Sydney breathing wall a world first

Date: 26-Jul-18
Author: Liam Taylor

The Mitchell Street Plaza features the world's first outdoor breathing wall. Image: Junglefy © Junglefy

The Mitchell Street Plaza features the world's first outdoor breathing wall. Image: Junglefy

An outdoor Breathing Wall unveiled as part of a new ‘pocket park’ in St Leonards is the first of its kind, but hopefully not for long. 

The Junglefy Breathing Wall is part of the Mitchell Street Plaza, which has been transformed with the plant walls, new seating, trees and bike racks. Located next to the Pacific Highway, the structures will screen the area from traffic and reduce noise pollution, but the most interesting feature is their capacity to act as an air filter.  

The double-walled structures are filled with nearly 6,000 plants that filter out vehicle exhaust as well as VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds) in order to produce cleaner air. As opposed to a standard green wall or vertical garden, breathing walls are fitted with interior fans to draw air in and push it out through the exterior plant life. This speeds up the filtration process by increasing air circulation. 

As a world first in urban engineering, the wall and surrounding areas will be subjected to ongoing air quality testing by the Plants and Environmental Quality Research Group from the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS). Initial results are expected by the end of the year and, if positive, could result in more breathing walls being rolled out across Sydney and Australia. 

Junglefy also installed Australia’s first indoor breathing wall last year at the Lendlease headquarters in Barangaroo.

 

Positive Action

  • Do your bit to green your local area by planting a tree this National Tree Day. 
  • Build your own vertical garden on a blank wall or a bare fence at home. 

 

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Positive Environment News has been compiled using publicly available information. Planet Ark does not take responsibility for the accuracy of the original information and encourages readers to check the references before using this information for their own purposes.

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Liam Taylor
Author: Liam Taylor

Liam is Planet Ark's Communications Coordinator. Prior to joining Planet Ark Liam spent his time studying global environmental issues, travelling Southeast Asia on the cheap and working for a sustainable property management company in Bali, Indonesia.


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