Inside Urban Green

Patrick Blanc: The Mur Végétalisé Maestro At Work

Patrick Blanc's latest vertical garden concept drapes eight stories of London's Athenaeum Hotel.

This is yet another feature article about living walls and maestro Patrick Blanc.

I learn a little more each time I read a comprehensive piece about him like this one.  

via www.sfgate.com

An exhibition at the American Institute of Architects in San Francisco highlights a decades-old idea pioneered by French naturalist Patrick Blanc: vertical gardens for space-starved cities.

The show demonstrates the versatility of such air-purifying indoor and outdoor wall gardens, and their increasing abundance in cityscapes.

While a version of Blanc's gardens, the undulating roof garden at the Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, sports many native plants to attract birds and bees, Blanc's new Musée du Quai Branly north facade in Paris fully demonstrates his patented technique for growing and nurturing a rich vertical tapestry of perennial plant, moss, fern and flower species from around the world.

Patrick Blanc Plants a Vertical Garden in Tacoma

Patrick Blanc gets around...that's for sure! He gets my vote as "king of urban greenscapers."

Source: seattletimes.nwsource.com
Via: Veg.itecture.net

VERTICAL GARDENS are literally climbing in popularity, and Tacoma is out front with a green wall designed by the man who invented them. French botanist and artist Patrick Blanc's 800-square-foot vertical garden for the Goodwill-Milgard Work Opportunity Center was unveiled in September. It graces the entrance of an imposing new building designed by BCRA Architects, and is sufficiently large and fluffy to be clearly visible from busy Tacoma Avenue.

Shades of Patrick Blanc in New York City

Click to see NY1 video.

This new living wall in the recently remodeled David Rubenstein Atrium at Lincon Center in New York City looks like Patrick Blanc's work but evidently is not. It is credited to architects Tod Williams and Billie Tsien. I'm curious as to whether Blanc had anything to do with the project.

I'm also looking forward to visiting the atrium with camera and light meter in the near future. It will be interesting to inspect the construction details of what I am assuming to be a Blanc type felt wall for the first time. Stay tuned for some close up photos!

via new.lincolncenter.org

The facility is named in honor of the philanthropist, financier, and Vice Chairman of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts David Rubenstein, in recognition of his $10 million gift to the Bravo Campaign. The Tod Williams Billie Tsien design reflects a respect for the materials used throughout Lincoln Center and provides an open, accessible, and inviting environment. The Atrium has applied to be the first LEED certified, “green” building on the Lincoln Center campus.

The Atrium also features two vertical gardens; a floor-to-ceiling fountain; a media wall with performance information, which also serves as a canvas for video presentations; an art installation by Dutch textile artisan Claudy Jongstra; and 16 “occuli” lighting fixtures that bring natural light and state-of-the-art illumination into the Atrium's interior.

Woolly Pockets: A Modular Living Wall System

It is becoming increasingly clear that Patrick Blanc has spawned a new branch of greenscaping both indoors and out. Woolly and Wally Pockets are a good example of a new product and business using a variation of his felt pocket living wall technique.

In my opinion this unitized version has great potential. I like the fact that you can start small and incrementally expand as you learn from experience.

Most new products like this are initially a bit pricey for the mass market, but that will change as this concept becomes more popular and imitators emerge. As we have seen with do-it-yourself EarthBox clones this method appears to have significant DIY potential.

Source: www.youtube.com Website: woollypocket.com

Patrick Blanc: Scientist, Botanist, Artist, Creative Mind

There are a number of videos about Patrick Blanc and his living walls available on the web. I like this one the best. Thanks to Nori of Nori's Stuff for linking to this website.

Even Patrick acknowledges the simplicity of his living wall construction. What is not so simple, however, is his incredible knowledge of the plant palette he uses to create such beautiful living tapestries. He is truly a master of his field.

The gift he gives to all of us is his sharing of how to do it. Thanks to Patrick, these living walls will become ubiquitous in the coming years. Who knows, maybe green hair will be also.

Source: www.inframe.tv

The charismatic Patrick Blanc is a French botanist and the inventor of the Vertical Garden. The Vertical Garden or le mur vegetal, is an ecological art form which has globally reinvented urban landscapes into fascinating displays of vegetation. Using a system that allows plants to grow without any soil, The Vertical Garden allows for natural living beauty in the otherwise most uninhabitable of places such as the walls of buildings both indoors or out. Watering and fertilization are automatic, so it's almost completely hassle free. Patrick, however, is not just simply a designer of Vertical Gardens, but has a highly scientific background and since 1982, has studied the many ways plants adapt to extreme situations at the CNRS, the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique in Paris.

Patrick recently visited Australia to speak at the Melbourne International Design Festival and to oversee the construction and installation of his latest Vertical Garden in Melbourne Central. InFrame.tv caught up with him for a chat about his work and documented the making of his latest Vertical Wall.

Felt Pocket Plant Wall

Thanks to Patrick Blanc the originator of felt pocket living walls we have consumer products emerging around the world. This is one of them.

Source: plantsonwalls.com

FLORAFRAME Vertical Garden Panels are made from felt pockets that are are non-toxic, durable, and eco-friendly. Felt is the perfect medium for distributing moisture to the plants while allowing the roots to breathe.

Plants On Walls makes planting easy and watering automatic. Your favorite plants can be re-arranged in pockets, allowing for seasonal decorating and special events. The panels are self watering, dry to the touch, and mount in minutes to any interior and exterior wall.

Patrick Blanc's website

Prior posts about Patrick Blanc