Introduction

Light building systems with mosses consisted in a patented low-cost and low-maintenance invention for the greening of building envelopes, and other urban surfaces. Mosses were selected and tested for water stress resistance, and can be applied on surfaces with different inclinations, heights, and orientations and under different environmental conditions.

Technical features

The system consists of a tested formulation of mosses made with a monospecific paste composed by Barbula unguiculata, or Grimmia pulvinata, or Homalothecium sericeum or a mixed moss paste with the three species, with a wide geographical distribution, suitable to resist to the abiotic and biotic stresses of the the urban ecosystem, able to grow outdoor, on surfaces with different inclinations; (2) a natural gelling agent added to the moss species; (3) different types of flexible supports of natural origin, or environmental-friendly, suitable for different outdoor uses; (4) systems for applying these green supports to surfaces of different nature.

Possible Applications

• Building envelopes and roofs;
• Shielding of parapets, balconies, terraces;
• Greening of vertical surfaces of street corridors;
• Covering for pillars, beams, support elements;
• Construction site fences;
• Covering of temporary structures.

Advantages

• Low-cost and low-maintenance system;
• Light and thin system compare to green systems available on the market;
• Slow and constant moss growing with homogeneous coverage;
• High adaptation to surfaces with different inclinations and materials.