“Located on a prominent site that faces Broad Street and overlooks Military Park, Prudential Newark will strengthen the city’s downtown core, providing a state-of-the-art office building for more than 3,000 employees, redefining the western edge of Military Park, activating the streetwall along Broad Street, and setting a high standard for sustainable development in the area.

“The project, which is targeting LEED Gold certification, includes offices, a 500-seat cafeteria, a 500-seat conference center, a health and wellness center and a fitness center, a retail podium, parking for 1400 cars, a plaza with a green wall and a water wall, and a 5th-floor cafeteria that steps out onto the podium’s roof garden,” (Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates, see below).

After two years in the making, Prudential Tower’s G-O2® living wall is completed! Located on the corner of Broad Street and West Park Street, the green wall spans 32’ x 55’ in the new plaza, and faces the main entrance of the state-of-the-art office building.

This massive green wall is one of the largest in New Jersey. Designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates (KPF), the project is seeking LEED Gold certification and includes many other green amenities such as a 5th-floor cafeteria that steps out onto a green roof garden.

Drawing on inspiration from Prudential’s logo, the Rock of Gibraltar, KPF extrapolated segments of the rock outcropping’s stratification and created the living wall’s composition and plant color selection. Collaborating with Plant Connection, W Architecture & Landscape Architecture designed a plant palette that met the client’s needs and was also tailored to address the different microclimates that occur on the living wall.

Plant Connection carefully overlaid the final design onto our panel grid to ensure it could be achieved, making any adjustments to sharpen the plant groupings. Plant Connection began growing the living wall panels at our 42-acre nursery late last summer. Each panel was labeled and arranged according to the design. The plants grew for the remainder of the growing season, and then overwintered in our greenhouses, where Plant Connection was able to closely monitor the project and ensure it would be ready for Spring.

Plant Connection supervised the installation performed by Let It Grow. The green wall brackets were first installed at the proper spacing and completed a few weeks prior to guarantee a smooth construction. The panels were inspected to ensure they hung in sequential order and that the irrigation and monitoring system zones were installed as planned. Let It Grow’s team accomplished a great job, demonstrating a well-executed process. John Mini Distinctive Landscapes will be providing ongoing maintenance of the G-O2® Living Wall.

Prudential Tower illustrates the many facets required for a successful living wall project. By Plant Connection’s collaborating from the start with the client representative, engineer, architect, landscape architect, and contractor, all of the necessary living wall components were planned early on in the design phase, creating an efficient construction phase.

The result: a beautiful tapestry of color and texture having key features throughout the seasons. Most importantly, the end product produced a very happy client. The G-O2® Living Wall, along with the other green architecture at Prudential Tower, will set a high standard for sustainable development in the area.