Architecture and Design

Many architecture and design clients look for biophilic design elements in their project living walls, moss walls, or large-scale plant design elements.

Good Earth Plant Company partners with leading architects and interior design professionals to make design and installation a seamless experience.

We have worked with design professionals on commercial and luxury residential projects that set the highest standards and exceed client expectations.

 

Super Bowl 50 is Super Eco-Friendly

| February 4, 2016 | Categories: Architecture and Design, Biophilic Design, Environment, Green Roofs, Living Walls
Standard compliant structures in the world. Photo: Courtesy Levi's Stadium website
Super Bowl 50 is just days away. Are you rooting for the Broncos or the Panthers? Or are you tuning in for the commercials, not the game? Looking forward to Coldplay and Beyonce? I’m excited about Super Bowl 50 because it is taking place in the first ever professional football stadium to be LEED Gold certified. Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California is the most eco-friendly, sustainable stadium in the world today. Levi’s Stadium, the home of the San Francisco 49ers, is a typical multi-purpose modern stadium that can host all sorts of events. What sets it apart starts at the top: the NRG Solar Terrace green roof on the west side of the stadium.… Read More

Bringing Nature into The Workplace Tops Design Trends for 2016

| December 16, 2015 | Categories: Architecture and Design, Biophilic Design, Good Earth Plant Company Tips, Sustainable Living
For more than 38 years, Good Earth Plant Company has made it our mission to bring the beauty, health, well-being and environmental benefits of living plants and nature into your life. We started out as florists and our business grew into providing interior plantscaping design and service to many of the leading workspaces in the San Diego region. As technology has improved and as thinking has evolved about the importance of humanizing our workspaces by bringing the “outside” inside, we have eagerly embraced living walls, green roofs, and other creative natural structures along with container plants and other traditional interiorscape designs at restaurants, upscale hotels, shopping centers, universities, hospitals, corporate headquarters, schools and nonprofits throughout Southern California and the nation.… Read More

Going Green is a Cruise

| October 8, 2015 | Categories: Architecture and Design, Biophilic Design, Good Earth Plant Company, Sustainable Living
This new living wall aboard a Royal Caribbean cruise ship will really get around. Courtesy Royal Caribbean
The cruise line Royal Caribbean got our attention last year when Good Earth Plant Company learned that two of his ships, “Oasis of the Seas” and “Allure of the Seas” featured their own onboard living walls covered in 12,000 beautiful living plants for their passengers to enjoy. We were – and still are – so glad to see ships growing real plants instead of displaying all replicas as many have done in the past. Royal Caribbean recently got in touch with us to let us know about some of its additional efforts to be environmentally responsible while sailing on the world’s oceans.… Read More

HLI and Good Earth Plant Company: A Natural Fit

| September 4, 2015 | Categories: Architecture and Design, Case Studies, Living Walls
The new living wall installed at HLI in San DIego by Good Earth Plant Company and GreenScaped Buildings.
Earlier this year, Good Earth Plant Company was called in by McCarthy Building Companies‘ San Diego location for a plantscaping assignment, starting with designing and installing a 200 square foot living wall at a brand new and innovative company in San Diego, Human Longevity, Incorporated (HLI). We designed a sleek, modern living wall for HLI created to mimic natural shapes, colors and materials. Taking three days to complete, our finished living wall contains 317 jade pothos in the Wall of Life system. HLI was also interested in additional plantscaping throughout the office after seeing our work. Good Earth Plant Company added nearly 50 potted plants with an assortment of Aglaonema, Raphis Palms, Kentia Palms, dracaena and sanseveria.… Read More

Let’s Talk Sustainability in San Diego at the 2015 Green Building Conference & Expo

| August 27, 2015 | Categories: Architecture and Design, Environment, Good Earth Plant Company, Indoor Plants, Living Walls, Sustainable Living
The Good Earth Plant Company living wall at the SDGE Energy Innovation Center is one of our favorite projects. See it at the USGBC Green Building Expo on September 22.
One of the silver linings of our current drought in San Diego is that it has gotten more people thinking about sustainability and the big picture issues surrounding our use of water and other natural resources. This is a great thing! Thinking leads to talking, and talking leads to doing something. The more we start integrating cutting edge sustainability strategies into San Diego’s buildings, homes, and communities, the more we can improve our well-being. This is something I write about a lot on this blog. In September, I’ll get a chance to talk about it at the third annual San Diego Green Building Conference on Saturday, September 22 at the SDG&E Energy Innovation Center.… Read More

