Patrick Blanc and his plant walls
Patrick Blanc, the pioneer of vertical gardens, is causing a stir in Germany.
For some time “vertical gardens” has been the magic word that is providing the confined spaces of cities with a maximum of greenery. Their inventor is the Parisian botanist Patrick Blanc, who has become the globally sought-after star of vertical garden art. His idea is as ingenious as it is obvious: where urban land is scarce and dear, Blanc sets plants growing up walls in a lush abundance of species diversity. He calls his varied ensembles of small shrubs, floral and leafy wonders, ferns, grasses and mosses simply “mur végétal”, plant wall.
His plant walls have also been successful in Germany. The vertical garden that was opened in 2012 in the Kulturkaufhaus Dussmann near the Friedrichstraße station in Berlin is, with its over 600 tropical plants spread over 270 square metres, Blanc’s hitherto largest indoor vertical garden. The project marks a new record in his roughly 250 creations across the world. The Berlin plant wall rests in an approximately 16,000 litre water basin.
In 1988 Blanc patented his subtle system, which applies undulating cascades of plant carpets to outer and inner walls. Since then, he has been planting greenery on the many metres high façades of public buildings such as museums, the airy entrances of financially powerful companies, upscale fashion houses, trendy hotel lounges, shopping malls, bleak car park ramps, bridges, street canyons and also private houses between Paris and Tokyo, Dubai and Sidney. Aesthetically fascinating, these vertical paradises provide at the same time better air and an air pollutant-reducing biodiversity in cities.
Architects such as Renzo Piano and Herzog & de Meuron value the new dimension that Blanc has opened above all for pioneering hybrid architecture. Unlike competing brand names and modules such as Greenwall, Gardenwall and Wonderwall, Blanc’s Vertical Gardens make do with a plastic mat without soil. Blanc’s trademark is the subtle painterly creation of floral walls. With each of his mur végétal, the much-travelled botanist gives ever new expression to his enthusiasm for plants.
