Bringing plants inside as a part of your commercial design is becoming a baseline requirement for many businesses, as biophilic features are an element of interior design that people respond to and prefer in commercial space. Living walls are a great way to meet those expectations. They make a statement and uplift your space with greenery, with a high potential for the wow-factor.
If you are in charge of a commercial space, here is your guide to living walls: what they are, how they benefit your space, how to design with them and what the process of getting one looks like.
Indoor Living Walls 101
Living walls are vertical plant installations that add greenery to your space. They can take up an entire wall, but they can also be smaller, for example an installation the size of a painting, or a spread of vertical plants that gives continuity over multiple walls.
Where they differ most from many other plant décor is that living wall projects have more planning factors to consider than potted plants. Some large-scale living walls may need irrigation incorporated into the system and lighting is an important consideration for the health of all living walls. Also, maintenance for larger living walls is more involved and labor intensive requiring ladders or lifts. Access is a very important consideration during the design of walls.
A big benefit of a living wall is that they are adding life without taking up floor or desk space. They open up biophilic impact opportunities for spaces with small footprints. Since the most common way we see plants is in the ground or in pots, living walls add interest to your commercial interior’s design and overall aesthetic.
Basic Requirements for Living Walls:
- Physical surroundings that are suited to the installation:
- Type of wall for installation for proper anchor selection
- Available lighting
- Away from AC or heat vents
- Proximity of water source
- Well-chosen, high-quality plants that suit the growing conditions
- Expert installation – DIY can lead to a short-lived installation or even problems like water damage
- Maintenance team for ongoing care
- Type of living wall system for desired application
For the nuts and bolts of living walls, we have more information and a full FAQ: Custom Living Wall Design & Installation.
Benefits of Having Living Walls
All indoor plants offer unique benefits to humans – both physically and mentally. But because living walls bring in both a prominent design feature and nature into your space, we find that many of our clients get a lot of bang for their buck from these installations. 
Some benefits can include:
- Better thermal efficiency, which can lead to reduced energy costs
- More optimal levels of humidity indoors
- Connection to nature which can improve mood and reduce stress and anxiety
- A display of your business’s personality and values
- A sense of connection and community
- Elevated interior design
Greenery can create a big change not only in how your space looks, but how people feel when they’re in your building, which can directly impact your business.
Jennifer Lester, Principal & Chief Operating Officer at Moses Tucker Partners, has seen the change biophilic design can bring firsthand:
“When we added plants to both our elevator lobby and our office lobby, the transformation was immediate,” she said. “We heard positive comments almost right away — from tenants, guests, and even brokers coming through for tours.”
Living Walls in Design and How they Work in Your Space
We’ve been working as plant designers in Arkansas for decades and have designed large and small living walls for building lobbies, corporate HQs, bank offices, hospital lobbies, and more. So we mean it when we say that living walls can add to almost every space. It’s how living walls are used that makes them work.
Below are some of the points the Leafscape design team considers for living walls in an office or commercial space, in addition to the technical and horticultural considerations above:
- Color, texture and contrast: what is already in your space and what do you need to add to improve the look and feel of your walls and decor?
- Height and width: what are the proportions of your walls, and what arrangement of plants will make the most of your available space?
- Practical improvements: is there a place where this installation can offer practical bonuses like noise reduction?
- Where to draw the eye: is there a competing design element in your space, or a focal point you want to draw attention?
No two spaces are alike, and even the same types of environment (e.g. two casual restaurants) will need different treatments. This is where thinking about plants as design is critical.
How Leafscape Transforms Spaces with Living Walls: Stone Bank Case Study
Today, when you walk into the lobby on the second floor at 12615 Chenal Parkway in Little Rock, you’re greeted with a triptych of vertical plants. Their leaves, midtone greens with pops of neon, curl over the edges of their frames, softening and providing curvaceous contrast to the sharp brick lines of the wall itself. Neon Pothos, Dracaena Rikki, Philodendron Cordatum, JC Compacta and Philodendron are just some of the varieties that overlap, bursting forward into view.
We worked on this Stone Bank project with Abbey Redmon of WWD Architects. In coming to this space, we wanted to soften and warm up the large lobby, while staying within the customer’s budget.
By creating this multi-piece installation we added a big impact without the cost or overwhelm of creating a living wall covering such a large space. It makes this interior feel energized and inspired, playing off of the natural wood ceiling and adding contrast to the more industrial touch of the exposed wall.
If you want something like this – or any of the photos you’ve seen in this post – in your space, we can do it for you. We have been helping businesses in Little Rock and Northwest Arkansas create plant installations for many years.
Our Tried-And-True Process
First, we meet with you and look at your finished space, or architectural and design plans. We work together to find a wall that meets all technical requirements and works from a design perspective.
We then design your installation and, once you’ve confirmed our plans, can move on to procurement of plants and installation. Our expert team doesn’t leave when the work is done, we also offer plant maintenance for our installations, so you can keep your living wall looking lush for years to come.
For more information on living walls, how they can work for your business, and what Leafscape can offer, contact us today.
