Executive Magazine- Green walls and rooftop gardens are great, but keeping them healthy in the Middle East and North Africa can be challenging. Lebanese landscape architects Green Studios has an answer with their patented technology that ensures plants can flourish despite the extraordinary heat in the region.

 

Green Studios wanted to develop something that is applicable to super-hot [climates], says Jamil Corbani, cofounder and CEO of Green Studios.

 

And in order to do this, they beefed up standard hydroponic growing techniques (that require no soil, and just a mineral nutrient solution to feed the greens) with smart technology that monitors plant health.

 

Their green walls are comprised of several layers of ‘skin’, the core of which comprises the irrigation network. Each skin has its own function, that – equipped with a series of sensors and nano-sensors – monitor and respond to the surrounding environment.

 

Data collected by the sensors will be sent to an electrical board, and if the temperature and humidity skyrocket and the plants need some love, that board will signal pumps to go off.

 

The sensors monitor humidity, temperature, acidity, and electro conductivity of plants.

 

Founded by a small group, which consists of an architect, a landscape architect, landscape engineer and an economist, Green Studios now has 13 employees and have been commissioned to do no fewer than 30 patent-protected installations – in the Middle East and elsewhere.

 

The group is now gearing up to install the largest green wall in the region – for Raouche 1090 – a massive residential development in Beirut.