In Shaler Area High School’s main lobby, the ’living wall,’ was once a flourishing, green addition to the brick wall that it hung from, but it has unfortunately experienced a period of decline in the past years. In spite of this, with the help of senior Kai Ruefle and the GATE program, the living wall is getting a new lease of life.
Initially created in 2014 by Elliot Fix (SA Class of 2016), the Living Wall has undergone several changes over the years. However, the remodel that is currently in the works is the most dramatic one yet.
“The planters over the years have just kind of become obsolete…they’re too heavy—too hard to water,” GATE teacher Mrs. Christina Palladino said.
Funded by the school’s second-place award in Phipps Conservatory’s Fairchild Challenge, as well as grants from the DonorsChoose nonprofit organization, the GATE department ordered a new model of planter and the necessary soil, rocks, and plants to accompany them. Along with these new additions, some plants which were already on the wall will be replanted as well.
Mrs. Palladino talked about her impression of the new planters.
“They just look nice. They are much more easily maintained, they’re lighter. Everything about them was better.”
Along with these new planters, the watering system to support the plants is also receiving some upgrades as part of the renovation.
The previous model featured a irrigation system that watered the plants from the top down. The expectation was that it would trickle to the roots below, but oftentimes, only the top part of the roots system would receive adequate watering.
The solution to this problem, as part of the new design, is to water the roots at the bottom first so that the water then works its way up the roots of the plants.
In terms of the actual designing of the project goes, senior Kai Ruefle assumed leadership over the project.
“A couple of students helped pot the plants and hang the planters on the wall, but the only other person who you could say did something to assist in the design of the wall was Scott the custodian who drilled all the holes. All the imagining, planning, measuring, and realizing was left to me.”
A major part of Ruefle’s construction has been making sketches, renderings, models, and various cardboard prototypes.
“I have been using a lot of sketches to see what things will look like but I tend to picture things in my head a lot more than on paper. Sure, drawing helps and it’s great to document the project that way, but most of the time I just have everything already set up in my head and I have to find a way to turn it into reality.”
Ruefle decided to design the new setup using a suspension bridge as the inspiration.
“It’s a perfect choice as it symbolizes the city and it has some character to it rather than the previous design which was just planters scattered willy-nilly,” he said. “The next steps are going to be install the pipes so it can be automatically watered, but before that, I want to place the ropes which will hang from the towers acting like the giant suspension ropes on bridges, which the pipes will be connected to so gravity can push the water down and water all the plants. Additionally, the tops of the two tallest towers will have plants with long vines on them, so the rope will be covered in vines and it will continue to grow along.”
As you can see when you pass by, the Living Wall project is slowly coming to life and while there is no deadline to finish the project it should be done for everyone to enjoy soon.
