If you're anything like me, once you've been working indoors for several hours, you're dying to go outside and be in a more natural environment. This happens to me at approximately 11:00am each morning when I make the decision to walk to the coffee shop down the street rather than brew some only 10 feet away.
Well, I'm not alone as there is a definite trend in office design that is attempting to mimic some of the magic and benefits of nature within the office setting. But it isn't simply aesthetically pleasing, it actually has benefits which include:
- Lower illness and absenteeism rates
- Better job performance
- Less Stress/Fatigue
- Higher staff retention
We've previously discussed bringing natural light and plants into the office, but today I want to focus on another growing area of officescaping: Green Walls. Wikipedia explains them as being:
"A green wall is a wall partially or completely covered with vegetation that includes a growing medium, such as soil. Most green walls also feature an integrated water delivery system. Green walls are also known as living walls, biowalls, ecowalls, or vertical gardens."
I've been noticing a rise in these living, green wall systems in recent months in many major office design projects. Many of the office design projects include green walls to assist in Green Building certification, others install them for their aesthetic appeal.
Benefits of Green Walls include:
- visual stimulation
- improved air quality
- LEED credits
- energy savings
- noise reduction
Okay, okay, let's get on with the green wall examples already!
AWeber uses a green wall as a focal point of their reception. The slides don't hurt either.
Buck O'Neill Builders split their green wall on either side of a conference room window.
Cheil planes their green wall opposite a casual seating area
Don't have a full wall? Core Power wraps their whiteboard with a green wall.
Economia places their their green wall in a lounge space for employees which is also filled with natural lighting.
Goodyear uses a dual-level green wall in the main reception and lobby space.
This green wall provides an aesthetic pop of color to an otherwise colorless space.
With no windows in sight, this green wall provides a bit of nature where there otherwise wouldn't be any.
Natural light and green walls surround the workspaces at McCann-Erickson in NYC.
Microsoft has a green wall in the Vienna reception.
They also have one next to their slide 
Pixelmator covered their dual-height wall in a gigantic green wall.