Factors favouring vegetation in quay masonry walls: A pilot field study

Walls overgrown with plants can have a positive impact on urban comfort and contribute to biodiversity in the city. In particular, quay walls, thanks to their close contact with water, have the potential to be ecologically engineered to encourage the growth of herbaceous plants. Different factors can affect growth of vegetation on walls. This...

Improving the Acoustic Absorption of Vertical Greening Systems

Noise pollution is a growing health concern in cities, especially in busy streets with parallel reflective facades, known as urban street canyons. Here, high flows of vehicular traffic generate a broadband noise, with high noise levels in the low-frequency (LF) spectrum. In the canyons, noise decays slowly due to multiple reflections. To counter...

Groene kades langs de Nieuwe Mark

Aan de zuidwestzijde van de binnenstad van Breda ligt de deels gedempte rivier de Mark. Deze wordt de komende jaren uitgegraven en getransformeerd tot een blauwgroene ader: de Nieuwe Mark. De Nieuwe Mark moet straks de lokale ecologie verstevigen en het stedelijk klimaat verbeteren. Onderdeel van deze natuurinclusieve transformatie is het...

Optimized Green Walls: Study of Vertical Green Systems’ Performance in an Urban Setting

The construction, operation and maintenance of buildings consume more than 40% of primary energy in most countries. Out of this 40%, a large portion is related to the operational phase involving heat losses through a buildings envelope. To reduce this loss, several materials have been developed to reduce the thermal transmittance through a...

Bioreceptive Urban Facades: Integration of Bryophytes Into Facades and Their Impact on Exterior Building Temperatures

Rapidly expanding urban developments are having an inverse relationship on the surrounding urban environment. Facades and the materials that they are composed of can have a large impact on the warming of urban microclimates. By reducing or cooling the external surfaces of a facade a building maybe able to offset its contribution to the urban...

Bring Nature Indoor: by integrating an active living wall system within a Lung Rehabilitation Center at the Marine area

Over the last couple of decades, climate change and energy crises have led to an increased interest in reducing the building energy consumption. To reduce the energy consumption buildings are designed airtight. This leads to the accumulation of indoor air pollutants, which are associated with multiple health and discomfort problems. Poor indoor...

More than just a green facade: Vertical gardens for sound absorption and architectural acoustics

Noise can become uncomfortable for us in many situations both indoors and outdoors. External noise consists of activities (airplanes flying overhead, traffic on the road, etc.) that are either loud enough to be considered uncomfortable when outdoors, or are of an elevated volume to the extent that they infiltrate buildings at levels considered...

La Vision Verte

Business premises for governmental and non-governmental business supporting green development of Paris + Information centre for the Parisien inhabitants. Redesign of an old warehouse next to Canal Saint Martin, which contributes to the plan to make Paris a greener and healthier city.