Bethesda North - TriHealth Cancer Center
Background
Following our successful installation at TriHealth’s Baldwin Tower Office Building, Urban Blooms was approached by local architects working on three new TriHealth facilities— the largest being the new Cancer Center at Bethesda North. After collaborating closely with the architects, we designed a 50-foot-tall living wall to grace the atrium of this state-of-the-art facility.
Given that the living wall would be situated in a hospital catering to immunocompromised patients, we partnered with TriHealth’s Disease Control team to modify our system and maintenance protocols, ensuring a safe and healthy environment for all who visit the space.
Challenges
At Urban Blooms, we pride ourselves on the adaptability of our systems and practices to meet the unique needs of each space and client. When TriHealth challenged us to design the most sterile living wall possible, we eagerly embraced the task. We developed a new growing medium composed of inorganic materials to meet strict hygiene requirements.
Alongside this, we implemented an intensified maintenance and monitoring plan to ensure the wall’s health for years, even decades, to come. We cultivated approximately 2,500 plants, mostly ferns, from plugs in this innovative medium, closely tracking their growth to evaluate the material’s effectiveness. Another hurdle was constructing our largest living wall to date, which we overcame by installing a flexible zonal irrigation system, continuously fine-tuning it until we achieved perfect balance across the entire installation.
Outcome
The resulting installation is a groundbreaking living wall solution tailored specifically for hospitals, healthcare facilities, and other sensitive environments. Our inorganic growing medium exceeded expectations, supporting remarkable growth during the wall’s first six months. The 2,500 tropical plants have thrived in their new home, and the maintenance plan has proven highly effective. Our partners at TriHealth have been extremely impressed with the outcome. This living wall stands as a crown jewel in Urban Blooms’ portfolio, reinforcing our reputation as the leading living wall provider in the Midwest. We remain committed to pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in living walls and vertical gardening.