The Positives of Ivy on Workforce Housing Buildings
When I lived in Jersey City after a long day in the office my route home took me to Newark Avenue, where Palisade Avenue would intersect and I would make a right and head home. On the intersection of Newark and Palisade Avenue is the Hudson Gardens workforce housing buildings. The complex comprises 6 buildings ranging from 3 to 5 stories. The buildings have a brick facade with a painted concrete base and pitched roofs. When I read the name Hudson Gardens a thought came to me. Wouldn’t it be cool to make this really a garden building? A livable building, breathing, green, creating an interest in the building bones and connecting the residents to where they live. So how does one do that? Feeding and planting some ivy on the building and watch the building grow....
I've been fascinated with this concept for a while, and it is reinforced every time I walk by a building covered in ivy. This happened just recently before I was about to take the ferry to Martha's Vineyard in the town of Falmouth. Here as I was walking the town in the early morning with the hour, I had time to kill and I came across the public library of Falmouth. It wasn't the books that drew me to the building but the ivy that encapsulated it. It was early in the morning, but the building was alive even though I didn't have my cup of coffee yet. There is something about a building blending in with nature that is striking. The built and natural environment acting cohesively as that mother nature would have wanted.
So, let's delve into this idea a little further. Why is ivy frowned upon by some building owners? There is thinking that ivy can cause structural damage to buildings. There has not been concrete evidence to this. The most common types of ivy are Boston and English. According to SF Homegates “Although well-built masonry can tolerate the growth of ivy, weakened brick walls with crumbling mortar or loose bricks give ivy roots an opportunity to invade crevices” So before this is thought, a structural/exterior analysis of the building should be performed. But to the opposite spectrum Ivy may help buildings. “According to a three-year study by scientists at Britain's Oxford University, ivy grown on sound masonry walls not only may be harmless, but actually may form a shield to insulate the building from temperature extremes.” http://homeguides.sfgate.com/kind-damage-ivy-cause-homes-exterior-95803.html
With that, why not create a model on creating a green living building in the same token enabling further insulation at no cost? Understand that this idea cannot be implemented on a 20-story workforce housing building but could be predicated on a mid-rise 3-5 story workforce housing complex.
There are several other rationales why this can be a novel idea. Ownership, connection with a unit owner to the building and creating a better healthy living environment. A report by Environmental Health Perspective titled “Dwelling Disparities: How Poor Housing Leads to Poor Health” https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1257572/ focuses how the built environment in public housing has a negative impact on the resident’s health. I’m not saying ivy on buildings will drastically change this as there are so many other parameters, but it can help.
Another idea is to create a connection to where one lives. How about this novel idea? Twice a year create a community event where everyone in the housing community will come together and trim the ivy off the building. Imagine a community taking pride in their building and providing maintenance on their building. This creates a connection to one’s home and creates a sense of home ownership and connection. I know you’ll hear the workforce housing authority’s saying what about the budget. This can be true. But this goes beyond budget, it’s about creating a connection where one lives, creating a better, healthier living environment, adding architectural interest and making the buildings stand out. So, would adding ivy to a low-rise workforce housing building would accomplish all of this? It could, but in my opinion it’s worth a try.