TROY, N.Y. — Researchers from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute working at the Institute’s Center for Architecture Science and Ecology (CASE) in New York City have spent several years researching ways to harness plants’ natural abilities to filter toxins out of the air into an application that could be used in indoor spaces like office buildings. Those researchers have now unveiled the first public-scale prototype of their green wall. Two panels of plants, each 6 feet long and 7 feet tall and containing about 30 densely packed plants, will hang on a wall in the Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies (CBIS) building on the Rensselaer campus.

This work is “the result of years of interdisciplinary research at CASE spanning the fields of environmental and mechanical engineering, biology, and architectural sciences. We have recently expanded the team to include collaborators from the Rensselaer Smart Lighting Research Center and the departments of chemistry and chemical engineering. The technologies CASE researchers are developing, like this green wall, have the potential to revolutionize our ability to deliver clean air to urban populations, and reduce the carbon footprint of cities and buildings, by reducing the fossil fuel consumption of the heating, cooling, and ventilation systems,” said Anna Dyson, director of CASE.