patrick blanc creates tropical plant walls in urban environments by growing carefully selected plants in complex hanging structures made of synthetic felt and steel and plastic under strong lights. i was first awed by one of his creations at the manhattan girbaud store: a lush living wall of plants hanging in the middle of an urban clothing store. indoor plants have an interesting history: the energy crisis of the 1970s incentivized energy-efficient buildings, unfortunately good windows and insulation decreases indoor air quality. in 1973 nasa counted 107 volatile organic compounds being off-gassed by the materials inside the space station skylab, and in 1989 the environmental protection agency counted 900 VOCs in indoor building air. these synthetic by-products of construction and furniture are thought to cause sick-building syndrome. 1984 nasa studies showed that certain plants could reduce the amounts of toxic pollutants in the air, including VOCs. while i like the esthetic of plant walls and blanc’s are spectacular, they have one flaw: the water that is constantly dripped over the plants is not recycled. while i know from personal experience that it is very difficult to recycle plant nutrients, the size and durability of these monumental walls make it a little more wasteful. nevertheless, enjoy these:
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Although Patrick Blanc makes some of the most attractive vertical gardens I’ve seen, his methods of irrigation and hanging plant material are pretty unsophisticated. However, there are a lot of vertical gardens out there that do a better job with water re-uptake. Check out this one in Canada (where it seems like a majority of the interesting work with vertical gardens is):
http://livebuilding.queensu.ca/mechanical/biowall/
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[...] the aesthetics of plant walls are important, these chunks of living architecture can also act as active air filters, reducing VOC’s and [...]
[...] in Paris I was fortunate to come across two green walls in the city: the first is a massive three-story vertical jungle atop a loading dock for a [...]
[...] became fascinated with living walls after seeing what Patrick Blanc (image from hyperexperience) did in Paris by transforming plain buildings into gardens. The entire concrete side of a building [...]