NightLife presents a talk by Patrick Blanc, world-renowned botanist and inventor of the vertical garden, and creator of Drew School's 'living wall' -- the largest such installation in the U.S. The talk will focus on describing his design approach and philosophy behind his incredible creations -- vertical gardens that now number over 200 throughout the world.
Patrick is both a research scientist working for the French National Center for Scientific Research and an artist. He is known as the "inventor of the vertical garden" and is renowned for transforming naked city walls and homes into havens for biodiversity.
Drew School's 1,720 sq. ft. project will be his largest installation in the United States. His work is featured in places like Quai Branly Museum inaugurated by the president of France in 2006, Madrid's Caixa Forum Museum with 20,000 plants and 300 species, and Hotel Pershing Hall in Paris.
Bio
Patrick Blanc
Patrick Blanc is a botanist, working at the French National Centre for Scientific Research, where he specializes in plants from subtropical forests. He invented the concept of a vertical garden. This type of achievement shows his ideas as an ecological engineer and the 15th target of the Haute Qualite Environnementale ("High Quality Environment"), though the latter encourages the use of more local species, at least outdoors.
Branch of biology that deals with plants, including the study of the structure, properties, and biochemical processes of all forms of plant life, as well as plant classification, plant diseases, and the interactions of plants with their physical environment. The science of botany traces back to the ancient Greco-Roman world but received its modern impetus in Europe in the 16th century, mainly through the work of physicians and herbalists, who began to observe plants seriously to identify those useful in medicine. Today the principal branches of botanical study are morphology, physiology, ecology, and systematics (the identification and ranking of all plants). Subdisciplines include bryology (the study of mosses and liverworts), pteridology (the study of ferns and their relatives), paleobotany (the study of fossil plants), and palynology (the study of modern and fossil pollen and spores). See alsoforestry, horticulture.
Process of arranging land, plants, and objects for human use and enjoyment, usually with long and close-up views. Cyclical growth and seasonal changes provide a continuous sense of time and natural rhythms that is absent in buildings and sculptures. Gardens and designed landscapes fill in the open areas in cities and create continuity between urban structures and open rural lands beyond. Landscape-gardening areas may be of any size, from small urban courtyards and suburban gardens to many thousands of acres in regional, state, or national parks. Every landscape garden reflects attitudes toward nature and humans, revealing much about a culture and a period.
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