casa VOGUE 2016
7 wonders of the wall
Article by Ruju Jasani | Photographs by Casa Vogue
For centuries, human hands have shaped gardens for cultivation, recreation and contemplation — in styles ranging from the great formal gardens of the Moors of Al-Andalus to the pastoral English landscape gardens of Jane Austen’s novela. The word ‘garden’ comes from the German garten, in Latin hortus concluses, whose original meaning is ‘enclosed garden’. Usually a garden brings to mind the space next to a structure, but can really be anything from estate grounds to flower pots on a terrace.
A cultivated garden is an idealized version of nature, depicting that which society believes the inherently wild material world should be and look like. This ideal changes as society changes. Looking through the lens of history, gardens reveal prior social practices and the political might of a past age as the emerging field of garden archaeology has demonstrated. What a garden ultimately shows is the relationship between nature and culture, at a real point in time. These days we an casually experience the garden through a stroll in the neighborhood, on a visit to the zoo or when looking through the kitchen window.
With the rapid growth of cities, we risk losing natural biodiversity. Here lies the potential to transform our relationship with nature by building smart, sensitive and holistic environments. Increasingly, hotels, resorts, retail centers and residences are prized for being environmentally-friendly and sustainable. And this movement is even more apparent in the mushrooming of vertical gardens and living walls in cities.
Here’s a look at a few vertical gardens, perfectly suited for our present needs.
888 Brannan Street, San Francisco
The industrial building at 888 Brannan Street in San Francisco’s SOMA neighborhood has undergone a complete makeover of both the interior and the exterior. A collaboration between design firms Gensler and GSky Plant Systems, Inc., this green wall stretches three storys inside the atrium, and is bathed in natural light which filters through an open skylight. This grand green wall is a living centerpiece to the historic building that has since attracted a number of technology company tenants including Airbnb.
Make it work for India: For interior green walls, consider standard four-inch pots in a tray with an efficient irrigation system. This is a great way to bring nature into your office.
Dior Ready-to-Wear Spring/Summer 2016, Paris
A towering hill of delphinium flowers, in shades of lavender and blue, graced Cour Carrée, the quadrilateral courtyard at the Louvre, forming an unusual venue for Dior’s S/S ‘16 runway show that was constructed in full view of museum-goers. Alexandre de Betak of Bureau Betak, who designs and produces fashion shows, explained that the delphinium was “something that was impressive yet charming” and an ode to fashion designer Raf Simon “showing the overlap of romanticism and modernity” as well as Christian Dior’s love for flowers. Simon’s collection expressing “an idea of femininity, fragility and sensitivity without sacrificing strength and impact” was shown in a dream setting.
Make it work for India: Plant flower stems in water absorbing foam for your next beach house dinner party. Or soak floral moss in water, then shape and place this moss on the tabletop. Periodically mist to keep the arrangement fresh.
KMC, Hyderabad
For the corporate office of KMC located in Hyderabad, RMA Architects devised a double skin facade. This allows modulation of the amount of light and air entering the building. The outer skin has a trellis system to hold local plant species that bloom at different times of the year, and change with the seasons. An integrated misting system waters the plants and even cleans the facade.
Make it work for India: Organize assorted species of climbing plants in a way that creates patterns and blooms at various times of the year.
One Central Park, Sydney
French botanist Patrick Blanc, the guru of vertical gardens, collaborated with architecture firm Aterliers Jean Nouvel on a residential building project in Sydney, which resulted in the world’s highest vertical gardens. At ta height of 120 metres, there are Australian native plant species growing in harmony with 200 exotic and colorful flowering species. Blanc says, “The biggest things to highlight is the positive psychological effect vertical walls can have on those who look at them. Instead of there being nothing or maybe a scrawl of graffiti, a simple wall can become something poetic”. There are many health advantages too. Temperature reduction and temperature control, sound insulation, the absorption of harmful compounds that can help purify the surrounding air, to name a few.
Make it work for India: Savvy real estate developers can attract more customers by building green walls for the community, and offering vertical garden customization options to prospective clients. A good felt base in a waterproof frame can house varieties of plants, from money plants to ferns.
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco
At three storeys tall and about 100 meters long, this side wall treatment has become a touchstone of the newly expanded SFMOMA museum. Taking inspiration from California’s woodlands, David Brenner, the designer founder of Habitat Horticulture “wanted it to feel natural and lush, like something you might find hiking up Mt. Tam” (Mount Tamalpais is a well-known peak in neighboring Marin county) so the garden has redwood sorrel and sword fern plants. Integrated nature with smart technology, SFMOMA has hidden sensors that monitor irrigation and moisture, while nutrients keep the living wall healthy.
Make it work for India: Felt provides a growing medium for plant roots, and makes it easier to install a plant species in its own pocket.
CaixaForum, Madrid
The culture and arts center is a sculpture in its own right. Architecture firm Herzog & de Meuron, in collaboration with Blanc, devised a vertical garden installation with nearly 15,000 plants from more than 250 species. Madrid summers can be blisteringly hot while the winters are cold, so dialing in the right quantity of water was critical to its success. The architects attempted “to create an unusual encounter between the rough and the natural… to incorporate nature so there can be the smell of a garden where you would not expect it”. Blanc notes “… plants learn how to live together, generating astonishing strategies to adapt, inventing their own forms and behaviors”.
Make it work for India: Instead of framing a painting or photograph, why not frame a garden? Fill a frame with mesh and soil held in place by a wood backing. Insert cuttings through the mesh and into the soil. Wait a few months for the roots to hold and then display.
Rubens at the Palace Hotel, London
The first idealized Garden City was built outside London as a response to heavily industrialized cities like London. It has now come full circle. An enormous vertical garden now envelopes the facade of a luxury hotel in a prime location across the Royal Mews of Buckingham Palace. The designer ecologist Gary Grant of Green Infrastructure Consultancy has worked with native plant species and plants selected by the Royal Horticultural Society to attract pollinators to this living wall. Its colors change with the seasons, and the occasional wild strawberries have inspired an afternoon tea menu at the hotel.
Make it work for India: Edible gardens offer lots of benefits. Lightweight edibles that work well are arugula, leaf lettuces and radishes.
