With the progression in time and technology, some insanely creative prospects have been probed into, and the creation of newer and innovative ideas and projects have been launched into the creative forefront. Vertical Gardens are one such a phenomenon and they are creatively vibrant products of innovative thinking. First designed and created by French botanist Patrick Blanc, there are innumerable outstanding vertical gardens all over the world, and here are our top picks.
1. Caixa Forum, Madrid
Image courtesy: cosasdearquitectos.com
Designed by Patrick Blanc in the capital city of Spain, this vertical garden constructed on the outer wall of a former power station consists of more than fifteen thousand plants of over two hundred and fifty species.
2. Tree House, Singapore
Image Courtesy: theurbandeveloper.com
Developed in Bukit Timah in Singapore by City Developments Limited, this condominium has two vertical gardens on the facade of the apartment building, spanning 2,289 square metres, making it the largest vertical garden in the world according to The Guinness World Records.
3. The Semiahoo Library, Surrey
Image Courtesy: surrey.ca
Designed by Mike Weinmaster in Surrey, Canada, the Semiahoo Library is acclaimed as an exceptional living work of art and outstanding example of vertical-garden design and technical expertise. It’s a masterpiece made with plants.
4. Centro Commerciale Fiordaliso, Rozzano
Image Courtesy: theurbandeveloper.com
This shopping centre, located near Milan, boasts of a vertical garden with a colourful array of more than 44,000 types of mosses and plants over an area of 1,263 square metres. Designed by architect Francesco Bollani, the garden also regulates the temperature inside the shopping centre by reducing sunlight.
5. Singaporean Office Garden
Image Courtesy: buzzfeed.com
Designed and created by Tierra Design / POD, this interior vertical garden has been the recipient of various design awards and is located in a building in Singapore’s Central Business district.
6. Pont Max Juvenal, Aix en Provence
Image Courtesy: twistedshifter.com
Another masterpiece designed by Patrick Blanc, the Pont Max Juvenal used to be a giant concrete wall facing the road, which was converted into this beautiful vertical garden sporting various species of plants.
7. San Vincente de Raspeig Children’s Library
Image Courtesy: buzzfeed.com
This six stories tall vertical garden was designed by architect Jose Maria Chofre, and is considered one of the premier works of vertical garden installations in Spain, with the other critically acclaimed installation being located in Madrid in Caixa Forum (also featured in this list).
8. The Urban Cactus, Rotterdam
Image Courtesy: Art History Archive
The Urban Cactus is an architectural project in Rotterdam, which has been created by UCX Architects. The project includes about ninety-eight residential units on nineteen floors, with staggering balcony gardens.
9. The Tower Flower, Paris
Image Courtesy: parisisinvisibe.blogspot.com
The ‘Tower Flower’ was designed and built by architect Edouard Francois in Paris’s 17th Arrondissement, and contains three hundred and eighty giant concrete flower pots embedded in each of the apartment building’s balconies.
10. Butterfly Dance, National Theatre, Taipei
Image Courtesy: twistedsifter.com
Completed in 2009, Butterfly Dance is a vertical garden installation designed by Patrick Blanc, and located in the National Theatre in Taipei. Orchids and ferns are the two major plants used to create this beautiful piece.
11. Capitaland, Singapore
Image Courtesy: twistedsifter.com
This vertical garden in 6 Battery Road, Singapore was also designed and artistically made by French botanist and widely considered father of the vertical garden, Patrick Blanc. His style of blending some colour with the plants is clearly visible.
12. Living Wall at the Birmingham NEC
Image Courtesy: buzzfeed.com
Located at the LG Arena in Birmingham, this vertical garden features a “compost modular system” which was built into a steel sub structure. This vertical garden was developed by the Scotscape, UK’s leading landscape and construction services.
Not only do vertical gardens enhance the aesthetic beauty of any drab mechanical structure inside and out, it can also double up as a sustainable living object. With innumerable vertical gardens and living walls installed with environment friendly machinery to help facilitate healthy and green living and the plants doubling up as temperature regulators in the structures they are installed in, vertical gardens have emerged as highly creative and promising ventures.
With the already numerous benefits–creative, aesthetic and environmental–of a vertical garden, is the added bonus that they are also very much domestic and can be installed easily in our homes and spaces. So what are you waiting for? Go hunting for the greens and invest in having your own personal vertical garden with the help of some tutorials and transform your space into a green and beautiful one.
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