Sydney embraces the Breathing Wall

The pilot project is a result of a  partnership between Campbelltown Council, living infrastructure specialists, Junglefy and the University of Technology Sydney.

The Junglefy Breathing Wall™ is made up of 160 modules and 1200 plants, including a range of native and non-native species.

How the system works

An active air ventilation system draws in polluted air which is then filtered within a carefully researched growing medium in the modules, before cleaner air is expelled.

“Our Reimagining Campbelltown City Centres masterplan will set out our vision to cool the city’s urban centres through the use of technology such as living infrastructure,” Mayor George Brticevic said.

“Breathing Walls are designed to clean the air around them, ensuring that people are breathing healthier, less polluted air,” Cr Brticevic said.

“I’m delighted we’ve been able to install this wall so we can examine how further living  infrastructure will benefit the health and wellbeing of our community,” he said.

"Plants are a natural solution to creating healthy and more liveable cities," said Jock Gammon, Junglefy’s Managing Director and Co-founder. "We are excited at the opportunity to create a new Breathing Wall in Campbelltown to bring more plants into the city and positively impact the lives of the residents and commuters."

Given the recent poor air quality from Sydney’s bushfires and increased global air pollution, the development of natural, biological solutions are key to future sustainable cities.

Dr Fraser Torpy
UTS Faculty of Science

Recycled water captured from the Campbelltown Civic Centre precinct will be used to keep the plants in the Breathing Wall healthy.

Environmental sensors have been installed at the site by UTS scientists and engineers to provide real-time data to measure the benefits of the Breathing Wall.

UTS lead for the project Dr Fraser Torpy, Director of Plants and Environmental Quality Research Group says, "Given the recent poor air quality from Sydney’s bushfires and increased global air pollution, the development of natural, biological solutions are key to future sustainable cities.

"The Breathing Wall is the most developed system of its type in the world and has been widely researched and documented for its efficiency to remove all of the major air pollutants. We are greatly encouraged by the foresight of Campbelltown City in backing this technology, and are looking forward to measuring the impact of their Breathing Wall on the local air quality," Dr Torpy says.

More information

Dr Torpy’s team is collaborating with Junglefy on a number of municipal Breathing Wall projects including the Manly Vale car park and Mitchell Street North Sydney plaza and pedestrian precinct. The research team is also working with Transurban to evaluate the Junglefy system alongside the M2 and Eastern Distributor to reduce pollution generated by road traffic.

A multidisciplinary team of researchers from science, engineering and design, have recently worked with horticultural industry group Horticulture Innovation Australia to develop a free, science-based online resource to give individuals and communities the confidence to install their own living walls.