The Bellevue Library’s three-level parking garage opened in June, and the August installation of “living walls” ensured it will be a greener sight for neighbors and passersby.

Project: Fluidity, designed by Canadian firm Green Over Grey, is a two-story mural decorating three sides of the garage and consisting of more than 80 species of plants.

Forming a semi-abstract wave, the vegetation grows straight out of the structure’s north, west and east walls from a hydroponic irrigation system; the largest of the walls is on the garage’s east side. Different plants will bloom at different times of the year and change the character of the wall as the seasons progress.

“My goal was to propel the eye of the observer across the canvas and bring it on a return trip to the focal points,” chief designer Mike Weinmaster wrote in Fluidity’s design files. “Nature never fails to impress us and these walls are an ode to her perfection.”

Managing Librarian Rebecca Tuck said discussion of the living walls began almost as soon as discussion of the garage itself.

“I think this sort of natural landscaping is really attractive to us, in the Pacific Northwest, and features like greenery help soften the look of gray concrete,” Tuck said. “We have an architecturally award-winning library … now we have a pleasing garage too.”