January 24, 2013

Living art: Flora for beauty and sustainability

This post was inspired by a dream I had last night. I was flying over a cityscape that was blanketed and dripping with lush vibrant gardens. The tops of all the buildings were cultivated into beautiful gardens, and the foliage spilled over their edges and created a city fully alive as a forest.


Incorporating plants into architecture and sustainable design is not just a dream, but reality. Rain gardens, green roofs, and natural filtration systems are an integral part of sustainable and responsible water use and management in our built environment. Plants are also beautiful and can be found in more and more art.


The use of plants in sustainability and art is much too large to talk about in just one post, but here is a whirlwind tour of the possibilities:


Cover it in green:






Mud Maiden
Lost Gardens of Heligan in Cornwall, UK
Susan & Pete Hill

Write and draw in green:


Moss Stencil
Brooklyn, NY
edina tokodi & józsef vályi-tóth
Anna Garforth
Incorperate green into sculpture:
Arbor Lace: 2002
Rockland Center for the Arts, NY
9’ x 4.5’ x 18’
Michele Brody
Make a green wall:







Green your roof:









Green-filter your water:

Rain Garden
John Todd Ecological Design

More to come!