CITY SANCTUARY

A living wall can project a sense of calm and tranquillity, even in the busiest of places.

The unique living wall at Tantalo Hotel was conceived by VerdeGreen, for hotel guests to benefit from nature within a man-made environment. The living wall is a vertical bio-wall, designed to regulate ambient temperature, minimise noise, improve air quality and beautify the internal aesthetics. This piece of living art has become a favoured feature with visitors and guests for enhancing their sense of wellbeing and relaxation.

The contrast of the hotel’s exterior historical inspiration and the focus on contemporary local art on the inside gives the property a truly unique feel. Central to the hotel’s design, both physically and figuratively, is the main lounge’s “living wall”. Standing at eight metres wide and two storeys high, this sustainable, striking installation plays host to some 983 plants of native Panamanian flora, watered by reclaimed rainwater direct from the atrium’s skylights. 

The ground floor lounge, with its UV-filtered atrium and two-storey green wall, is the hub of activity, where old suitcases get a second life as coffee tables. This is Panama’s first living interior wall.

The green wall has the capacity to consume and process the same amount of CO2 as three 5-metre high native trees, adding green building benefits to the interior of an existing hotel retrofit. A total of 827 modular recycled plastic Atlantis Gro-Wall® 3 modules were put together in a geometrical pattern to cover 48m2 of space in the lobby area. 

The 983 plants of eight different native species were individually identified with an alpha-numerical code that allowed Atlantis Water Management to trace each plant and monitor its adaptation and development. The vegetation was planted in ProTERRA GM, a specially formulated organic lightweight growing media.

This project goes to show that with some outside the square ideas, an interior wall can become a focal point and a gathering place that promotes wellbeing and provides respite from a busy city.

Greenwall Design/Build VERDEGREEN
Modular Greenwall System Atlantis Gro-Wall® 3
Growing Media Manufacturer/Supplier ProTERRA
Bioclimatic Architects Valentina Amaya and Alegre Saporta
Structural Engineer Melvin Urriola, Aqua Terra
Agronomist Jonathan Nuñez, Aqua Terra
Environmental Engineer Xavier Rodriguez
Project Managers Maria Fernanda de Mendoza and Maria Isabel Conde