The Living Green Walls at the ARK in Berea Eco-Musem

THE PIONEER IN MODERN URBAN GARDENING

ARK in Berea Eco-Museum - Green architects are now moving into designing living green walls -- think a vertical garden on the wall of a building -- as green roofs and urban gardening become more common stream. The ICEALITY incorporated in these walls help cool the buildings in the summer (reducing solar heat), insulate the building in the winter, water management (reduced storm water runoff for growth), and have the potential for helping feed the people (think vegetables, herbs....).
The living wall offers a real benefit in rain water mitigation, offering the potential for reducing the burden on storm sewers and, down the line, pollution into water systems. And, the green vegetation provide a cooling effect in summer. And, part of the ARK in Berea’s overall environmental impact on climate change -- the 25 year old “living wall” increase greenery while improving the air.

There are two main categories of green walls: green facades and living walls. Green facades are made up of climbing plants either growing directly on a wall or, more recently, specially designed supporting structures. The plant shoot system grows up the side of the building while being rooted to the ground. In a living wall the modular panels are often comprised of polypropylene plastic containers, geo-textiles, irrigation systems, a growing medium and vegetation.

As shown in reports from the US Network for EXPO2000, a project of the International Center for Environmental Arts (ICEA), urban population growth is not a sustainable option. Arne Dunker, manager of the Klimahaus in Bremerhaven states, "I remember having a discussion about whether it's a good idea to teach people that mankind is part of the global climate problem....this was way back in 2000 during the EXPO 2000 Worlds Fair in Hanover, Germany, this was a very controversial situation then, but today there’s no question that mankind contributes a lot to the climate problem."

Green buildings are now an essential constituent of urban quality of life. It is noteworthy, however, that some cities have been more successful in implementing a green building policy than others. One consideration is geography, the insulating implications of five or six inches of soil might not be critical in modern super insulated buildings, but most buildings in temperate climates, are unlikely to have R-40 or so in the walls. Thus, an additional factor is the interesting question of back fitting opportunities in some cities. Vertical walls could be relatively easy retro-fitted onto many buildings and many homes around the world. And they might offer the potential for significant energy savings along with fresh vegetables for the dinner table.
Greener buildings are supposed to revolutionize the way the nation's built environment operates chiefly by using less energy. Seeing as U.S. commercial buildings account for about 30 percent of carbon emissions, according to the U.S. Green Building Council, improving the performance of the built environment is a key focus of all green building rating systems. But the green building industry has a dirty little secret: Until recently, few people really kept track of how so-called "high-performance buildings" were actually performing. The iconic Cleveland architecture of the ARK in Berea Eco-Museum pre-dates the U.S. Green Building Council and its LEED certification program.

The main driver for green buildings in the United States is the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (USGBC-LEED) rating system. LEED-certified buildings, at the basic Certified level, are designed to use 30 percent less energy than buildings built to standard code. It would make sense to assume that LEED-certified buildings at all levels do in fact perform as advertised.

"We're not seeing the true performance we might have expected [out of LEED-certified buildings]," says Jared Silliker, owner of Silliker + Partners, a green building-focused consulting firm based in Seattle.

Unfortunately, in practice, incorporating commercial "green roofs" is used by businesses more as a public relations pitch aimed at the general population who don't know any better. "Green" roofs actually require an extraordinary amount of precautionary measures from water proofing to specialized drainage to additional structural fortification to support the extra loads. By the time any savings from lower cooling costs are finally realized, it's time for some costly roof repair work - which, by the way, may well cost more that the average roof repair/replacement. All for the sake of "giving back" to the environment, or replacing the CO2 that the building's footprint took from the land it sits on. It's the way the world works today; auto, oil, banking, and every other industry, including the green industry, have been spinning their PR magic for years but as long as tax payers are not footing the bill there is no problem.

Similarly, commercial "green walls”, though admirable for the heat gain reductions to the building envelope it will bring, may cost more than the very simple and zero maintenance solution of simply designing buildings with an "outer skin" that "floats" (is suspended) a foot or so away from the face of the building, providing a thermal break. Essentially a giant shade that air can flow behind so that no heat gain is realized by the actual building envelope.

The ARK in Berea Eco-Museum living green wall is a residential example done in a cost effective manner that is a good solution for preventing houses from heating in summer and does not require substantial life-time maintenance costs, and a added incentive is that it is quite attractive.

The plant primarily used in the ARK in Berea Eco-Museum living wall is English Ivy and are about 25 years old.
Characteristics of English Ivy Plants: Taxonomy classifies English ivy plants as Hedera helix.
English ivy plants can act as ground covers, spreading horizontally and reaching 8" in height. But they are also climbers, due to their aerial rootlets, which allow them to climb to heights of 80' or more. They will eventually bear insignificant greenish flowers but are grown primarily for their evergreen foliage.

