Design TrenDs
in Asia, a yearning for visible greenery has led more architects to favour the green wall.
Japan debuted the mother of all green walls – The Bio-lung – when it hosted the 2005
World exposition in Aichi. The 150m-long, 15m-high structure featured over 200,000
plants, to demonstrate their collective ability to help a city “breathe”. last year,
hong Kong’s sino group opened its 8,000 sq ft “Vertical garden”
– built 50 ft above the ground, the wall is covered with over 39,000
low maintenance plants, which help reduce ambient temperatures,
provide thermal insulation, purify the air, and even absorb noise.
imiTATiOn OF liFe
in the early 1990s, architect mike Pearce caught a documentary on the termite mound,
which has an in-built circulation system that allows its internal temperature to be kept
constant – necessary for its termite inhabitants to survive. Pearce later unveiled the
eastgate Centre in harare, Zimbabwe; the green building has a natural cooling system
inspired by termite mounds and uses only 10 per cent of the energy consumed by
traditional buildings. his philosophy? “Buildings are living systems, and we have a lot
to learn from biologists,” he says.
he’s not the only one borrowing from nature. American architect Frank gehry is partial
to fish shapes, while spain’s santiago Calatrava often uses winged structures in his
work. But a push towards sustainable living requires truly green artists to go the
distance – as Pearce did – to discover the zero-emission, energy-efficient ways of the
natural world, and incorporate these ideas into our man-made environment. This is
known as “biomimicry”, a term popularised by biologist Janine Benyus in her 1997
book Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired By Nature. With the movement gaining strength
across disciplines, the promise of a different world lies ahead. “Doing it nature’s way
has the potential to change the way we grow food, make materials, harness energy,
heal ourselves, store information, and conduct business,” says Benyus.
etched stainless-steel facade of an eco-friendly building,
surrounded by a sustainable garden. The façade glows and
shimmers when hit by sunlight
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