Groeiende gevels

Cities are increasingly facing challenges such as heat stress, flooding, air pollution and biodiversity loss. More greenery can help make cities more liveable, but in densely built-up areas, there is limited space for new parks and green spaces. Façades and walls offer a largely untapped opportunity. Fieldlab Growing Facades therefore explores how green façade systems can be designed to make the greatest possible contribution to greener, more liveable cities.

At the Marineterrein fieldlab, two types of green façades are being studied: a ground-based system with climbing plants rooted in the soil and a non-ground-based system in which plants grow on façade panels. Sensors and manual measurements are used to assess how these façades affect biodiversity, air quality, water retention, noise, heat stress, and the well-being and perceptions of residents and visitors. The project also explores whether AI can be used to automatically monitor biodiversity.

The project looks beyond the performance of the façades themselves. It also addresses questions around maintenance, ownership, governance, regulations and societal acceptance. Insights from both research strands are brought together to develop design criteria for improved green façade systems, covering aspects such as material selection, vegetation and physical design. In this way, the project aims to develop façades that not only deliver demonstrable societal value, but can also be more easily applied at scale.

Fieldlab Growing Facades brings together knowledge institutions and businesses. Wageningen University & Research, MIT and AMS Institute collaborate with Studio Walden, Urban Climbers, NPSP and Leafy, all of which are already active in the development and application of green façades. The knowledge gained will not only help improve the systems being studied, but will also be applicable more broadly to other green façades and, for example, green roofs.

See also the Fieldlabs Marineterrein.

€256.895 in PPP-funding will be allocated to the project.