L'Oasis d'Aboukir | Patrick Blanc

The Vertical Garden on concrete walls: a shelter for biodiversity and a cleaning system for cities. Thanks to its thermic insulation effect, the Vertical Garden is very efficient and aids in lowering energy consumption, both in winter (by protecting the building from the cold) and in summer (by providing a natural cooling system). The Vertical Garden is also an efficient way to clean up the air. In addition to leaves and their well-known air-improving effect, the roots and all the micro-organisms related to them are acting as a wide air-cleaning ecosystem. On the felt, polluting particles are taken in from the air and are slowly decomposed and mineralised before ending up as plant fertiliser. The Vertical Garden is thus an efficient tool for air and water remediation wherever flat surfaces are already extensively used by human activities The Vertical Garden allows human beings to re-create a living system very similar to natural environments. It is a way to add Nature to places where people once removed it. Thanks to this botanical knowledge and long lasting experience, it is now possible to display naturallooking plant landscapes even though they are man-made. In any city, all over the world, a naked wall can be turned into a Vertical Garden and thus become a valuable shelter for biodiversity. It’s also a way to add nature to the daily life of city inhabitants.