New Largest Living Wall

Announcement of the 'largest' of anything seems to come with skepticism - as in don't tell me it's the biggest, tell me it will work - particularly when discussing living walls. From Inhabitat, this project, at the e Longwood Garden’s new East Conservatory Plaza with an impressive 4,000+ s.f.f. of wall surface, was designed by Kim Wilkie using G-Sky vegetated panels.

:: image via Inhabitat

More from the Inhabitat post: "The majority of the astonishing 47,000 plants are ferns, which are embedded in a non-soil growth medium. Remote operated drip line irrigation and an array of sensors maintain the plants to help ensure quality control and longevity of the plants. The wall essentially acts like a filter and lung for the complex. An estimated 15,500 lbs of dust and toxins will be removed from the air each year, and the more visitors, the more CO2 for the plants to metabolize and exchange for O2."

:: image via Inhabitat

A curious quote building on the 'array of sensors' in the previous quote: "...it was designed by GSky to be fully automated so that maintenance is reduced." I'd love to hear more about this 'automation' - is this something significant, or a standard system of moisture sensors and controls? As maintenance is a major issue (particularly in irrigation systems for living walls) such reduction of maintenance. How much is it reduced. If it is significant, this fact may be more impressive than this project being the largest in North America, which is at best a fleeting accomplishment. Lower maintenance is a panacea.