Green Wall

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First Look: VGM Living Wall at BISCO Irrigation, Dedham, MA

Tuesday, May 8th, 2012

image courtesy of BISCO irrigation

[UPDATE 5/18] The entire wall is up, and the Wilshire Box and VertiGreen 3D trellis is up next to it!  Looking good, and getting ready to host a seminar about it next month for Boston-area landscapers and designers…

Installation of a Tournesol VGM living wall at BISCO Irrigation, Dedham, MA

 

One of the advantages of working with irrigation distributors is that they really know how to set up an irrigation system. Tournesol Siteworks partner BISCO Irrigation (with locations throughout New England) installed several living wall systems at their Dedham, MA branch.  We took advantage of their work to document in this post how they set it up.

Dedham is located inland of Boston, and is a Zone 6B in the USDA Plant Hardiness Map.  They have selected the VGM-10 modules, with a full 8″ soil profile. They are also putting in several other Tournesol green wall options, including a Wilshire Box hanging planter and VertiGreen 3D trellis panel (you can see them to the right in the image above), and a VertiGreen Hybrid trellis panel. The irrigation system uses the Baseline 3200 controller from Baseline Systems, paired with a moisture sensor. Using the Baseline 2-wire system the whole thing can be remotely monitored for water use and soil moisture levels.

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Conference center design project receives NY ASLA 2012 Honor Award

Tuesday, April 3rd, 2012

Original concept for the King Abdullah Financial District Conference Center

We’ve done a lot of unusual projects over the years, but the KAFD Conference Center is probably the most exciting one we’ve come across. Located in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, the structure is covered with over 15,000sf of modular green roof, with nearly 10,000sf of living wall inside.

Tournesol Siteworks was invited to participate on the design team by HM White Site Architects, who are responsible for the breakthrough modular green roof design. The building, designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill in New York City, is the first major element in the new development slated to be the home of new banking and financial infrastructure in Saudi Arabia.  The project will utilize a number of remarkable environmental construction technologies to reach an expected LEED Gold status.

KAFD Elevation

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A signature gateway in an urban setting – Center for Early Education in West Hollywood

Friday, February 24th, 2012

New Gateway to the Center for Early Education in West Hollywood, CA

Rios Clementi Hale is at it again. They’ve designed a number of great-looking living walls in the Los Angeles area using our VGM Modular living wall system, including the Sunset House and La Plaza.  Jennifer Schab at their office was responsible for the upgrade to the CEE, a private elementary school in West Hollywood where they used the VGM to create a new gateway for the school.

The CEE sign is mounted on a rail, extending from the horizontal gap between modules

The plants were grown in by our friends at Instant Jungle (veterans of several projects at this point), and installed in the field by Toddco Landscape Co.

The gateway is the public face of the school grounds

The planting used a mix of succulents, grasses, and sedums in 34 of the VGM-06 modules. Upon close inspection the coverage is good, and with a season of growth it will erase most of the module lines.

A combination of succulents, grasses and sedums were used

According to an article in the school’s magazine, the gateway installation was just one part of the greening of the elementary school campus. While they didn’t have a lot of space to green, they made the most of it. In addition to the gateway, they used Wooly Pocket felt hanging planters along many of the outdoor staircases along the building. The gateway and planters were outfitted with drip irrigation systems.  The school is quickly incorporating the new “green” into the curriculum of the school.

Some areas are still growing in, but will be full after the growing season

It’s a strong statement for a school in an urban setting. We’ll look forward to seeing how it continues to grow in.  Below, a short video by our regional sales representative, Jon Willingham.

Upcoming ASLA-NCC Living Wall Seminar

Monday, February 6th, 2012

Join ASLA – NCC on February 16th for the next lecture in its 2012 lecture series: Living Walls  – the Intersection of Art, Ecology and Technology!

Living walls ignite the imagination of designers everywhere. And what is not to like, for as encapsulated visions of nature with their seemingly perfect beauty contained on a wall or screen, they tend to idealize nature in the urban realm. The panelists will expand the dialogue on living walls to explore the many facets and perspectives of how living walls create a perfect intersect of design, environmental science and sustainable technology.  Dialogue will include both public and private sector projects and a discussion on available technologies and resources. Many of these walls and living design manifestations have been emerging as a response to today’s urban issues such as tight urban spaces, the general trend towards greener cities, fostering habitat in blighted neighborhoods, and emissions reductions. Some of the living wall projects that will be shared include recent Bay Area installations including the Drew School Wall, 12 Gallagher Lane, and the Metreon’s Moving Art Panels. Plus, there will be artful and inspiring examples from cities around the globe that may prove to expand your own definition of living walls. The question: “How sustainable are living walls – are they an urban panacea or just an iconic fad?” will be explored by each presenter.

