L'Oasis d'Aboukir
L'Oasis d'Aboukir is a latest project of Patrick Blanc, an alchemist of vertical gardening. The vertical garden, located on a formerly blank concrete building façade marred by graffiti, is 25 metres high and has 7600 plants representing 237 different species. Arranged in diagonal waves, the plants seem to reach for the sun. The wide stone bench-like border in the small square next to the green wall is almost always full of people gazing at the garden. Like a wonderful oasis...and the air here smells like a tropical garden, too. When the wind rustles the plants, the vertical green carpet seems to come alive and begin breathing.
From a very young age, Blanc has been fascinated by vertical gardens and plants accustomed to growing on vertical surfaces such as cliffs, waterfalls and caves and do not require soil in the traditional sense. He patented his vertical garden concept in 1988 and 1996. He created his first vertical garden for the Pershing Hall hotel in Paris, designed by recently deceased French designer Andrée Putnam. The idea snowballed, and Blanc has since created many similar projects both on his own and in collaboration with well-known architects such as Jean Nouvel and Herzog & de Meuron. Over 30 of his projects can be seen in Paris alone, including the vertical garden at the Quai Branly Museum of ancient civilisations.
"Do plants really need soil? No, they don't. Soil is merely nothing more than a mechanical support. Only water and the many minerals dissolved in it are essential to plants, together with light and carbon dioxide to conduct photosynthesis," explains Blanc, the alchemist of vertical gardens. His creations are actually quite like an Alaïa dress in that they serve as a second skin to a surface. In addition to plants, each of Blanc's gardens also contains a metal frame, a layer of PVC and then a layer of felt. The non-rotting felt allows the plants' roots to stretch across and through it, never actually touching the wall of the building. The thermal effect produced by the garden lowers the building's energy consumption, protecting it from the cold in the winter and acting as a natural air conditioner in the summer. In addition, the leaves, roots and microorganisms within the plants form an ecosystem that actually cleans and improves the surrounding air. Humans have so often chased nature away from cities, but Blanc's gardens are bringing it back.
The corner of Rue d'Aboukir and Rue de Petits Carreaux
www.verticalgardenpatrickblanc.com
10/2013
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