Design Details: Cables Help Create ‘Green Wall’ Outside Rec Center

A typical method of controlling heat gain is to outfit a building's sun-facing exterior with metal screens. Toronto-based Perkins+Will took a more natural approach outside the library portion of Stoney Creek Community Centre, YMCA and Library in London, Ont. Utilizing a steel framework attached to the south-facing wall, designers specified a series of cables that are intended to allow vines to crawl from the planting bed to eventual integration with the sloped green roof above. Helping to mitigate concerns about the leafed-out vines doing their shading work too well (and thus limiting natural light into the library during the spring and summer), the roof above the library includes two large skylights. The "green wall" provides a semi-landscaped façade that changes with the seasons, and is but one of the details that allowed the building to achieve LEED gold certification.