A COMPARISON OF THE TWO VERTICAL GREENERY SYSTEMS

Abstract

With Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect being a growing concern worldwide, studies have been carried out to explore ways to minimize this phenomenon. Decrease in green space and increasing development of urban environment have been identified as the few contributing factors. With this in mind, various researches have been conducted to identify viable means to increase green space in an urban environment. Since then, many countries have been incorporating these means into their developments, such as skyrise greenery to contribute a part in lowering UHI.

Over the years, Singapore has also incorporated these designs into buildings to contribute in lowering UHI. Due to space constraints in Singapore, incorporation of vertical greenery into building designs has been on the rise. Although the developments of vertical greenery can be dated back to the early 1990s, cities around the world have seen an increase in interest and implementation of vertical greenery in recent years (Wong et al. 2009a). Implementation of vertical greenery systems brings about numerous benefits such as enhancing aesthetic value of buildings, lowering atmospheric temperature, beautification of spaces, improving air quality, reducing building’s cooling load, protection to building’s façade and improving acoustic insulation of buildings.

In this notion, this report aims to compare two vertical greenery systems, namely the Suntory Midorie and Shimizu Parabienta system. Components such as thermal performance of both systems, its substrate moisture retention ability and the adoptability of the systems in Singapore’s climate will be examined.