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Patrick Blanc (born June 3, 1953, Paris) is a French botanist who works 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, specifically, he invented the modern vertical hydroponics garden, which distinguishes it from its predecessors (aka. the Green Wall, Botanical Brick invented by Professor Stanley Hart White at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 1938).
Patrick Blancs contemporary patents are 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 system 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.[2]
Contents
1 Works
2 Bibliography
3 See also
4 Gallery
5 References
6 External links
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[3]
2008 : Melbourne Central Shopping Centre, Australia
2008 : Galeries Lafayette, Berlin Friedrichstraße, Germany
2009 : The Athenaeum Hotel, Piccadilly, London, UK [4]
2010 : Ronald Lu & Partners, Hong Kong
2014 : Central Park, Sydney
2018 : Museum of Contemporary Art, Busan[5]
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 Guiana, 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
Green roof
Urban agriculture
List of gardening topics
Hanging Gardens of Babylon
Gallery
The vertical garden of CaixaForum Madrid at its creation in 2007.
CaixaForum in 2009.
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
“RIBA announces 12 Honorary Fellowships”. architecture.com. 6 October 2009. Archived from the original on 16 April 2014. 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)
https://www.verticalgardenpatrickblanc.com/node/14152 (Polish)
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.
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