Green privacy wall, Lower Parel

A duplex apartment in a Lower Parel high-rise has a deck that was overlooked by a neighbour's windows. The owners wanted privacy on the deck without losing light or air. The answer was a green privacy wall, 7 m high and 9 m long: climbing plants on stainless ropes, set in a frame on the deck. Acier designed, supplied and installed the frame, the ropes and the planters in 2024.

On a high-rise deck, any screen faces strong wind, limited fixing options and load limits on the slab. A solid wall would block light and breeze, and would be a heavy thing to add to a finished deck. The fixings also had to go in without damaging the deck's waterproofing. The screen has to look good from both sides: from the deck, and from the neighbouring windows.

The wall is a welded MS frame that takes the wind load and fixes to the structure. Within it, Jakob Ø4 mm stainless ropes run vertically at 150 mm centres, crossed by Jakob Ø3.7 mm stainless rods at 300 mm and joined with rope clips. Each rope is tensioned with a threaded end and a tensioning sleeve. The close grid gives climbers support at every point, so they knit into a single green surface.

Ø4 mm rope is thin enough to disappear once the plants cover it, yet strong enough to hold mature climbers in the wind. It is stainless, so it does not rust or stain the deck. Acier also supplied the planters along the base of the wall, so the plants, the supports and the frame were planned together.

The deck now has a green screen between it and the neighbouring windows. It gives privacy while letting light and air through, and it brings planting into a high-rise home. As the climbers fill in, the screen becomes denser without any change to the structure.