
Commercial buildings are often rather basic steel buildings. Sometimes they are simple concrete or brick constructions as well. These basic layouts and designs are largely due to the large space and high construction costs. Adding advanced architectural designs increases the cost, so they are many times swapped for less expensive options. However, a commercial building doesn’t have to be boring even if it was built with a simple facade and layout.
Exterior landscaping is one of the best ways to improve a commercial building without changing the building itself. Exterior landscaping can improve a commercial building’s features not only providing positive aesthetics but also functionality for customers and employees. There are elements that you can add that will even provide style and functionality. Here are some commercial building exterior landscaping ideas and how they improve the features.
Architectural Louvers
Louvers are a great way to add architectural accents without changing the building layout. Architectural louvers go over windows and have slats to let light in while providing an interesting and dynamic look. There are also ways to incorporate louvers as a background to the exterior landscaping or use “louver-esque” walls to divide outdoor spaces and provide privacy.

Lighting
Lighting is another simple way to improve commercial building features. Lighting highlights your landscaping and the building exterior. This provides a clean, modern look, but it is also useful for keeping the building well-lit at night for safety.
Lighting can be customized in terms of direction, the number of lighting points, colors, brightness, and more. You may think that because the exterior of your building is simple, that you shouldn’t highlight it, but adding the dramatic effect of lighting goes a long way even on the most basic of commercial buildings.
Pathways
Adding exterior landscaping with pathways provides more interest to commercial buildings and is also a safety feature. Permeable walkways lead people where they need to go safely by giving them a solid, flat surface to follow.
Sometimes landscaping can cloud where essential places are on the building like the entrance so adding pathways is a great way to improve commercial building features.

Patios and Green Space
Steel buildings don’t have a lot of built-in green space as some buildings do with terraces and such. Utilizing patios and green spaces in exterior landscaping provides customers and employees a place to relax and enjoy the outdoors.
However, it also gives the building a more interesting look because there are pleasing spaces to look at. Patios and green space help highlight the features of a commercial building and give them the additional feature of extra functional space.
Employees can use these outdoor spaces on their breaks, have customer meetings outside when the weather is nice, and be used for company events as well. These outdoor spaces are especially useful if you are at the maximum use of your indoor space.
Low Maintenance Landscaping with Style
One way exterior landscaping can improve a commercial building’s features is through using different styles of low-maintenance designs.
Low maintenance landscaping keeps commercial buildings looking fresh without having to constantly upkeep them. When landscaping isn’t perfectly maintained, it can sometimes take away from the building, so avoiding high maintenance landscaping is a way to improve the features.
Low maintenance landscaping can be done in a variety of styles, it doesn’t always have to be a simple design. It can always completely match your aesthetics if done correctly. Hiring a knowledgeable team is always the key to success.
Complementary Colors

Landscaping can improve a commercial building’s features by adding complementary colors. Plants, bushes, and flowers come in a variety of colors, which is quite helpful. Adding landscaping with pops of colors that complement the steel lap siding makes the building and landscaping appear cohesive and draws more attention to the building as a whole.
Complementary colors are appealing to the eyes which means that just by adding them to the landscaping, you can improve the look of a commercial building no matter the original color of the steel lap siding that most commercial buildings have. Even if the building is a neutral tone, a pop of color will improve the building’s appeal as well.
Living Walls
One innovative element of exterior landscaping is the implementation of living walls. Living walls have plants or moss that grow right out of the wall. They are a great addition to add interest and dimension to a rather plain commercial building. Living walls are also a great way to separate spaces such as a patio area from the rest of the landscaping.
Don’t Know Where to Start?
As you can see, there are a ton of ways exterior landscaping can be beneficial in a commercial setting. If you are looking to improve your commercial building’s features with exterior landscaping, but don’t know where to start, seek out a local landscaping company in your area for a consultation.