Questioning the contribution of “green walls” in contemporary building practice, Vertical Grounds is a design-led research project searching for ecological alternatives to traditional vegetative wall systems. Using cork and its extracted molecule, suberin, Vertical Grounds proposes a plant-based hydroponic scaffold which responds both to the needs of its hosted plants and the existing architecture.


Green wall manifesto:

1. The green wall must focus on the root, nurturing its growth and providing a healthy, abundant space for roots to grow.
   
   
2. The materiality and supply chains of the scaffold need to be rethought as most components are inorganic plastics, separate from the plant and the intentions of the design.
   
   
3. Green walls lack an expressive architectural language and must build a meaningful symbiosis with the architecture they cover. These systems must respond to diverse architectural conditions instead of depending on specific conditions for their deployment.