22 2nd Street and its new living wall
During installation of living wall at 22 2nd Street
(photo credit: Gennaro Brooks-Church)
You may notice something new and unusual if you happen to walk down Second Street between Smith and Bond Streets. A living wall was just installed on the façade of the beautiful townhouse at Number 22.
We received an email from its owner Gennaro Brooks-Church yesterday, telling us that the installation had started. We swung by to take some pictures and to talk to Brooks-Church about this project.
He explained that the underlying material is made of coconut coir mixed with a food grade binder.
Eventually, the entire façade will be covered in plants. To keep them wet, a soaker hose snakes through the coconut coir.
What are the benefits of a living wall?
-Reduces urban heat island effect and smog.
-Cleans outside air of pollutants and dust and offsets the carbon footprint of people and fuel emissions.
-Acts as a sound proofing barrier.
For Brooks-Church, the benefits also include "being exposed to nature is calming and makes people happier."
Would you consider installing a living wall on your building?
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5 comments:
This is nothing new. When I was a kid (I'm an old lady now), seeing walls covered in ivy or some other vegetation was not unusual. It looked great and took NO work to keep it lush. It grew naturally. It went the way of the wind because of the damaging effects. Insects galore! In this day and age where we need to spray harmful chemicals into the air to keep away disease-carrying bugs, why would you want to bring those same insects right to your doors or windows? Also, the roots eventually damaged the facade of the house, cracked the concrete and brick face. Yes, it did. It may have taken a long time, but it did.
What an amazing and beautiful addition to our neighborhood! We walked by the other day and had to Google it to find out what the story was. It has really become a major attraction for passersby. The variety of colors and leaves is just astonishing.
It's a myth that plants attract pests like mosquitoes - they are attracted to standing water and moist soil, which this ingenious design avoids entirely. And unlike an ivy-covered facade, there's no danger that plants will grow past the root barrier and compromise the brickwork.
Here's hoping Eco Brooklyn can bring more "greenstone" living walls like this one to Brooklyn!
read the latest about him operating a hotel in this building with no permits for any of that work and in their other property that cut it up into 9 rooms, no permits and then now, today, july 2020, evicting with no court papers and a crowd in front
Wait, what happened today?
anonymous at 9:57 PM is talking about <a href="https://gothamist.com/news/crown-heights-landlord-building-evictions-protest-brooklyn>this</a>.
if it doesn't link, then https://gothamist.com/news/crown-heights-landlord-building-evictions-protest-brooklyn
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