Ways of Greening: Using Plants and Gardens for Healthy Work and Living Surroundings

This book focuses on rethinking working and living spaces and understanding how “greening” can make them healthier and their occupants happier. It teaches how to see unique ideas for spaces and some of the materials needed to create the designs. Inspired by a study that states that 8% of a space needs to have plants in order to positively affect the air quality of the space, this book explores what that minimum would look like in spaces and how it can be done to existing spaces as well as to new site designs, greening both interiors and exteriors.

Using the mathematical amount of 10% per square foot, the illustrations start at that quantity of greening and show how it can look. The sites selected are both public and private sites, as well as interior and exterior. As there are more modalities, needs, and locations where people now work, making sure that multiple types of spaces are designed for people’s success is more relevant than ever.

This includes designs for more traditional offices, open-air offices, commercial spaces, homes, studios, and more. Ways of Greening: using Plans and Gardens for Healthy Work and Living Surroundings gives readers a way to not only understand greening but to understand how to see greening applied to their place. The two basic ways to see the spaces selected are existing spaces to which greening design is applied afterward and upcoming spaces in which greening design can be built directly into the space.

The first type of retrofitting greening into existing spaces can also be combined with the second type of space (new designs). There are examples of both types throughout the book. Essentially, this book addresses ways in which business owners, residents, developers, architects, agencies, and others can integrate greening to improve the air quality and the quality of life with a green solution.