Patrick Blanc Makes Epic Greenery on Walls of Athenaeum Hotel
Shelby Lee Walsh — September 1, 2009 — Eco
References: wired & notcot.org
It’s time to look upwards and onwards when it comes to our greenery and Patrick Blanc has done exactly that with his recently completed project on the outside of the Athenaeum hotel in London. The event is as high-profile as the garden is high (8 stories to be exact).
The facade of the building is composed of 12,000 plants instead of the harsh aesthetic created by regular concrete or brick. I can see how maintenance of such a project would be worrisome for some, but Blanc has it covered with a special “plastic-coated aluminum frame [...] fastened to the wall and covered with synthetic felt into which plant roots can burrow [as well as] a custom irrigation system keeps the felt moist with a fertilizer solution modeled after the rainwater that trickles through forest canopies.”
Could horizontal gardens be a thing of the past?
The facade of the building is composed of 12,000 plants instead of the harsh aesthetic created by regular concrete or brick. I can see how maintenance of such a project would be worrisome for some, but Blanc has it covered with a special “plastic-coated aluminum frame [...] fastened to the wall and covered with synthetic felt into which plant roots can burrow [as well as] a custom irrigation system keeps the felt moist with a fertilizer solution modeled after the rainwater that trickles through forest canopies.”
Could horizontal gardens be a thing of the past?
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