Honoring Our Founding Environmentalists On July 4

| July 2, 2015 | Categories: Agriculture and Farming, Architecture and Design, Environment, Gardening, Sustainable Living
If you ever visit the Washington D.C. area for the July 4 holiday, you can celebrate Independence Day at Mt. Vernon. Courtesy MountVernon.org
Happy Independence Day from General Washington from Mount Vernon on Vimeo. I recently made a trip to Washington D.C. There is so much to do and see around our nation’s capital. No matter how many times I visit, there is always a new place for me to check out. But there is one place I haven’t been to for a very long time. I joined my family to make a side trip to Mt. Vernon, the 400-acre plantation home of the first President of the United States, George Washington. The estate is right on the banks of the Potomac River in Fairfax County, Virginia, near Alexandria, and was built in 1757.… Read More

Good Earth Plants Gives Thomas Jefferson School of Law a Natural Makeover

| June 26, 2015 | Categories: Architecture and Design, Case Studies, Indoor Plants, Living Walls, Plantscaping
The fresh new planters are looking great thanks to a little TLC from Good Earth Plants Company.
One of our favorite projects ever stemmed from installing the living wall on the fifth floor of the new Thomas Jefferson School of Law (TJSL) downtown. We installed the original living wall in January 2011 and it got rave reviews. Here’s what it looked like then: Because the client was so pleased with our diligent, detail-oriented performance (and our tidiness too), we also got the contract to install all of the built in planters on the fifth and eighth floors (not quite a green roof), ground level and the interior atrium. We performed maintenance for the first year, and then due to budget constraints, the school decided to take the service and care of their plants in-house.… Read More

Living Walls With An International Twist

| June 18, 2015 | Categories: Architecture and Design, Living Walls, Plantscaping, Sustainable Living
Our first living wall made out of preserved moss panels imported from Italy. Photo: GreenScaped Buildings
Even though we’ve been installing living walls and vertical gardens in many forms for nearly ten years, there is always something new to learn and to work with. GreenScaped Buildings installed its first ever project this month using preserved “moss” panels. These panels are imported from Italy, and there isn’t anything else like them. They are fire retardant, preserved and super easy to care for. The panels are actually made of preserved lichens. Lichens are composite organisms, which include the properties of simple algae and fungi. They are similar to mosses but don’t have stems or leaves. The lichen is collected without any damage to the vegetation or environment and is hand applied to the panel backing.… Read More

Urban Agriculture: Why Eating and Buying Local Matters to the Planet

| June 11, 2015 | Categories: Agriculture and Farming, Architecture and Design, Biophilia, Gardening, Good Earth Plant Company, Green Roofs, Indoor Plants, Living Walls, Sustainable Living
With so many farmer's markets and other local food resources in San DIego County, it's easier than ever to buy local food products.
We get asked a lot to create edible walls and green roofs that are roof top farms. I recently ran across this thought-provoking article, thought-provoking for me at least as a person who thinks a lot about our relationships to plants, nature and the Earth. This research in this article shows 90 percent of all the people in the United States could eat foods grown within 100 miles of home. The study was conducted by two engineering professors at the Sierra Nevada Research Institute run by the University of California at Merced. Read it here. Many people have talked about the need to support local food supplies for many reasons.… Read More

Going Green to Keep the Chargers in San Diego

| April 30, 2015 | Categories: Architecture and Design, Green Roofs, Sustainable Living
If we want to keep the Chargers in San Diego, time to think green.
The fate of the San Diego Chargers dominates the news these days. Even though we have been talking about a new stadium for 15 years, the situation became urgent when the clock started ticking down on proposals to the north in Los Angeles and in Carson to lure the team away from San Diego. It all boils down to money. How will we pay for a new stadium, wherever it ends up? We all know development could pay for it, but who wants to pave over more of the city or add more cars to the roads? No one’s gotten around to asking me, and that’s too bad because I have the perfect plan to keep the Chargers in town.… Read More