Spring is in the air, and if you’re like me, you’re feeling the urge to get outside in the fresh air! Yep, I’m fighting Spring Fever and have the outdoors on my mind…so as a follow up on the previous post about that gorgeous, super-efficient home in Virginia, I thought you should take a look at this very cool, very “green” greenhouse in West Bloomfield, Michigan designed and built by Planterra, the leading interior landscape firm in the Midwest.
This is an absolutely amazing conservatory, featuring an eco-friendly, high-tech design that goes above and beyond your everyday backyard plant sanctuary. Check out the video if you don’t believe me!
One of the most innovative elements of this greenhouse, and a new concept in interior landscaping being introduced by Planterra, is something they call “vertical-scaping” and is basically a living wall of plants! This is geared for folks who don’t have a lot of floor space but want to be closer to nature! It’s totally awesome although I am visualizing my cats climbing up that thing (and destroying it) if it were in my house (bad kitties!).
Structurally though, this greenhouse is even more green – the building is designed to catch and store rainwater (in an 18,000 gallon cistern) via a gutter system in the roof that diverts the rain through the interior beams of the greenhouse itself, to a pump that sends the water back to the building.
The 23,000 square foot facility even boasts its own weather station that controls water temperature, the shade curtains and the window vents to keep the climate just right for the plants inside. Larry Pliska, the founder and chairman of Planterra, says this is a dream project come true. At a building cost of three million dollars (yikes!!), I guess there isn’t much they left out of the design! The purpose of the greenhouse was to reach retail customers as well as the traditional commercial ventures Planterra has been known for, according to Shane Pliska, Larry’s son and President of the company.
“The opening of our new retail conservator marks a new beginning for Planterra,” said Shane Pliska, adding the firm will still focus on the company’s commercial customers. “The building materially symbolizes the reinvention of Planterra,” he said, noting the company also brought on new software but also new partners.
I love that these guys have combined some really high-tech systems and design to create a beautiful, efficient environmentally-friendly setting!
What do you think about this interior plant-scaping? Would you want a “wall of plants” in your home?
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