Greenroofs.com  Project of the Week: 3/14/11
The Department Store,
Stephen Marr Hair Salon, NZ Greenwall
Takapuna, New Zealand

Year: 2009
Owner: Stephen Marr Salon
Location: Takapuna, New Zealand
Building Type: Commercial
Type: Living Wall
System: Single Source Provider
Size: 231 sq.ft.
Slope: 100%
Access: Accessible, Open to Public

Project Description & Details

The Department Store is a multi-dimensional fashion, art and beauty experience across three floors and one of the centerpieces of the store is the lush interior greenwall in the Stephen Marr Salon on the top floor. Designed and installed by Natural Habitats Landscapes, it’s New Zealand’s first interior greenwall. It divides the upper level, promoting unique spaces that can be used for presentations such as fashion shows. The building has had skylights installed to ensure the wall is given as much natural light as possible, and the use of supplementary man-made lighting is kept at a minimum.

The living wall is double sided, and stands alone at 10 meters long by 2 meters high, boasting well over 1000 individual plants set in a unique, light, soil-free media. The investment into this original and breathtaking piece of artwork, aside from supporting Marr’s “˜green’ stance, is a powerful branding exercise and demonstrates the incredible environmental benefits a greenwall can have such as increased thermal insulation to buildings, noise dampening, and creating cleaner and better quality air, which means healthier buildings and people.
 
Designers/Manufacturers of Record
 
Greenwall Design & Installation: Natural Habitats Landscapes
Greenwall System:The Greenwall Company Australia
Greenwall Supplier: Natural Habitats Landscapes
 
And so it seems New Zealand is slowly waking up to the advantage of giving buildings a living skin.   For example, the designer of this  living wall, Natural Habitats, has a number of new exciting greenwall projects confirmed for 2011, indicating a changing mind set where the adoption of green technology is concerned.   Some of these include Auckland’s new Britomart East building, which is now home to a 130m2 greenwall; The Novotel Hotel at Auckland Airport (greenwall is set for installation in April, 2011), and New Zealand’s first 6 star green building.   Due for completion in 2012, it will also feature a Natural Habitats   living wall.

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Love the Earth, Plant a Roof!

~ Linda V.