Patrick Blanc
_(7166632353).jpg)
Patrick Blanc (born June 3, 1953, Paris) is a French botanist, working at the French National Centre for Scientific Research,[1] where he specializes in plants from tropical forests. He is the modern innovator of the green wall, yet recent scholarship on the subject suggest that the vertical garden (aka. Green Wall, Botanical Brick) was invented by Professor Stanley Hart White at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 1938. Professor White patented the first known Vertical Garden, or "Vegetation-Bearing Architectonic Structure and System", as a treatise on modern garden design, predating Patrick Blancs contemporary patents by nearly 50 years [2][3] Although Blanc did not invent the vertical garden, he is responsible for modernizing and popularizing the garden type. Blanc describes his vertical garden as follows:
| “ |
On a load-bearing wall or structure is placed a metal frame that supports a PVC plate 10 millimetres (0.39 in) thick, on which are stapled two layers of polyamide felt each 3 millimetres (0.12 in) thick. These layers mimic cliff-growing mosses and support the roots of many plants. A network of pipes controlled by valves provides a nutrient solution containing dissolved minerals needed for plant growth. The felt is soaked by capillary action with this nutrient solution, which flows down the wall by gravity. The roots of the plants take up the nutrients they need, and excess water is collected at the bottom of the wall by a gutter, before being re-injected into the network of pipes: the system works in a closed circuit. Plants are chosen for their ability to grow on this type of environment and depending on available light. |
” |
This type of achievement exemplifies Blanc's ideas as a scientist and also the 15th target of the Haute Qualité Environnementale ("High Quality Environment") project, although the latter gives particular stress to use of more local species, at least outdoors.
In 2009 he was awarded an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects.[4]
Works
- Green walls
- 1988 : green wall, made at the Museum of Science and Industry in Paris
- 1998 : Fondation Cartier in Paris
- 2000 : Aquarium of Genoa, Italy
- 2001 : Perhsing Hall Hotel in Paris
- 2003 : Marithé & François Girbaud boutique in Manhattan
- 2003 : French Embassy in New Delhi
- 2004 : Green façade at the Administrative building of the Quai Branly Museum in Paris
- 2004 : 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, Japan.
- 2005 : North face of the shopping centre in Avignon
- 2005 : Vinet Square in Bordeaux (with Michel Desvigne)
- 2005 : Siam Paragon shopping center in Bangkok
- 2006 : Weleda, 8th arrondissement of Paris
- 2007 : BHV Hommes shop (BHV for men), 4th arrondissement of Paris
- 2007 : CaixaForum Madrid
- 2008 : Arch at the roundabout at the Grand Theatre of Provence at Aix-en-Provence
- 2008 : Galeria Przymorze, shopping centre in Gdańsk, Poland[5]
- 2008 : Melbourne Central Shopping Centre, Australia
- 2008 : Galeries Lafayette, Berlin Friedrichstraße, Germany
- 2009 : The Athenaeum Hotel, Piccadilly, London, UK [6]
- 2010 : Ronald Lu & Partners, Hong Kong
- 2014: Central Park, Sydney
- Other works
- 1994 : Garden Festival of Chaumont-sur-Loire
Bibliography
- 1990 : Biologie d'une canopée de forêt équatoriale : rapport de Mission Radeau des cimes, octobre-novembre 1989, Petit Saut, - Guyane française, ("Biology under an equatorial forest: report of Study Radeus, October–November 1989, French Guyana, a collective study under the direction of Francis Hallé et Patrick Blanc, Departement of Industry and xylochemistry
- 2002 : Être plante à l'ombre des forêts tropicales ("Putting plants in the light of tropical forests"), Éditions Nathan
- 2005 : Le bonheur d'être plante, ("The pleasure of being a plant"), Éditions Maren Sell (ISBN 2-350-04018-6)
- 2007 : Folies végétales ("Plants' follies"), (lecture, Paris), éditions Chêne
- 2008 : Le Mur Végétal, de la nature à la ville ("The green wall in town and country"), éditions Michel Lafon
See also
Gallery
The vertical garden of CaixaForum Madrid at its creation in 2007.
CaixaForum in 2009._01.jpg)
CaixaForum in 2011, showing the evolution of the vegetation in 4 years.
Detail of CaixaForum in 2011.
Vertical garden of the Arche du rond point du Grand Théâtre de Provence, in Aix-en-Provence (2008).
References
- ↑ Ping Magazine: Vertical Garden: The art of organic architecture, 8 December 2006
- ↑ Richard L. Hindle (2012): A vertical garden: origins of the Vegetation-Bearing Architectonic Structure and System (1938), Studies in the History of Gardens & Designed Landscapes: An International Quarterly, 32:2, 99-110
- ↑ Kristin Hohenadel: All His Rooms Are Living Rooms in The New York Times, 3 May 2007
- ↑ "RIBA announces 12 Honorary Fellowships". architecture.com. 6 October 2009. Retrieved 15 April 2014.
- ↑ http://www.galeriaprzymorze.eu/?site=greenwall (Polish)
- ↑ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-10-05. Retrieved 2011-08-17. (viewed 17 August 2011)
External links
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Patrick Blanc. |
- Patrick Blanc's homepage
- InFrame.tv video interview with Patrick Blanc which includes footage of the construction of his vertical garden in Melbourne, Australia
- 'All His Rooms Are Living Rooms', New York Times, 3 May 2007
- Interview with Patrick Blanc by Ping magazine.