'Going green' is the new edict of developers when seeking to enhance life in urban settings. Now, architects are bringing on pivotal landscape designers to fine-tune residential and mixed-use condos.
In conceiving New York's 53W53 tower, Pritzker Architecture Prize winning architect Jean Nouvel has teamed up with the Paris Ritz architect Thierry Despont and the landscape designer Patrick Blanc, the modern developer of the 'vertical garden'. The condo development, to be perched directly above the city's Museum of Modern Art, is set to open in 2018.
'For my vertical gardens, which will be 18 ft in height and surround the swimming pool, I'm using more than 100 species, many of them sourced from the tropical rain forest,' says Blanc. 'They will give a sense of poetry to the space.'
Creative schemes like these are aren't restricted to the United States and Europe, either. 'Right now, Jean and I are working on a huge project in Kuala Lumpur,' says Blanc, speaking from Malaysia. At the same time, he is also creating vertical gardens for developments in Singapore, Riyadh and Kuwait.
Down in Chelsea and directly opposite the High Line, David Kelly of Rees Roberts + Partners recently completed a $1 million garden for the Kohn Pedersen Fox condo tower at 500 West 21st Street, which spans the length of the building and the installation of which took an entire two years to complete. Composed of multiple layers of local trees, shrubs and flowers, Kelly's landscape design includes fully-grown 45 ft high honey locust trees and white birches.
Just why is this trend gaining traction so fast? Blanc explains: 'With increasing urbanisation globally, residents are seeking the sanctuary of nature and a direct connection between indoor and outdoor space.'
'For my vertical gardens, which will be 18 ft in height and surround the swimming pool, I'm using more than 100 species, many of them sourced from the tropical rain forest,' says Blanc.
In Chelsea, opposite the High Line, David Kelly of Rees Roberts + Partners recently completed a $1 million garden for the Kohn Pedersen Fox condo tower at 500 West 21st Street (pictured)
The garden spans the length of the building; the installation took an entire two years to complete
Composed of multiple layers of local trees, shrubs and flowers, Kelly's landscape design includes fully-grown 45 ft high honey locust trees and white birches
'With increasing urbanisation globally, residents are seeking the sanctuary of nature and a direct connection between indoor and outdoor space,' Blanc explains of the trend's increasing traction
-
Samsung and Sony have unleashed new phone flagships, with Nothing snapping at their heelsDo flagship smartphones still have a place in a world of masterful mid-range devices and a general move towards less screen dependence, rather than more? We explore two new entries into the genre
-
Find bubbly, chewy, perfectly crusted pizza at Cosetta, LA’s new Westside Italian gemLocated in a slightly industrial area by the Santa Monica airport, Cosetta, from pizza maestro Zack Pollack, champions the local Italian dining scene with tradition and innovation
-
Oscar Niemeyer: a guide to the Brazilian modernist, from big hits to lesser-known gemsArchitecture master Oscar Niemeyer defined 20th-century architecture and is synonymous with Brazilian modernism; our ultimate guide explores his work, from lesser-known schemes to his big hits; and we revisit a check-in with the man himself
-
PlayLab opens its Los Angeles base, blending workspace, library and shop in a new interiorCreative studio PlayLab opens its Los Angeles workspace and reveals plans to also open its archive to the public for the first time, revealing a dedicated space full of pop treasures
-
Los Angeles businesses regroup after the 2025 firesIn the third instalment of our Rebuilding LA series, we zoom in on Los Angeles businesses and the architecture and social fabric around them within the impacted Los Angeles neighbourhoods
-
‘Fall Guy’ director David Leitch takes us inside his breathtaking Los Angeles homeFor movie power couple David Leitch and Kelly McCormick, interior designer Vanessa Alexander crafts a home with the ultimate Hollywood ending
-
The Lighthouse draws on Bauhaus principles to create a new-era workspace campusThe Lighthouse, a Los Angeles office space by Warkentin Associates, brings together Bauhaus, brutalism and contemporary workspace design trends
-
This minimalist Wyoming retreat is the perfect place to unplugThis woodland home that espouses the virtues of simplicity, containing barely any furniture and having used only three materials in its construction
-
Croismare school, Jean Prouvé’s largest demountable structure, could be yoursJean Prouvé’s 1948 Croismare school, the largest demountable structure ever built by the self-taught architect, is up for sale
-
We explore Franklin Israel’s lesser-known, progressive, deconstructivist architectureFranklin Israel, a progressive Californian architect whose life was cut short in 1996 at the age of 50, is celebrated in a new book that examines his work and legacy
-
A new hilltop California home is rooted in the landscape and celebrates views of natureWOJR's California home House of Horns is a meticulously planned modern villa that seeps into its surrounding landscape through a series of sculptural courtyards
