Jeb was scratching his head over the Oakland County (Michigan) International Airport use of 'living walls'.
A living wall (or green wall) is a fancy term for a vertical landscaping installation.
Wiki:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_wallWe commonly use these in tight sites that don't have large areas available to landscape conventionally.
Here's a fun example of how to disguise an HVAC system's cooling tower.
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/05/ugly-cooling-tower-vertical-garden-makeover-spain.phpThe press release credits the facility as "the nation's first LEED-certified general aviation airport terminal." Kudos to the airport authority and the project team for making that happen. LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is a rating system developed by the private sector, non-profit US Green Building Council to quantify the efficiency and sustainability of the design. In the past 10 years, many typical 'green' or high-performance buildings have been offices and school structures but owners of all building types are finding the value in LEED. Just like Oakland, many airports are discovering ways to use the assets they have to reduce utility costs, help mitigate their environmental impact and simultaneously save operating cost. The Indianapolis terminal (KIND) is a fine example.
Shameless plug alert: Another example of atypical green buildings is the recently completed 300,000 sf manufacturing facility in Bloomington, Indiana, that has gained LEED Certification. Designed by my firm, this was first LEED-certified project of of its size and type in the Midwest.
For more information on green building:
http://www.usgbc.org