I spotted more gardens growing on buildings during my recent visit to London.
One of Patrick Blanc’s vertical gardens. I used to walk past this one often - outside The Driver pub on Caledonian Road in North London. - Em
Now that’s what I’m talking about!
“The windows of these traditional London row houses once opened onto a decrepit sausage factory. Now residents face a wildflower meadow blooming on top of architect Justin Bere’s new home. Insulation provided by the green roof helps make Bere’s solar-powered house energy efficient.”
Photograph by Diane Cook and Len Jenshel, National Geographic
“The scrubby foliage that tops London’s new Laban Dance Center building is more than just an attempt to make room for plants in an urban area. The roof is designed to attract the locally declining black redstart, a bird that nests in rocky, dry ground. To simulate its preferred environment, builders covered the roof with crushed rubble from old construction sites.”
Photograph by Diane Cook and Len Jenshel, National Geographic
Cleaved Apartment Complex in London Creates Its Own Garden Views | Inhabitat
“Whitehorse Street Apartments in London is located on Whitehorse Street in the prestigious Mayfair district. The lot only has a small street frontage with the bulk of the available building space located on an inner site. In order to make the apartments desirable, Studio Seilern Architects decided to create their own views, by putting a garden on the entire first floor and splitting the complex in two to create room for a beautiful set of vertical gardens.
“The vertical garden cuts the complex in two, and windows and balconies of the apartment will be covered in vegetation. Eventually as the plants mature, ivy will cascade down the glass-fronted apartments.”
