Veg.itecture: VIA Walls

As I recently mentioned, there is a steady parade of visuals promoting the veg.itectural - which make sense. The distance from idea to implementation is a common theme, and requires an amazingly large amount of coordination, client will, and ingenuity. We are constantly underwhelmed by the result - but more often amazed by what is actually available when the all of the stars align. A pair of posts, starting here, looks at the updated walls and roofs in the Vegitecture series.

WALLS
Walls... living, green, vegetated? Where to start. Jetson Green goes retro in an advert/post for Green Screen the old standby trellis system used on many a project. Urban Greenery drops a few old projects from Patrick Blanc in both Thailand and France. And for some newer content, first, via Inhabitat, is from Mexico City's El Japonez Restaurant, by Serrano Cherrem Architects‘ project with an inventive solid wall of vegetation. The wall, aside from being stunning, has purpose: "More than decorative in nature, the wall helps keep the thermostat steady throughout the year while infusing the interior spaces with fresh air." See some images and details below.

:: images via Inhabitat

Following up, a more more intricate (and less real fo sho) project by bluarch Architecture that for The Greenhouse Nightclub provides alternating discs of vinyl 'vegetation', LED lights, and wood - which oddly enough are supposed to "...convey the dynamic richness of nature as a living system." Read and see much more at Contemporist.

:: images via Contemporist

So you decide. Is the 'living system' or the artificial 'dynamic richness of nature' more successful? I guess they are both relevant, but real vs. metaphorical nature is one of those easy ones to get polarized about... Another hybrid is the Mossenger, spotted via VULGARE in the post Mossenger. The project entitled 'Sporeborn' by Anna Garforth uses moss as ink for wall-mounted writing.

:: images via VULGARE

Finally, I mentioned an interior living wall to go along with the Flowerbox building, and here's a pic - design by pulltab, image via Contemporist.

:: image via Contemporist

Meadowlicious: National Wildflower Centre

Buildings that are used to celebrate botanical phenomena seem the most appopriate to become melded into the landscape in more meaningful ways. Aside from abstracted metaphor, there is a direct link between the building and the content and context in which it is meant to reference. A recent competition and subsequent announcement of winners for the UK's National Wildflower Centre had no shortage of both literal and figurative applications of vegetation from all of the finalists. The project envisioned an "...educational, conference and seed production complex at the National Wildflower Centre in Knowsley, part of the Liverpool City Region." The winning entry from Ian Simpson Architects, Adams Kara Taylor Engineers and Hoare Lea Engineers has been announced as winners of the competition for their vegetated and nautilus-inspired design.




:: images via Bustler

As mentioned, the remaining finalists showed off a variety of veg.itectural methods, from the green roofed to the visually veg.itecturally referential in my unofficial ranking of the runner's up. All images via Bustler.

DM3 Architecture


Studio Verna


Urban Salon Architects


Nicolas Tye Architects


Kirkland Fraser Moor


And another runner-up non-shortlisted entry that popped up via World Architecture Community for from Jeeyong Ann - which I liked for the site and building integration (sustainable skin system), some cool graphics, and definitely the name - Ginseng Chicken.








:: images via World Architecture Community

Veg.itecture: VIVA Conceptual 2

Part 2 of the Conceptual Veg.itecture in Visual Assessment (VIVA), showing off some of the latest representations of building greenery on the web. I'm holding onto the Evolo Skyscraper winners, as well as a proposal for a modern vegetated 'vision city' for their own posts... In the interim, here's the latest representations...

Extreme Birding - Morris Architects






:: images via SpaceInvading

“Missing Matrix” Seoul, Korea by Mass Studies




:: images via Urban Greenery

Abundant Amelia, London, United Kingdom by dallaspierce+quintero


:: image via WAN

EcoCoon - Mathier Collos




:: images via Inhabitat

Michelle Kaufmann Goes Urban


:: image via Treehugger

Living Art - Urban Landscape Group


:: image via Contemporist

Castle Cove House by Terroir




:: images via Terroir + Archimafia

Urban Plant, US - by Ellen Depoorter






:: images via World Architecture

King's Cross Central, London by Allies and Morrison




:: images via WAN

Pedestrian Overpass: NatureBridge - from GreenCorridor


:: image via Urban Greenery

Sony "Home" virtual platform


:: image via WAN

360° Building, São Paulo, Brazil




:: images via WAN

Goldhawk Road in London by Peter Barber Architects




:: images via Dezeen

VIA: Urban Greenery

The blog/tumblr Urban Greenery offers a constant and seemingly endless stream of vegetated architecture in action, call it daily green, thus the theme of this installation of VIA focuses around a bevy of posts from this source (with a few others thrown in for measure).

One of the most stunning is from Core77, combining mass transit and greenery - via UG: ""Växtväggen (Swedish for “Plantwall”) is a self-supporting system composed of a reinforced, multi-layered, synthetic and absorbent felt-surface on which plants are applied into small pockets. Michael says: ‘Just like any garden, the vertical garden is a place of life and change. I try to achieve it by finding the essence of every plant - it could be a special color of its leafs, its texture, the way it growths etc - and give each species an environment where this may be at display.'"

:: image via Urban Greenery

There's a wealth of other vertical greenery on the site, including some visuals cribbed from an old post via PingMag... including these elevators from Patrick Blanc.


:: Green Elevator in Bangkok - image via Urban Greenery


:: Green Elevator - image via Urban Greenery

And this recent post, showing that rainwater harvesting systems don't need to be ugly and utilitarian. "“CISTA is a rain water harvesting system designed for urban environments. It provides storage for rain water within a vertical planted frame, allowing us to conserve water and increase green space.”


:: image via Urban Greenery

And some ephemera...


:: Secret Garden in NYC - image via Urban Greenery


:: Roof Garden, Chongqing, China - image via Urban Greenery


:: Roof Garden, Boston - image via Urban Greenery


:: Roof Garden, Toronto - image via Urban Greenery

And a project that has made the rounds in the past few days... SYNTHe, by Alexis Rochas. One of those wow projects that doesn't really ellicit much critical dialogue - it's a pretty stunning, beautiful and horribly inefficient way to grow veggies... pretty apt for LA :)


:: image via Urban Greenery


:: additional image via Inhabitat

More VIA and VIVA on the way as the coffers are full... stay tuned.