Whole Foods, Vancouver » GSky Plant Systems Inc. -

OVERVIEW

The Whole Foods “Cambie” store in Vancouver is located at the busy intersection of 8th and Cambie and features a 2,001 square foot Green Wall that wraps the exterior of the building. Not only do Whole Foods guests enjoy the green wall, but so do all drivers, bikers and pedestrians that pass by.

Whole Foods approached GSky to install this wall after the success of GSky’s hanging, double-sided 17′ x 10′ Green Wall installation in their flagship store in Austin, Texas. At the Vancouver store, GSky installed a colorful wall of native plants such as huckleberry, euonymus, mondo grass, gaultheria and licorice fern, which embellish the north-facing wall of the building.

Today, this Whole Foods store routinely holds product demonstrations and media interviews in front of the Green Wall to build a positive brand image. Other tenants of the building, such as the City of Vancouver, also use the Green Wall as a backdrop while on television. For example, the City of Vancouver held press conferences and interviews in front of the Green Wall during the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Location	510 West 8th Avenue Vancouver, BC V5Z 1C5 CAN
Client	Whole Foods Market, Inc.
Architect / Interior Designer	Busby, Perkins + Will Architects Inc.
Landscape Architect	Eckford + Associates Landscape Architecture
Green Wall Designer(s)	Gerry Eckford
General Contractor	Ledcor Construction
Green Wall Contractor	GSky Plant Systems Inc.
Grower	Canadian Valley Growers
Maintenance Contractor	GSky Plant Systems Inc.
Date Installed	November 2008
Product Type	Pro Wall System
Total Size	2,001 Sq Ft
Climate	USDA Plant Zone 6b
Plants	Huckleberry, Euonymus japonicus, Gaultheria procumbens, Mondo Grass and Licorice fern

THE PROCESS This Green Wall is part of the buildings EIFS (External Insulation Finishing System). The finishing required that the Green Wall be offset of the surface of the wall by 6" from the wall and spray foam insulation was applied in this gap before the frame and panels were hung. This was accomplished using 8" SS304 concrete wedge anchor bolts into the buildings concrete wall. This required that the installation be performed in two phases, one to install the anchor bolts, then another trade performed the waterproofing and spray foam installation, and then the frames and panels were hung by GSky. In all, the installation took a full two weeks to complete.

MAINTENANCE Maintenance on the wall is performed using a standard scissor lift on the side-walk in front of the building. As the wall is in full-shade on the North side of the building, a regular application of neem oil for knats and a baking soda application for powdery mildew must be applied to keep the plants healthy.

LOCATION