Bel Air Residence: A 105-Foot Outdoor Living Wall for Privacy

Outdoor living wall wrapping a Bel Air terrace with a built-in sofa and a round fire bowl at dusk

Industry

Residential

Challenge

A developer wanted a privacy wall around the rear of a hillside Bel Air residence overlooking the canyons. It had to match the finish of the home, handle variable Los Angeles weather and occasional high winds, and look complete on handover.

Results

A custom living wall 10 feet tall and 105 feet wide with 2,890 plants, planted in one day. To our knowledge it is the largest living wall in Bel Air. Nine months on, fewer than 8% of plants had been replaced.

Key Product

Custom Living Walls

105 ft

Wide outdoor living wall, 10 ft tall

2,890

Contract-grown plants

1 day

Planting on site

<8%

Of plants replaced after 9 months

Living wall running along the lawn of the Bel Air residence at night, beside a lit tree and the glass-fronted house

Private Residence, Bel Air

A newly developed hillside home in Bel Air with views over the canyons of Los Angeles. GrowUp worked with the property’s developer from the first drawings through frame specification, plant design and installation, and the wall was built in 2018.

The Challenge

A developer approached GrowUp about a custom living wall for a new residence in Bel Air, Los Angeles. The wall was built in 2018. The property sits high above the canyons, and the owners wanted a privacy wall around the rear of the home that was functional, good to look at and brought green into the surroundings. Every finish in the house was held to the highest standard, so the wall had to meet the same bar.

Scale and site set the technical brief. The wall would run 105 feet wide and 10 feet tall. Its frame had to carry 15 lb per square foot and stand up to the occasional high winds in Los Angeles. Irrigation had to be adjustable, because LA weather varies and the watering needs to follow it.

The Solution

Planning and design

We started by drawing the wall with the developer, then designed the supporting frame and the planting. The plant layout was mapped in full using our honeycomb pot system, so we knew exactly how many plants of each species were required and the installation team knew where each one would hang.

Elevation drawing of the 105-foot living wall showing the plant layout and frame dimensions

With the design fixed, we had the plants contract grown at a nursery four months ahead of installation: 2,890 in total. Contract growing saved the client money and secured the best-quality plants for the wall.

Structure

We specified the frame and contractors built the uprights. A backing of Trex composite board gave us a surface for the vertical rails. Shade netting went up first, to let air move through the wall, and the rails were hung over it. The frame took two days to build.

trex

Planting day

The plants were transplanted into felt bags at the nursery, delivered on racks and staged on site by species.

Contract-grown living wall plants arriving on nursery racks in the back of a delivery truck

One team member directed placement from the layout plan while three others hung plants. Planting took one day. Because the plants were well sized and the honeycomb system leaves no visible structure or tray lines, the wall was complete the day we left the site.

Two installers hanging plants on the rails, with staged plants grouped by species along the base

The Results

The owners have a living privacy screen that looks organic from end to end, with no system on show. To our knowledge it was, and still is, the largest living wall in Bel Air. Nine months after installation the wall was thriving and fewer than 8% of the plants had been replaced.

Dense, grown-in outdoor living wall running beside a narrow water channel, lawn and olive tree

A video tour of the house filmed nearly three years after planting shows the wall still thriving: watch the living wall section of the tour.

Maintenance is part of that result. A third-party maintenance company visits weekly for one to two hours to trim the plants, check the water is running correctly and adjust the irrigation to the weather.