Bethesda North - TriHealth Cancer Center
Background
Following our successful installation at the TriHealth - Baldwin Tower Office Building, Urban Blooms was contacted by local architects working on three new Trihealth buildings. The largest of which, was the new Cancer Center at Bethesda North. After consulting with the architects, we designed a 50 foot tall living wall in the atrium of this new state-of-the-art facility.
Since this living wall would be located in a hospital that is designed for immunocompromised patients, we worked with TriHealth’s Disease Control team to implement alterations to our system and maintenance to ensure a healthy environment for everyone visiting the space.
Challenges
At Urban Blooms, we pride ourselves on the adaptability of our systems and practices to suit the individual needs of the space or client. When TriHealth came to us with the challenge of designing the most sterile living wall possible, we were excited to take it on! We researched and developed a brand new growing material created from a combination of inorganic materials. In addition we developed an intensified maintenance and monitoring plan to keep the wall healthy for years and decades to come. We then grew around 2,500 plants, mostly ferns from plugs in our new growing material, monitoring them closely and noting how effective the growing material was. Another challenge was in constructing our largest living wall yet. This was overcome by installing an adaptable zonal irrigation system that we monitored and adjusted until a perfect balance was achieved.
Outcome
The resulting installation is a first of its kind, Living Wall Solution for Hospitals, Healthcare Facilities, and other Sensitive Areas. Our inorganic growing media has surpassed our exceptions and has lead to amazing growth in the Living Walls first 6 months. The 2,500 tropical plants have thrived in their new home. Maintenance has proved effective, our partners at TriHealth have been extremely impressed with this installation. This Living Wall is one of the Jewels in Urban Blooms’ Crown as the best living wall provider in the Midwest. We will continue to push the boundaries of what is possible in the field of Living Walls and Vertical Gardening.