Innovation Award of Excellence: CEILINGREEN
Edwin Chi Wai Chan
Senior Project Director
New World Development, Hong Kong
Creatively Adding Greenery to More Surface Area
The total green area provided within a building lot is typically 20 to 30 percent of total site area; however, the installation of CEILINGREEN increases this quotient significantly by installing greenery into oft-overlooked surfaces, such as the underside of overhangs, canopies, ceilings, and other building nooks and crannies. At K11 ATELIER King’s Road in Hong Kong, a new office redevelopment, the addition of this approach to greenery pushed the green area provided to nearly 10 times that of a typical site. Offering a total lettable area of 40,977 square meters of office space, the building’s surfaces, with the addition of CEILINGREEN on its façades, ceilings, and other areas, provided a total of 6,700 square meters of greenery, accounting for 220 percent of the total site area. This is equivalent to roughly four tennis courts and represents the carbon dioxide absorption power of 27 trees.
The plantings, which fit into a latticed frame, are automatically irrigated with a self-regulating system for a pre-determined water-retaining threshold to prevent excess water from sitting in the substrate. Water dispensation can also be adjusted in response to current weather conditions and precipitation. Lighting on movable supports is provided with a controlled timer to ensure the plants receive appropriate nutrition, and that their position can be adjusted depending on the needs of the plant species installed. The plants are connected to the surface via connection points, a guard, and a holder to fix each plant-growth substrate into place. To improve water penetration to the soil, an array of capillaries is distributed within the substrate.
