Page 70 - I-Plants Magazine special 2021 Biophilic Design Awards issue - regular res

Bronze Award 70

Green Walls & Vertical Gardens, Interior & Exterior
$100,001-$250,000

Project:
ROKT

Congratulations to:

Parker Interior Plantscape

New York, New York, U.S.A

What makes this design
biophilic?

The living walls at ROKT are the
perfect example of bringing
nature indoors and making it
accessible to an office’s occu-
pants. The color palette of the
offices in ROKT are neutral with
a modern aesthetic. The green
from the plants helps to bright-
en the overall feeling of the
space. The client was looking
for a more naturalistic design.
They desired multiple plant
species and diversity in colors,
textures, and growth habit. The
plant palette was selected to
honor the design intent while
also making sure species were
compatible in light and nutrient
requirements.

The story behind this design
and installation:

There are a total of 8 living walls for this
project spread throughout two levels in
the building. Our plants for living walls
are usually grown for 8 weeks prior to
site construction. Like so many busi-
nesses during the pandemic, we were
faced with navigating uncharted waters
while offices throughout New York were
shuttered. The living wall found refuge
in the EcoWall greenhouses for a total
of seven months before construction
commenced and the living wall could be
installed at its final home. A photometric
analysis was performed for each location
to make sure lighting was sufficient and
plant placement was influenced by light
and water gradient. A tropical rainforest
understory served as inspiration for the
design and plants like ferns, gesnariads,
aroids, and other genus which can be
found on the forest floor and growing up
rainforest trees were selected as the base
plant palette.