Wednesday, March 4, 2015

Tallest Living Wall in the World!

Vertical gardens have been increasingly seen in cities around the world. With the increasing pollution due to transportation exhausts these gardens lessen the pollution impact. Infrastructure designs vary depending on the intention of the landscape architects or gardeners, and also to the overall maintenance and total cost through time.

It was Patrick Blanc who pioneered making sustainable vertical gardens. He is a French botanist, working at the French National Centre for Scientific Research, where he specializes in plants from tropical forests. His house epitomizes his dreams, and literally materialializing with him, with all the sidewalls and nooks full of tropical plants. From there, his projects turned up in most big cities of the word. They are like monuments built to honor him. He is trying to bring nature with fresher air to people in big cities, in turn creating a better quality of life.

These look like normal window sill ornamental plants. They are small to medium size plants with flowers. Then have a second look, there are wires that guides their growths upwards and maybe downwards. They are well maintained, growing well and beautiful.

This is where it came from. The cropped first photo is at the top middle section of the above. Everything there grows favorably well, and the central wider portion has diagonal designs with different colors of plants. Isn't it awesome?

 Now look at the height of that central portion occupying several floors of the building. This photo shows the vertical expanse of at least 5 floors.

What about the above? Can you now visualize the whole expanse of the vertical garden? It is incredibly tall and wide, everything growing profusely well.

The above is the expanse of the whole structures. At the top of the taller building are 38 luxury penthouse apartments, where underneath is a heliostat of motorised mirrors that direct sunlight down onto the gardens.  At night the cantilever is used as a canvas for a LED light installation by Yann Kersale. The gardens are fed through hydroponics. 
(Ref: http://www.dezeen.com/2013/09/09/patrick-blanc-creates-worlds-tallest-vertical-garden-for-jean-nouvels-sydney-tower/)

One Central Park Sydney Tower by Jean Nouvel together with Patrick Blanc is now the World's Tallest Vertical Garden. The living wall is a 166 meter facade with 190 native Australian and 160 exotic plants.  The towers are  116 metres and 64.5 metres in height,  with 624 residential apartments, and also include shops, cafes, restaurants and office units.   Regular guided tours to the gardens are available.

"The building, together with my vertical garden, will be an architectural work floating in the air, with plants growing on the walls – it will create a very special result that will be very new to Sydney," said Blanc.


42 comments:

  1. This is incredible. Not only are they important in ways you mentioned, but they are important for their aesthetic value. I wish more cities would adopt this trend.

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    1. I guess more cities are following Blanc's style, but the real system of maintenance i doubt can be duplicated well. It is not only an engineering system but also horticulturist's and physiologist's knowledge of plants, that will let it endure harsh conditions longer.

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  2. Thank you for featuring Central Park Sydney Tower, it's very interesting project and I remember the interview with Patric Blanc couple of years back when he started this project, saying that vertical gardens are direct response to growing populations in cities where space is at a premium so his gardens can provide people with welcome oasis and he tries to bring nature to city dwellers. Improved air quality, biodiversity and relaxation are his main objectives with vertical gardens.

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    1. Hi klaraau01, you said them perfectly well. I should have said it myself in the body of the post, haha. I wish i write that well, laconic and concise. Thank you so much.

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  3. That is fantastic. I have never seen anything like that. It will be interesting to see how it grows over the years. I wonder if they will ever have to replace some of the plants or prune them. You would need some very long-handled loppers!!

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    1. Oh Nick, i bet they have already thought of anything related to that. If they were able to put that suspended mirrors on top of the building to reflect light, those maintenance are the least they would worry about.

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  4. Hey, I just found your comment on my own blog! Thanks for visiting!

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    1. hehe thanks for dropping by too. I love comments you know!

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  5. Vertical loveliness! A gift for those who pass the building and those who live there.

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    1. Yes exactly Barb, a real oasis for everybody. And i love your description "vertical loveliness"!

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  6. What a wonderful man to create such a great idea. I have seen a number of vertical gardens in London but nothing on the scale of the one you have shown. A simple idea that can be incorporated into so many of our new buildings and enhance all our lives.

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  7. What a wonderful man to create such a great idea. I have seen a number of vertical gardens in London but nothing on the scale of the one you have shown. A simple idea that can be incorporated into so many of our new buildings and enhance all our lives.

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    1. Hi thanks for visiting. Patrick Blanc is European so he might be doing something greater there in the near future.

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  8. Wow this is so cool!!! What an excellent way to green the city, benefitting the whole environment!

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    1. Yes Laura, it is incredible really, but i am most amazed with the suspended structure on top to reflect light to the plants.

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  9. Incredible plants growing like that....!!!!
    JM, IL

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    1. Hi JM, if you google Patrick Blanc's house you will be doubly or most amazed!

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  10. That is an amazing sight. It was a great idea to go vertical too.

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    1. Hi Donna, when posting it i thought of you being an architect too! Thanks.

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  11. Wow, what a wonderful living wall. Great shots of it.

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    1. Oh yes it really is wonderful, and am so happy to have seen it!

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  12. Amazing and even more so to have seen it in person

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    1. I am a bit disappointed that my co-participants in the conference from other countries don't seem to be attracted by it, moreso when they don't even know there is such a famous person named Patrick Blanc.

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  13. That is SO neat... What a great way for CITIES to have something green around... Love it... AND---helping the pollution is so NEEDED.... Thanks for sharing .
    Hugs,
    Betsy

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    1. Yes Betsy, the feeling in seeing this is just like when i first see a waterfalls! Haha i know you will relate with me fully well. I feel so privileged.

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  14. This is so incredibly cool!

    mollyxxx

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  15. Wow, that is incredible! Thank you for sharing (and for visiting my blog)

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  16. Wow! That is amazing!!! Thanks for your kind words in my blog :)

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    1. You're welcome Birgitta, hope you drop by again.

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  17. As our cities are becoming more and more high rise this seems like such a good idea. I am pleased that it is appreciated the world over, may vertical gardens become more and more popular, they are great!
    Thank you for your visit to my place!
    Wren x

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    1. I guess as long as people are still challenged there will always be inventors, geniuses, revolutionary ideas that will come out no matter how weird they are in the beginning. Patrick Blanc is one person who make things happen from very impossible but incredible ways.

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  18. It is so nice to see you Andrea..I hope you are well also. I was really taken with this post. Amazing how the building looks and how great that would be for places with no garden space. I don't know that you could do it in a cold climate like mine but people could use annuals on their balconies. Really liked this idea..thank you for sharing it with Nature Notes...Michelle

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    1. Michelle, you should see how Patrick Blanc's house in France looks like. It is in the internet, really a feat of genius because he used tropical plants. How he was able to maintain it during winter is also a big question in my mind.

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  19. This is beautiful and impressive.

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  20. These are a great feature - may they become much more popular.

    Cheers - Stewart M - Melbourne

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  21. They are just the most amazing creations. They add so much beauty to these places.

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