201d Siber said.<\/p>\n

Siber also said that studies show including plants indoors contributes to a person\u2019s well-being by reducing stress levels and increasing productivity.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe living wall has to have a value beyond the aesthetics, it has to work. It should be a functional part of the building that happens to look nice too,\u201d Darlington said.<\/p>\n

He also said the system actively pulls air through the plant wall where chemicals and formaldehydes are biologically broken down.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy goal is to clean more air more efficiently by using less energy, less infrastructure and less mechanical costs,\u201d Darlington said.<\/p>\n

Guelph-Humber\u2019s assistant vice-provost, George Bragues said the plant wall requires frequent maintenance.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe main challenge with the plant wall is that the maintenance would have been less expensive had there been a regular wall there. The upkeep is certainly something to budget for,\u201d Bragues said.<\/p>\n

Brague wouldn\u2019t specify the cost of upkeep but he said despite the maintenance and fees, the plant wall is distinct as it complements the atrium and it benefits our school community by naturally cleaning the air.<\/p>\n

Siber also said students and faculty were the deciding factor to include the bio-filter plant wall.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen Dr. Darlington and I introduced the idea, faculty and students showed a curiosity and interest which really encouraged the university to go through with it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Darlington said that Nedlaw Living Walls has developed seven versions of the plant wall over the years and is continuing to innovate new technical aspects to it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are always challenges, but when I\u2019m having a bad day I like to go to Guelph-Humber.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The University of Guelph-Humber’s plant wall helps with the overall air quality throughout the school.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":318,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[48,148],"tags":[167,57,66,123,168],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gh360.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gh360.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gh360.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gh360.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gh360.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=314"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.gh360.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gh360.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/318"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gh360.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=314"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gh360.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=314"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gh360.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=314"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}