Thursday November 05th 2009, 3:51 pm
Filed under: Art, Gardening
Titled, “Lettuce Field As Big As A Sky-Scraper Building” this agro-art piece by Helmut Dick is indeed the size of the neighboring building. The 10,000 lettuce heads make up 12,000 square meters, making up what appears to be the shadow. The piece was a temporary installation in Berlin-Neuköln in 2001, the largest area in Germany of apartment towers. The installation lasted the life of the lettuce before undergoing a 5 week harvest period where the piece became food that was given to the local inhabitants.
Fedor has a website called String Gardens and it contains many lovely images of just that…gardens consisting of individual plants strung up by a ball of dirt or moss. But I don’t know exactly who is behind it, or even if it’s a group or one person. There is also a section of video sequences of some of the plants swaying the breeze and they are in sort of a weird fast motion and flashy style but it allows one to see how the root balls are truly free hanging by simple strings.
There is next to no information on his website. These images all appear to be from 2009 and include what looks like one art installation. Yet, little information aside, they seem to produce compelling images although I’m curious what his mission is in doing these and what the lifespan is. Are they supposed to be art or functional…or both? Or maybe even Fedor doesn’t yet know the answers to such questions and this is simply an art of exploration and experimentation.
You know urban gardening is becoming popular when websites start popping up that want to match people up based on their gardening compatibility. But this isn’t a dating site, this is about sharing land between those that have it with those who don’t but want a space to grow food. Smart thinking. It’s a great concept and makes perfect sense.
This website is called Urban Garden Share and while it’s based out of Seattle, I can certainly see this taking root elsewhere. There are other programs out there in the nation for people to sign up for plots of land in community gardens but this one is unique in that it’s completely individually organized. It’s all about the hookin’ up.
urbangardenshare.org explains: “There is limited green space for food and flowers in this place we call the urban jungle. Matching homeowners (with garden space) to gardeners (with experience) is the perfect solution for cultivating both food production and community. Condo and apartment dwellers are faced with containers or p-patches as their only prospects for vibrant gardens. Homeowners can be overwhelmed by yet-another-garden-project. Together, we make a great team.”
I dug through some of the listings and it’s rather amusing. It’s kind of like looking for a house really…what are the qualifications that you desire? Would you like a view with your garden? Do you want your garden share to be near public transport? Or do you respond to simply written ads like “My backyard wants a vegetable garden”.
While going through some old photos I came across one of an old abandoned train tunnel in Bavaria that had been partially demolished while another portion left as a piece of history embedded into the hillside, vegetation taking over the stone. There are many things around the world…abandoned tunnels, cellars, bunkers, etc. and what might become of their future? Do they become a forgotten element in time or can they be used again, transferring a piece of history into a new future?
The most recent post over at BLDG BLOG reminded me of the re-purposed single track railway tunnel in the New South Wales Southern Highlands between Mittagong and Bowral, Australia.
Built in 1866, the railway was used as the link between Sydney and Canberra until a new double track tunnel was built in 1919. Unused for three decades, the tunnel opened once again in the 1950’s for a new purpose – to grow mushrooms.
The mushrooms have thrived in the damp and poorly lit environment of the railway underworld. Now, the Li-Sun Mushroom Tunnel leads the way in exotic mushroom development in Australia.
I would love the ability to tour these tunnels but since I can’t, it’ll be really interesting to what Geoff Manaugh has to say about them if he gets the opportunity to visit them while on Cockatoo Island for the Urban Islands design studio.
A big question that is always on my mind has nothing to do with future technology but rather how we make things work in a more susatainable way for the way things are now. No one is going to go around tearing down skyscrapers to build all new ones, so while we are continually working towards healthier cities and sustainable technologies….what do we do with what we already have?
Living roofs and walls are perfect for retrofitting buildings in a way that doesn’t have to make any changes to the structure and Australia-based 1:1 Architects have come up with a solution for skyscrapers in Melbourne. From Arch Daily: “’Our green roof concept is a flexible modular system, designed to adapt to varying scale rooftops and respond to differing site conditions and functional requirements,’ explained the architects. The roof provides a new atmosphere for the existing buildings where a variety of activities, such as an informal meeting or a simple lunch break, can be held.”
“The green roof is a completely separate entity from the existing structure. The structural timber frame, which sit upon the ‘Versijack’ footing system, provides a platform for users to access the planting crates. These crates create a shelving system that displays different plants. The packing crates, comprised of a CHEP recycled material and usually filled with indigenous Australian grasses that can tolerate high temperatures, vary in depth depending on the plant density and type. The plants help filter the airborne particles that pass over the area, creating a space with cleaner air for its occupants.”
It seems no matter how many or how little plants people put in an area, they always like to point out that they will make the air cleaner. But by looking at the images, there isn’t a huge amount of vegetation in relation to the roof and the cleanliness of the air is not likely to be all that different. However, it’s nice to see retrofitting efforts and this one looks like a good possibility for some rooftop community gardening in how they have the crates setup, even though they don’t discuss this. With such a high demand these days all around the world for urban garden spaces, the rooftop as a possibility for community gardening makes sense. Then maybe people can use their fire escapes for something else, like escaping fires perhaps.
These shiny little pocket planters designed by Puerto Rican designer Maruja Fuentes that slightly resemble little porcelain sinks are actually made of recycled materials and can create interlocking wall designs.
For a less artsy feel and just a simple plant holder for needs like vertical farming, the Outdoor Living Wall Panel Grid offers a grid system of pockets. These can be planted as single planters for a hanging art feel or grouped together to form a wall.
With the simple grid box system, this could work well for some vertical farming, especially for people like me that have little more than a fenced patio for a backyard. They could attach to the fence and maybe even provide a nice bit of extra sound barrier from my noisy neighbors too.
Using a 200 year old Spanish door, Los Angeles-based artist Michel Horvat created a living wall centerpiece for his clients home. The rich wood and hardware of the door become the frame to hundreds of succulents.
The edges were lined with copper flashing for durability before placing 300 1-inch pots inside modular baskets in the center of the door, working to balance colors and textures for an artistic masterpiece.
I often complain that I don’t have enough space since I essentially have a little fenced concrete patio for a backyard. But I really have no excuses. This guy set up his very own little apartment-dweller potted garden in New York City using his fire escape and some buckets to house herbs and vegetables.
