At One Great Jones Alley in New York, NY, a beautiful green wall seemingly grows out of steel at the residential entrance of the 12-story mixed-use development. The green wall, a cobblestone driveway, and the steel material pay homage to the tough, industrial past of NYC’s NoHo Historic District. But this isn’t just any green wall, as HMWhite Landscape Architects and Urban Designers specified Tournesol’s VGM Modular Living Wall System to complete the designed green wall entrance and the 2nd floor terrace in the building’s courtyard. The VGM3 allows for complex planting designs and complete coverage of any surface and are designed to last the life of the building. Our VGM3 system is a recycled plastic planting module (294 modules of 8” planting depth used here) attached to stainless steel hanging rails. The rails carry the load and are mounted to either the wall or a framed sub-structure with brackets; the huge wall expanse required 135 mounting rails – 25 rails at 47 ¼” L and 110 rails at 70 7/8” L with 1,300 brackets. The modules were shipped broken down to the job site, where they were assembled, and filled with VGM media block – 1,175 blocks! The plants were then planted and grown by Plant Connection; the grow-in process takes between 1-3 months and was greatly accelerated by using the specially engineered media block. It is designed to provide an optimal balance of moisture and aeration to the roots of the plants, ensures fast grow-in, consistent irrigation, laterally developing root systems, and maximum cation exchange rates. Enhanced with several natural biological and disease-preventing additives, the block will support plant growth for years. The VGM was installed by landscape contractors Greengage Urbanscape from Brooklyn, NY. The outcome is fantastic! The green wall is stunning and brings nature and life to the courtyard for the tenants, and visitors, and shines as a virtual “welcome mat” with environmental eye candy.