French botanical artist Patrick Blanc gives a public talk at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) Design and Architecture Faculty on Tuesday 8 July 2014.

Blanc has brought his famous vertical gardens to projects by some of the world’s leading architects including Andrée Putman, Herzog et de Meuron, Marc Newson and Saguez et Partners, and Ateliers Jean Nouvel, co-creators (with PTW) of the One Central Park residential towers on Sydney’s Broadway. Blanc’s work stems from years of botanical research into a pioneering process (now patented) that allows plants, flowers, shrubs and mosses to grow without soil vertically along a wall.

Patrick Blanc in Sydney, 7 July 2014.

Blanc will discuss his process and the challenges facing vertical gardens such as shadowing, weightlessness, and extreme climates. In particular Blanc will discuss his latest Australian project – the Jean Nouvel/PTW-designed One Central Park, Chippendale. With over 1,000 square metres of vertical gardens, this is the largest green façade on any residential tower in Australia; its two main panels stretch 116 metres skyward, making these Blanc’s highest vertical gardens anywhere in the world. His other Australian projects include the Qantas lounges in Sydney and Melbourne, the New and Old Art Museum (MOMA) in Hobart, Trio residential development in Sydney’s Camperdown.

Addressing a media brunch at One Central Park on Monday 7 July, Blanc explained that his challenge in designing this garden was integrating native plants with exotics to create a living mural that gives seasonal variations through colour, foliage and flowering. As any gardener will tell you, maintenance is just as important as selecting the most suitable species to grow up these towering, wind-swept buildings. “The point of vertical gardens is to bring life to where there is no life, so it is very important to maintain them so they survive for the future,” says Blanc.

8 July 2014
6:00 pm for 6:30 start
University of Technology, Sydney

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