Classification of Green Facades and Living Walls Construction Types and Mapping the Benefits

Tan, Wan Xuan (2021) Classification of Green Facades and Living Walls Construction Types and Mapping the Benefits. Final Year Project (Bachelor), Tunku Abdul Rahman University College.

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Abstract

The living walls and green facades of Vertical Greenery System (VGS) are gradually becoming important as one of the sustainable building design elements because it can improve the environmental impact of buildings. This field can benefit from a comprehensive mapping of VGS types which mean an improved classification and nomenclature system, as well as from linking the benefits to a specific VGS construction type. Thus, this study reviews the existing VGS construction types and links associated benefits to it. According to the systematic literature review based on keywords, 12 types of VGS construction are identified which include 8 types of living walls categories and 4 types of green facades categories. One of the VGS benefits such as thermal performance is the most widely explored benefit. However, human perception of thermal comfort is needed in further qualitative studies. The improvements in air quality, reduction of noise pollution, positive impacts on hydrology and ecology require to explore broadly in this study. Apart from that, the educational benefits are rarely discussed from previous work and the social benefits need more supportive empirical evidence. The future progress of this field depends on the adoption of a proper VGS nomenclature system and further qualitative and quantitative empirical testing of VGS benefits, which should be clearly linked to a specific VGS construction type to enable cross-comparison of research.