CASE and SOM’s AMPS Living Green Wall Promises to Reduce Air Pollution and Energy Costs

The <a href="http://www.case.rpi.edu/CASE.html">Center for Architecture Science and Ecology </a>(CASE) developed a clever <a href="http://inhabitat.com/tag/green-wall/">green wall</a> system that can effectively reduce airborne pollution while saving energy. Dubbed the 'Active Modular Phytoremediation Wall System' (AMPS), the long winded name is actually a straight-forward approach that maximizes a plant’s capacity to clean the air, thus reducing the need for outside fresh air in buildings. The collaboration between<a href="http://www.som.com/"> SOM</a> and the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute shows great promise in adding some green relief and reducing a building’s energy -- which is just about as good as building technology can get.

The <a href="http://inhabitat.com/beautiful-living-mosstiles-brighten-up-your-room-with-every-color-of-the-rainbow/">modular wall system</a> provides habitat for multiple types of plants including English Ivy, Boston Ferns and dieffenbachia which are fed water and nutrient through a hydroponic system.

The key to the effectiveness of the design is by blowing air across the plants <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhizosphere">rhizoshpere</a> located on the surface of its roots.

The biologically active surface can absorb 200 times the<a href="http://inhabitat.com/report-reveals-that-three-common-building-materials-are-now-on-the-cancer-list/"> pollutants</a> than the roots or leaves of a plant, thus dramatically improving the system’s capacity.

By recirculating air through the AMPS the system can provide 60 of fresh air required by<a href="http://www.ashrae.org/standards-research--technology/standards--guidelines/titles-purposes-and-scopes#SSPC62-1"> ASHRAE 62.1</a>.

Typically that air would need to be sourced from the outdoors which would need to be heated or cooled first, and since the energy penalty is high in building to achieve this anyway to reduce the amount of incoming air is a large cost savings.

Aesthetically AMPS is a dynamic green wall which has a parametrically sculptural quality. The modular system can wrap around columns, band around rooms, or take up entire walls to suit the programmatic needs of the designer.