Green walls a breath of fresh air for travellers
What’s the most stressful location in the GTA?
At this time of year, it’s a no-brainer: Pearson airport.
With thousands of families heading off on March Break, the place turns into my idea of hell. Long, slow-moving lines at check-in desks . . . grumpy security and immigration staff . . . fretting parents . . . badly behaved kids screaming around . . .
Is there a solution to this madness? Not really. In our overcrowded world, air travel at peak times inevitably becomes a grit-your-teeth-and-get-it-over-with exercise. Either that, or just stay home.
However, for those who must fly, it’s surely time that the pooh-bahs at Pearson considered adding a design feature to our overcrowded airport that has been proven to help stressed-out travellers calm down and relax.
I’m talking about green walls. Other airports around the world are already embracing this idea with gusto. Why not us?
The busiest transit hub in the world, Heathrow Airport in London, England, is the latest to recognize the mental-health benefits of installing live, growing greenery around people who are crammed together in anxiety-inducing situations.
Last fall, they announced — with great fanfare — the introduction of a “Garden Gate” consisting of seven panels at Gate 25, Terminal 3 (not, unfortunately, where Air Canada leaves from). Passengers waiting for flights there can calm their frayed nerves by contemplating “. . . a garden of 1,680 plants, including English native ivy and peace lilies.”
Mmm. Sounds positively Zen-like to me — and more green gates are coming to Heathrow. Yet other airports, most notably in Asia, are already way ahead of the Brits in the greenery-as-pacifier game. Changi Airport in Singapore, for instance, boasts a tropical butterfly garden, a cacti garden, a whole bed of sunflowers and even a water lily pond.
Two Canadian cities have gotten on board, too. Vancouver boasts an enormous wall consisting of 28,000 living plants. It’s installed out of doors, between their international terminal and the airport train station
For sheer creativity, though, nothing beats Edmonton International Airport.
Back in 2012, they added a green wall inside their terminal that soars two storeys high. The plants are arranged in gorgeous, swirling patterns apparently to resemble a Group of Seven landscape. And there’s a wide variety of species, including asparagus fern, devil’s ivy and two kinds of Bromeliads (often blooming) which all get trimmed regularly with a fascinating mechanical “scissor lift” that slides up and down.
A drip irrigation system waters the wall and, five years on, everything still looks fresh and healthy (although a few unruly specimens have needed to be whacked back or replaced). What’s the reaction of passengers? “They love it,” reports Chris Chodan, airport communications adviser. “We get so many positive comments. Only one guy has complained that it was a waste of money.”
Airport employees are also enjoying a benefit: cleaner air. That’s because before picking plants for this wall, the landscapers consulted a list compiled by NASA of species that can effectively remove indoor toxic pollutants.
“The plants they chose are certainly doing their job,” Chodan says. “They’re cleaning the air in the terminal far better than any mechanical filter ever could.”
So how about it, Pearson? When are we fuming, frazzled travellers in Ontario going to get a green wall too?
The answer is, maybe — just maybe — next fall. An airport spokesperson told me that there’ s a plan afoot to improve “esthetics” in the terminals — but nothing has been decided yet.
So in the meantime, folks, grit your teeth and think green.
Note: Doing the smart thing and staying home for March Break? Canada Blooms opens today — with green walls aplenty plus loads of spring flowers to look at.
Our tribute to all things bright and beautiful, part of the Home Show, runs through March 19, at the EnerCare Centre in Exhibition Place.
Open most nights until 9 p.m. — so go late. Strolling around the dramatically lit display gardens when they’re empty is a delight. Tickets are $17 at the door or online at canadablooms.com. soniaday.com