Living Wall Sculpture, The Courthouse Apartments, Westminster

Biotecture designed and installed a living wall for the new Barratt London residential building in Westminster, The Courthouse. At 100m², it forms a partition between the building and the road beyond. The wall extends across both sides, meaning it can be viewed from the roadside, as well as from within the courtyard garden leading to the entrance. The wall serves a number of functions; it creates a pleasant and relaxing courtyard area for the residents away from the busy surroundings and simultaneously forms a public access art project.

Incorporated within the living wall is a bronze tree sculpture by Tom Price. We generated a 3D model of the wall, so that the two designs might co-ordinate and eventually complement one another. Tom also created a full scale mock-up of the panel design whilst sculpting the tree. The result of this collaboration was that the tree mounted perfectly onto the steel structure and the panels smoothly slotted in around it.

The wall is built around a specially made steel structure, rather than attaching to a pre- existing wall. As well as this, the plants also extend around the sides and corners of the structure, which required custom built corner panels.

The plant design was kept simple, so as not to distract from the sculpture. Together the plants selected form an appropriate accompaniment to the bronze tree, recreating a woody glade with mostly native species, as well as ferns and flowers.

The wall consists of a selection of evergreen perennials, tolerant of the mix of full sun and dappled shade they receive situated adjacent to the building. Periwinkles and primrose spread colour across the wall in summer as they bloom with scented purple and yellow flowers. Whilst, Euonymus ‘Dart’s Blanket’ transforms from deep green to rich purple in winter, giving colour all year round. The ivy present in the wall provides secondary environmental benefits, as it is a highly effective at absorbing pollution.

To see more examples of Biotecture Living walls in courtyard gardens, lightwells and roof terraces you can visit our portfolio.