We love green. As a color, green stands for life, renewal, and energy.
It is the dominant color in nature and takes up more space in the spectrum visible to the human eye than any other hue. Green is considered to have healing powers and is the most restful and relaxing color that we see. It also helps enhance vision, stability, and endurance.
Green is often used to indicate safety in advertising and commonly promotes “green” products. But what we really like at Sensory Six is using green to bring the outdoors inside.
Yes, green is one powerful color.
Big Word. Big Concept
There’s a lot of interest in green right now. For example, an increasingly popular concept in the building industry is biophilic design, a term used to connect people within an indoor space to the natural environment. Research indicates that biophilic design has numerous benefits in the workplace because people need to connect to nature’s colors, movement, scents, sound, and textures.
Specifically, studies across various industries show that bringing the outside inside increases concentration levels, improves creativity and engagement, reduces stress levels, improves moods, increases productivity, reduces fatigue, and provides a greater sense of wellbeing.
So how do you implement biophilic design? We particularly like trends such as moss walls and living walls to promote wellness as we design restaurants, office space, medical facilities, and more.
Preserved Moss Walls: No Maintenance Required
Moss walls are made of naturally preserved moss that does not require any soil or watering. We often design moss walls for areas with no direct or indirect lighting sources or in spaces requiring flexibility since the installations are lightweight and easy to move.
We love combining different mosses for different colors and textures. Reindeer moss is bushy with a rich texture and depth of color. Intensely green pole moss grows in a tight, round cushion-like mass. Fern moss is delicate and feathery. Mood moss grows in thick, large clumps and has dramatic texture. Sheet moss is often used for a base material because it grows in sheets and provides natural acoustic dampening.
Our clients like preserved moss walls because while they look and feel like living moss, they do not require maintenance. Unlike living moss, preserved moss walls do not breathe, but still provide many of the benefits we talked about for mental and emotional health. Additionally, they are quite affordable, especially compared to living walls.
Living Walls: Improve Your Air Quality
Living walls use a variety of plants to create what is also known as green walls or vertical gardens. Patented more than 80 years ago, living walls have become increasingly popular both inside and outside of structures. They are essentially a wall or part of a wall that is covered with greenery growing in soil or another type of substrate with an integrated water system.
Inside a building, living walls help improve air quality because plants naturally remove carbon dioxide, produce oxygen-rich air, and filter the air around them by absorbing and cleaning pollutants. Living walls also provide the benefits discussed earlier in this article for emotional and mental well-being as well as being aesthetically pleasing.
Living walls need to be carefully designed to determine what type of plants will be used based on climate, the weight of the structure, and lighting. Sensory Six works hand-in-hand with architects and horticulturists to design the right living wall that is an aesthetic focal point.
Living walls require significant maintenance and do not have the same longevity as moss preserved moss walls. They require regular water and fertilization as well as access to natural light or artificial grow lights. They are also significantly more expensive to install and maintain than preserved moss walls. But they are quite beautiful and freshen the air in ways that a preserved moss wall cannot.
Assessing Your Needs
Preserved moss walls and living walls are just two ways to bring the outside into commercial and residential spaces. We also use natural materials and finishes, water features, natural lighting, and plants to add nature to a space.
As with all design, the first step is assessing your functional and aesthetic needs. We’d love to help you through the process and create a space that will make people green with envy.
Photos:
Echlin uses broken-plan layout to create spacious London mews house (dezeen.com)
Living Walls vs. Preserved Moss Walls - Artisan Moss
The green wall gains popularity in the workplace | Re:public (re-publicspace.com)