Simple Care for English Ivy Plants:
Their ability to grow in shade has made English ivy plants a traditional ground cover for problematic areas where most plants do not grow well. Their vigorous, dense grow habit makes them an effective ground cover where the object is to crowd out weeds. On slopes, they can be used for erosion control. The advantage of ivy vines climbing ability makes them excellent for ‘living walls’. In the Christmas carol, "The Holly and The Ivy," we see a symbolism with these two evergreen plants can be cut and used for natural Holiday decorations too.

ICEA Cleveland Ingenuity: Green Walls Would Make Great Highway Sound Barriers.
I think some civil engineers really need to pick up on this. The ICEALITY is that if they incorporated these into the sound barriers that ran between busy highways and city neighborhoods, it would be a beautiful feature that would help clean up the air and cancel out noise quite well. This is really a good idea, sometimes simpler ideas are the most effective.

ARK in Berea Eco Museum

http://landscaping.about.com/cs/lazylandscaping/g/planttaxonomy.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_wall
http://www.usgbc.org/leed/
http://www.klimahaus-bremerhaven.de/
http://www.TheICEA.ComHow did the plain green lawn become the central landscaping feature in America, and what is the ecological cost?  https://longreads.com/2019/07/18/american-green/

Pres. Obama may add more Cultural Ambassadors

ARK in Berea News and Politics:
A collaborative style is one of the most dramatic changes President Barack Obama has brought to Washington — and it is one that artists here and throughout the country can relate to."That tone he sets of reaching out, of listening, of welcoming diverse ideas — it feels very familiar because artists are collaborators. You make music in an orchestra by being in tune with a lot of other people," said Marc J. Vogl, of the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation in Menlo Park and a member of the Obama Arts Policy Committee during the campaign.

Still, there are good signs. Obama, a best-selling author and admirer of poetry, J.S. Bach and Stevie Wonder, has expressed a desire to deepen the federal commitment to arts education and to create an Artist Corps patterned after the Peace Corps, sending artists into low-income schools and communities. Some even predict Obama could establish a Cabinet-level Secretary of the Arts, an idea advanced by Quincy Jones, who has posted an online petition.
The needs are urgent, but there's a "fairly narrow window right now to capture this moment where the new administration in America is focused on public service and the importance of the arts," said Kiff Gallagher, a singer-songwriter and former Clinton administration officer who has established MusicianCorps, a service organization in the Bay Area to bring musicians into schools and after-school programs.
In its $820 billion economic stimulus package, the House of Representatives included $50 million for the National Endowment for the Arts to funnel to arts groups to create and save jobs. The Senate over the weekend was hammering out its own version of the economic plan.
Though $50 million is less than one-tenth of 1 percent of the House funding package, national arts leaders say what's significant is that they are being invited to the table — like banking and auto industry leaders — by an administration seeking a new path. As Lisa Mallette, executive artistic director of the scrappy little City Lights Theater Company in downtown San Jose, put it, "There's no way to go but up."
Obama's decision to have an arts policy committee working for a year to develop recommendations during his campaign was unprecedented. Within days of his election, the administration appointed former NEA Chairman Bill Ivey to lead the arts and humanities transition team. Ivey recently convened a meeting of about 20 national arts groups — representing museums, dancers, chamber and orchestral musicians, Latino arts groups and more.
He sees the arts as part of the nation's economic engine — able to deliver jobs, and quite a few. The 100,000 nonprofit arts groups in the United States directly support 1.3 million jobs, said Robert Lynch, president and chief executive officer of the national lobbying group Americans for the Arts. Those numbers may be too big to ignore, and arts groups hope they will translate into greater clout. Ivey believes the administration is "seriously considering" a new position in the West Wing for a senior official with an arts-and-culture portfolio in the President's Domestic Policy Council. That official could have the president's ear and begin to connect the dots between federal arts agencies and programs.
Now, arts groups wait to see if Obama will adopt any of the recommendations made by the Obama Arts Policy Committee during the campaign, such as creating new tax incentives for nonprofit arts groups, and exercising the nation's "soft power" by sending artists around the world to reinvigorate cultural diplomacy.
In 1997 David and Renate Jakupca from the International Center for Environmental Arts (ICEA) were appointed American Cultural Ambassadors to EXPO 2000, the Worlds Fair held in Hanover, Germany. The US Network for EXPO2000 will be celebrating its 10 years of innovation, ingenuity and iceality at the opening of the Expo 2010 held in Shanghai, China.

1987 to 2007- Twenty Years of Community Service

"ICEALITY - assisting in the understanding of the relationship between Humans and their Environment through the Arts to promote a sustainable Culture of Peace"
International Center for Environmental Arts (ICEA)

P. O. Box 81496Cleveland, Ohio

44181 USA

Phone/fax: 440-891-8376

www.TheICEA.Org