YVR Station, located at the end of the new Canada Line Station 4 rapid rail transit system, features a 17 metres high living wall with ferns, groundcovers, and wild flowers. Greeting international passengers arriving into Vancouver International Airport, the wall is a living tapestry featuring flowing waves of foliage, colours, and textures. The modular living wall system is composed of pre-vegetated panels made of stainless steel. Beyond aesthetics, the wall has multiple environmental benefits including evaporative cooling, air purification, and acoustical control.

The green wall measures 17.0m high and 11.6m wide, and houses a total of 27,391 individual plants. The GSky green wall at the Vancouver International Airport, Canada Line, is one of the largest living walls in North America planted with Licorice Fern, Mondo Grass, and silver and green Japanese Euonymous in 2,107 panels.

Design Concept: The vegetated wall connects the rapid transit station to the ground and is a continuation of Chester Johnson Park. Modular Living Wall systems are composed of pre-vegetated panels that are vertically fixed on a frame attached to the structural wall. The G-Sky panels are made of stainless steel and support a lush density of groundcovers, ferns and evergreen perennials. Besides aesthetics, the wall has multiple environmental benefits including evaporative cooling, air purification, acoustical control, and biophillia, i.e. allowing people to be in contact with nature.

On behalf of YVR, Sharp & Diamond Landscape Architecture was awarded the CSLA (Canadian Society of Landscape Architects) 2010 National Honor Award for Airport Landscape Management featuring the living wall, extensive green roof and intensive green roof, transformation of a major highway landscape into a four seasons parkway, First Nations art inside and outside the terminal, and 3 kilometers of the Canada Line rapid transit. The Vancouver Airport Authority received the 2010 BC Landscape and Nursery Association – 2010 Corporate Award.

An automatic drip irrigation flow meter, freeze sensor and fertilization system keeps the plants healthy and the wall green throughout the year. The variety of foliage, change in colour, and blossoms from the evergreen perennials create a four seasons effect. The tapestry wall is mostly in the shade, yet receives the early morning sun, April to September. The YVR Airport Authority’s Engineering team with Sharp & Diamond Landscape Architecture used the best available technology and shade tolerant plants for the green wall application.

Plants were carefully selected for long-term performance for the YVR Canada Line Station 4 Living Wall based on years of experience with similar installations in Japan and on the West Coast of Canada and include:

10,829 Green Euonymus: Euonymus japonicus Microphyllus
5,161 Silver Euonymus: Euonymus japonicus Microphyllus Albovariegatus
5,148 Mondo Grass: Ophiopogon japonicus Nana – small white blossoms in summer
6,253 Licorice Fern: Polypodium glycyrrhiza