On Sunday, the living wall in EV3 was removed.
According to Neil Carnegie, the faculty of environment’s manager of facilities and space planning, the wall encountered “service-related challenges” during the pandemic that led to the deterioration of many plants on the wall. The tropical nature of the plants means they are highly susceptible to water outages and other issues, which ultimately led to “damage beyond restoration.” The removal took 2 days to complete.
The living wall will be replaced by “a new type” that does not require constant watering and will be more resilient.
The living wall connected to an HVAC system and acted as a living air filter, and was a part of what led the EV3 building to be the first building on an Ontario university campus with the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Platinum certification. This certification asserts that a building fulfills or exceeds certain environmental requirements, like energy efficiency.
