Here’s our latest Silva Cell video (you can see our entire YouTube channel here) demonstrating how well the maple trees planted in Silva Cells in 2008 are doing. These trees, installed at the Athlete’s Village in Vancouver, are from one of our biggest installations to date. Each tree received, on average, 700 cubic feet of… More
One of the lesser-known applications for the Silva Cell is what we call “on-structure” — in other words, built on a pre-existing structure, such as a roof or balcony. In the case of the Lincoln Center Barclay Capital Grove, the Silva Cells are being used to grow a thriving bosque of trees on top of… More
(Silva Cells along Bloor Street) Matthew Harris has written a great article over at blogTO, “Will Silva Cells Help Improve Toronto’s Urban Forest?“ His piece gives a good overview of the many projects we have happening in Toronto at the moment — Bloor Street, the Queensway, Sugar Beach, Mill Street, West Don Lands, and more,… More
Last month the City of San Francisco released its final draft of its Better Streets Plan, a design guideline to make the city safer, healthier, prettier, and easier to use. The Better Streets Plan was developed over a number of years after a Better Streets Policy was implemented by the Board of Supervisors and Mayor… More
This set of photos is from a Silva Cell installation along Lincoln Road Mall in Miami, FL. This mixed-use promenade utilized Silva Cells in two areas: to provide additional soil volume underneath concrete mangrove water garden planters, and in a parking area along this iconic pedestrian walkway. James Urban, FASLA and Raymond Jungles, Inc. did… More
Last week I wrote about our Root Barrier product; this week I’ll look at the basics of Geomembranes. There’s a bit of confusion around the terminology for this product, perhaps justifiably so. Let me back up a moment. “Geomembranes” is a generic term that we use to describe two very similar products — BambooBarrier and Water… More
Ever been walking down the street when you tripped on a tree root or a heaved bit of sidewalk? Me too. I yak on about the Silva Cell a lot on this blog, and it’s true that the Silva Cell is a big source of excitement for us these days. But the bread and butter… More
By L. Peter MacDonagh, RLA, ISA, LEED-AP This post has a lot of statistics. If you are tired this may not be the blog post to read. Reading it when you are well rested will probably help. The May 2010 issue of Landscape Architecture Magazine has a terrific article in it, “What is a Street Tree… More
A tree’s quantitative benefits are not always easy to measure. There are numerous factors to be taken in to account, and many possible benefits to try to nail down: added value to the sale price of a home or business, psychological benefits, pedestrian safety, and of course environmental impact are just a few of the… More
Have you ever noticed how some cities in the U.S. call themselves a “Tree City USA”? I’ve been seeing that term around for years and understood it was some kind of official designation — but what exactly does it mean? “Tree City USA” is a program run by the Arbor Day Foundation to encourage the valuation… More
The first large-scale Silva Cell installation that we had was at the Olympic Village for the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver, BC. After being specified by PWL Partnership, a total of around 7,000 Silva Cells were installed by the City in 2007 along the seawall promenade adjacent to the Village. This large-scale installation supplied approximately… More
While the Silva Cell system can be optimized for tree growth or stormwater management alone, ideally we try to promote both simultaneously. Our standard details lay out the basics, but there are still some questions about just how the Silva Cell functions on sites where it is serving as an integrated tree and stormwater management system…. More
Soil. Stormwater. Sustainable Infrastructure.
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