Aiming high for a good work atmosphere

Alongside vegetation and green roofs, green facades add a third dimension, vertical greenery. They have the power to visually and ecologically enliven the otherwise dead facade. The greening favors a balanced microclimate. Marco Schmidt, who conducts research at the Institute of Physics at the Humboldt-Universität in Berlin-Adlershof, describes the large green glass facade of a building: “In winter, the climbing plants are bare, allowing sunlight to pass through the glass surfaces and provide additional heating. In summer, the green facade protects against the sun's rays.” Unlike standard roller shades, which can heat up to over 50 degrees Celsius in summer, the climbing plants remain cool, protect themselves and thus the building from heat evaporation. They are able to cool the surroundings at the same time. With the help of hundreds of sensors, Schmidt confirmed the effect of the plants. The cooling capacity of the plants is found to be 280 kilowatt hours per facade in the summer, which matches the energy consumption of a large air conditioning system. The greening of the facade is irrigated with rainwater from its own cistern.