Dear Friends & Neighbors,

Vertical Garden of Lime Garage at Disney Springs (credit: Windermere Sun-Susan Sun Nunamaker)

Vertical Garden of Lime Garage at Disney Springs (credit: Windermere Sun-Susan Sun Nunamaker)

Vertical Garden of Lime Garage at Disney Springs (credit: Windermere Sun-Susan Sun Nunamaker)

Vertical Garden of Lime Garage at Disney Springs (credit: Windermere Sun-Susan Sun Nunamaker)

Vertical Garden of Lime Garage at Disney Springs (credit: Windermere Sun-Susan Sun Nunamaker)

Vertical Garden of Lime Garage at Disney Springs (credit: Windermere Sun-Susan Sun Nunamaker)

(Please click on red links & note magenta)

Establishment of Disney Springs has been truly welcomed! For not only are there far more choices of eateries at the area of what used to be called Downtown Disney, we no longer need to waste so much time looking for parking spots whenever visiting there. Disney Springs opened its second parking garage (Lime Garage) on Sunday May 15, 2016, bringing about 2000 additional parking spots to this shopping and dining venue. The Lime Garage is smaller than the Orange Garage, but both are equipped with  2 ChargePoint chargers on the top level, smart parking system, providing free space information for each level and each row where parking spots are occupied by means of overhead lighting.

There are two entrances into the Lime Garage, one from the Hotel Plaza Blvd side, and the other from the main guest area side and I-4. What intrigued me the most about this parking garage is its adaptation of vertical gardening/green wall concept. The swaying greens not only provides its aesthetic appeal, but also serve to moderate the temperature of the building. A green wall is a wall partially or completely covered with greenery that includes a growing medium, such as soil or a substrate. Most green walls also feature an integrated water delivery system. Green walls are also known as living walls or vertical gardens.These give insulation to keep the house/building warm.

Allow me to share some interesting green walls: Green walls may be indoors or outside, freestanding or attached to an existing wall, and come in a great variety of sizes.

1. Stanley Hart White, a Professor of Landscape Architecture at the University of Illinois patented a “vegetation-Bearing Architectonic Structure and System” in 1938, though his invention did not progress beyond prototypes in his backyard in Urbana, Illinois.
2. Patrick Blanc, a botanist specialized in tropical forest undergrowth, worked with architect Adrien Fainsilber and engineer Peter Rice implementing the first successful large indoors green wall in 1986 at the Cité des Sciences et de l’Industrie in Paris. In 2005, he created the landmark vegetal exterior wall of the administrative building of the Musée du quai Branly with architect Jean Nouvel.
3. As of 2015, the largest green wall covers 2,700 square meters (29,063 square feet or more than half an acre) and is located at the Los Cabos International Convention Center, a building designed by Mexican architect Fernando Romero for the 2012 G-20 Los Cabos summit.

Green walls  saw a rapid surge in popularity in recent years. Of the 61 large-scale outdoor green walls listed in an online database provided by greenroof.com, 80% were constructed in or after 2009 and 93% in or after 2007. Many iconic green walls have been constructed by institutions and in public places such as airports and are now becoming common.

As more cities are coming into existence due to population density increase, the vertical gardens/green wall/living wall will be a welcoming sight for they would help to: optimize space for garden, reduce air pollution, increase aesthetics,  reduce the cost of AC or heating due to its moderating effect on temperature, and decrease the crime rate (greenery tend to have a positive effect on human mood).

Let’s take a look at some other cities’ attempt at greening their cities through the construction of vertical garden/green wall/living wall and different ways in building vertical gardens.

We Need Fair Value of Solar

~Let’s Help One Another~

Please also get into the habit of checking at these sites below for more on solar energy topics:

www.sunisthefuture.net

www.kiva.org/team/sunisthefuture

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www.pinterest.com/sunisthefuture

www.youtube.com/user/sunisthefuture

www.cafepress.com/sunisthefuture

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