Green wall

A green wall is a wall partially or completely covered with greenery 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 or vertical gardens.

It is useful to distinguish green walls from green facades. Green walls have growing media supported on the face of the wall (as described below), while green facades have soil only at the base of the wall (in a container or in ground) and support climbing plants on the face of the wall to create the green, or vegetated, facade.

Green walls may be indoors or outside, freestanding or attached to an existing wall, and come in a great variety of sizes. As of 2015, the largest green wall covers 2,700 square meters (29,063 square feet or more than half an acre) and is located at the Los Cabos International Convention Center, a building designed by Mexican architect Fernando Romero for the 2012 G-20 Los Cabos summit.

Green walls have seen a recent surge in popularity. Of the 61 large-scale outdoor green walls listed in an online database provided by greenroof.com, 80% were constructed in or after 2009 and 93% dated from no later than 2007. Many Iconic green walls have been constructed by Institutions and in public places such as Airports and are now becoming common, to improve the aesthetics.