7-Story Indoor Green Wall is an Enormous Air Filter for Solar-Powered Seoul City Hall

<a href="http://inhabitat.com/tag/seoul/" target="_blank">Seoul’s</a> new City Hall boasts a sprawling indoor green wall that's so big it set a Guinness World Record as the world's largest vertical garden in 2013. Designed by <a href="http://www.iarc.net" target="_blank">iArc Architects</a>, the seven-story-high <a href="http://inhabitat.com/tag/vertical-garden/" target="_blank">vertical garden</a> was created to complement the new City Hall’s environmentally friendly features, including its numerous renewable energy sources from solar power to <a href="http://inhabitat.com/tag/geothermal-energy/" target="_blank">geothermal energy</a>. Approximately 65,000 plants from 14 different species grow in the garden, which spans an area greater than 17,000 square feet.

The vertical garden also helps regulate humidity levels.

The green wall is made up of stacked pots of plants.

Forty percent of the building is allocated for public use.

The green wall hugs the curved walls.

The glass facade floods the interior with natural light.

The enormous green wall was completed in 2013.

The living wall spans an area greater than 17,000 square feet.

This is an evergreen vine that climbs by means of aerial roots.

The vertical garden comprises approximately 65,000 plants from 14 different species.

The seven-story-high vertical garden was created to complement the new City Hall’s environmentally friendly features.

The curved facade also helps mitigate solar heat gain.

The building's curvaceous silhouette, which is partly mirrored in the curved green walls is a nod to the eaves in traditional Korean architecture.

The indoor vertical garden set a Guinness World Record as the world's largest vertical garden in 2013.

Nearly 7,000 triple-glazed, low-e glass panels clad the building and provide superior insulation to reduce heat loss while allowing solar gain.

The “Meta Epic: SeoBeol” is a dynamic, tornado-shaped art installation made from glass.

Integrated photovoltaic rooftop panels provide 29% of the building's energy through solar power.

The massive green wall serves as an indoor air filter that sucks in pollutants and fine dust.

Ornamental tropical plants add texture and variation to the green wall.

The vertical garden also helps save energy costs by regulating indoor temperatures.

When the 13-story new Seoul City Hall was first unveiled in 2012, the curvaceous modern glass building sparked controversy for its incongruity in style with the former city hall, a preserved colonial-era stone structure that sits adjacent and has since been remodeled into a public library.