Panelists leading the evening’s conversation are:

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Introducing the next generation VGM Modular living wall – VGM3

Thursday, January 19th, 2012

The new VGM3 module

Tournesol Siteworks has been working closely with our partner Elmich in Singapore to bring you the next generation of VGM modular living wall – the VGM3.  For those who have worked with VGM in the past, you’ll find the great features that made VGM a superior living wall solution (availability in 4″ and 8″ soil profiles, ease of removal/installation, open planting space, recycled materials) are all still there.

We’re not content to rest on our laurels – we want the best system to be better, at a lower overall installed cost!

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New 2012 Commercial List Pricing now available – including new products, lower VGM pricing

Thursday, January 12th, 2012

The cover, showing our new TWIG bench

Welcome to 2012!  We took the holidays off (from posting on the blog, anyway), but are excited to be in the new year.

We’ve just published our new 2012 commercial price list. This is typically the price that contractors will pay, and the price that is available through our distributor network.

The pricelist includes several important things for 2012:

Please contact your salesperson for a copy, or simply send us an email here. We can either email a pdf copy or mail you a hard copy – your choice!

Look for more to come soon…

Unique VGM wall in Southern California

Thursday, December 15th, 2011

Cool VGM living wall installation uses the boxes' modularity

When it comes to creativity, the designers we work with have us here at Tournesol Siteworks beat hands down.  Architect Ross Andrews and Landscape Architect Jim Ridge came up with this design for a small living wall installed on a retail center in Fountain Valley, CA. Instead of viewing the modularity of the VGM system as a drawback, they leveraged the geometry to create something quite spectacular.

Installed by Matsunaga Landscape Maintenance, and grown in by our friends at Instant Jungle, this wall adds pop to an otherwise bland area.  The one column reaches all the way to the ground, which allows irrigation to be run up behind it. As the wall grows in, the variation in plant material’s colors will containue to add to the effect. A great installation, and one that shows what creativity can do on a budget.

 

New interior living wall at Unisource Global, Chandler, AZ

Monday, December 12th, 2011

 

all images courtesy Joe Zazzera, Plant Solutions, Scottsdale, AZ

Jeff Basset of Unisource Global Solutions, in Chandler, AZ, recently worked with our regional sales representative Jon Willingham to design an interior living wall for their offices. They enlisted the help of Joe Zazzera and his team from Plant Solutions in Scottsdale to install and maintain the wall.

We frequently have people ask us whether it is complicated to install a TerraScreen system.  This series of pictures answers that question better than anything…

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Update – San Francisco Residential Living Wall

Friday, November 18th, 2011

All images courtesy of Michelle Bond, Thumbellina Gardens

Since starting in the green wall business, we often get the comment – “it looks great when it goes in, but what about a year later?” Thanks to Michelle Bond of Thumbellina Gardens in San Francisco, we can show you a time lapse of a living wall in San Francisco. We featured the installation of this wall last December (here), and then revisited it again 6 months later (here).

 

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VGM Modular Living Wall gets high-wind certification

Tuesday, November 15th, 2011

We just recieved word from Elmich, our partners in Singapore, that they have received certification for the VGM Modular living wall systems at wind speeds up to 68mph. They contracted with a testing agency in Melbourne, AUS, who created and executed the test.  While the video above might not be particularly exciting, the results are excellent.

The short story-

  • The new 3rd generation VGM modules (coming at the end of November) feature an optional plastic retaining clip that keeps the module in place. While it was tested here with wind, the same clip can be used for seismic retention and vandal prevention purposes.
  • With the wind coming from three different directions, there was still no appreciable uplift on a typical module. That is, the brackets held the boxes fast on the rails no matter the direction of the wind.
  • The 3rd generation modules also feature planting windows with additional retention bars. These prevent wind erosion of the soil or plants, and help keep the planting bag in place.

We’ll be featuring a post on the new modules shortly after they debut in December. In addition to the benefits mentioned above, they feature full stainless steel hardware, and a fully removable lid.  As a bonus to the installing contractor, the new bracket system will be faster and easier to assemble than the previous generations.

You can find the full results on a pdf located at our website (http://tournesolsiteworks.com/products/vgm_windtest.pdf), and the certificate can be found at http://tournesolsiteworks.com/products/vgm_windcert.pdf.