The Green Reset: How Preserved Gardens & Moss Walls Are Transforming Workplaces in 2025

In today's rapidly evolving workplace landscape, organizations are seeking innovative solutions to meet changing workforce expectations. Gensler's groundbreaking Global Workplace Survey 2025*, which surveyed nearly 17,000 office workers across 15 countries, reveals a critical need for a workplace reset—and biophilic elements, particularly preserved gardens, are emerging as essential components of this transformation.

* You can download the full Global Workplace Survey 2025 to explore more insights and stay tuned for more blogs in their survey series.

According to Gensler researchers Janet Pogue McLaurin and Anita Grabowska, "The workplace has not kept pace with the rapid evolution of work and workforce expectations. It's time to think differently about the workplace." Their findings highlight three key trends reshaping work environments: the need to improve post-pandemic workplaces, employees craving new experiences, and the continued importance of enabling in-person collaboration.

Perhaps the most revealing is that only 14% of the global workforce desires a traditional corporate workplace experience. Instead, workers are seeking environments that feel "connected to nature, inspiring, and experimental." This shift represents a profound opportunity for organizations to reimagine their spaces through biophilic design - the integration of natural elements into built environments.

Nature-Connected Experiences: The New Workplace Imperative

The desire for nature-connected workplaces isn't just an aesthetic preference; it's a fundamental shift in how people want to experience work. As time spent learning and socializing has doubled since the pandemic, employees need spaces that support these activities in engaging, nature-inspired environments.

Preserved gardens, moss walls, and planter inserts crafted with preserved foliage offer an ideal solution to this challenge. These installations bring the psychological benefits of nature into workplaces without the maintenance requirements of living plants. They create what environmental psychologists call "sociopetal spaces"* - areas that naturally facilitate face-to-face interaction and community building.

*Sociopetal spaces: A term from environmental psychology describing physical arrangements that naturally encourage social interaction and bring people together, as opposed to spaces that keep people apart.

Agency: The New Workplace Amenity

In their follow-up article, "Agency Is the New Workplace Amenity," Gensler researchers Janet Pogue McLaurin and Jill Goebel emphasize that today's workers need "purposeful abundance" - enough of the right spaces to match their daily work activities. The study reveals that 76% of employees now have the freedom to choose their work settings within the office, compared to just 27% in 2016.

However, 44% of employees select spaces based primarily on availability rather than factors like comfort, ergonomics, or acoustic privacy. This highlights a crucial opportunity: creating distinctive, nature-inspired spaces that serve specific work functions while remaining readily available.

Preserved garden, moss wall, and preserved green wall installations excel in this environment of "purposeful abundance." When strategically placed throughout a workplace, these biophilic elements naturally guide employees toward different work modes - whether collaborative brainstorming around a preserved living wall or focused concentration near a biophilic partition. They create memorable landmarks that help employees navigate space intuitively, enhancing both functionality and neuroaesthetics appeal.

Garden on the Wall^® Advantage: Creating Workplaces That Work

Garden on the Wall^® (GOTW) has pioneered the integration of preserved nature elements in commercial spaces, establishing itself as the industry leader with over 1,850 successful installations covering 178,000+ square feet. What sets their approach apart is a deep understanding of how preserved gardens can address the specific workplace challenges identified in Gensler's research.

Unlike typical preserved garden providers, GOTW creates installations that maintain their beauty and impact for over a decade—with their proprietary rejuvenation program extending lifespans to 20+ years. This longevity ensures that biophilic investments continue to deliver returns throughout a workplace's lifecycle, aligning with the Gensler recommendation for spaces that evolve and adapt over time.

GOTW's approach to preserved gardens, moss walls, planter inserts and even draping plants with preserved foliage is grounded in principles of salutogenic design—creating environments that actively promote health and wellbeing. Their installations incorporate neuroaesthetics principles that enhance the psychological dimensions of space, creating environments that feel coherent, fascinating, and homey. This scientific approach addresses the fundamental finding in Gensler's research that employees want workplaces that support them "as a whole human."

Transforming Workplaces for Multiple Work Modes

Gensler's research shows that time spent working alone has decreased significantly (from 66% to just 36% in the UK), while time for learning and socializing has doubled. This shift demands versatile spaces that support various work modes—from focused individual work to collaborative team activities.

Garden on the Wall^®'s preserved foliage installations in vertical or horizontal plane can be customized to create distinct zones for different work activities without permanent architectural changes. A moss wall or preserved green wall might define a collaborative area, while preserved planter inserts can create semi-private spaces for focused work. This flexibility enables organizations to implement the "purposeful abundance" that Gensler identifies as crucial for workplace effectiveness.

The ROI of these installations extends beyond aesthetics. As Gensler notes, "Workers in the most effective workplaces - those in the top performance quartile - are nearly three times more likely to report that working in the office positively impacts individual and team outcomes." By creating distinctive, nature-connected experiences, moss walls, preserved gardens, draping preserved greenery contribute directly to this effectiveness, enhancing both individual satisfaction and organizational performance.

The Material Health Advantage

Beyond their aesthetic and psychological benefits, Garden on the Wall^®'s preserved foliage installations offer unmatched material health credentials. Their industry-leading sustainability certifications include Health Product Declarations (HPD v2.3), compliance with California Department of Public Health VOC standards, and 100% bio-based carbon content verification.

These credentials ensure that preserved gardens, moss walls and planter inserts contribute to overall indoor environmental quality - a critical consideration as organizations invest in workplace improvements. Unlike some others who offer limited transparency about materials and preservation processes, GOTW's comprehensive third-party testing provides confidence that their installations support both environmental goals and occupant wellbeing.

Creating Workplaces That Truly Work

Gensler's research confirms that despite current challenges, employees still say they need to be in the office to maximize productivity. "One thing is clear," the researchers note, "the office remains relevant, and the opportunity lies in making it better."

Preserved gardens, moss walls, and planter inserts with preserved foliage represent one of the most effective ways to seize this opportunity. By transforming ordinary workplaces into nature-connected experiences, these biophilic elements address the fundamental shifts in how people work and what they expect from their environments.

As organizations navigate the workplace reset identified in Gensler's research, preserved gardens offer a pathway to spaces that truly support today's workforce - environments where employees can focus on their work rather than wasting time finding the right space. With their unmatched expertise, sustainability credentials, and commitment to creating spaces that evolve with changing needs, Garden on the Wall^® continues to lead this transformation, helping organizations create workplaces that truly work for everyone.

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For more information on this subject and other related information, please visit our website: www.gardenonthewall.com

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