Design and Performance of a Wetland-Inspired Green Bulkhead and a Grassland-Inspired Green Wall

Abstract

Green walls are technologies that provide benefits to the human, natural, and built environments including building shading and cooling, aesthetics, and habitat. Using natural ecosystems as templates, it should be possible to design green walls to provide enhanced ecological functions and play a role in urban reconciliation ecology. This thesis describes the design and performance of two types of green wall drawing inspiration from Mid-Atlantic ecosystems. The first, a wall modeled on Chesapeake Bay brackish marshes, was operated in the Baltimore Harbor for five months and successfully replicated some conditions of wetlands including supporting the growth of native macrophytes throughout the growing season. Notably, this model is the first functional green wall designed for an urban waterfront. The second design tested native grass survival in a dry grasslands-inspired green wall model. In this model, which was moisture-limited with a very shallow substrate, both planted grass species gave way to an invasion of volunteer species.