Patrick Blanc (right) works for the French National Centre for Scientifi c Research
PATRICK BLANC Patrick Blanc is a botanist and creator of the Vertical Garden (Mur Vegetal)
Blanc’s vertical gardens allow plants to grow up walls without needing soil. Blanc has created more than 140 vertical gardens on buildings across the world, including the Quai Branly Museum in Paris, the Athenaeum Hotel in London, the Aquarium in Genoa and the CaixaForum art gallery in Madrid.
After visiting Malaysia
and Thailand aged 19, Paris-born Blanc was inspired by the abundant greenery and by the way plants grew everywhere – on rocks, on walls, up trees. He decided he wanted to try to do the same at home, and spent years studying the way plants grow verti- cally in the wild.
expensive in the world, so when I met the owner of the car a few weeks later in a restaurant, I offered him my spare parking permit. I was quite sur- prised when he turned out to be the professional footballer Kiki Musampa. Months later we got closer, he got enthusiastic about my plans and he said he’d like to get involved. Kiki is originally from the Congo. His father is a professor of botanics, so he already had an interest.
How is the project being funded?
Kiki Musampa is mainly funding it. We are also currently in the process of negotiating a rollout of the concept to the rest of the world, although I can’t
ISSUE 3 2013 © cybertrek 2013 The walls of the build-
ings are wrapped with a felt polyamode layer which is attached to a thin water- proof layer of PVC, which is in turn attached to a metal frame. The plants are fed with nutrient-enriched water which runs down into a trough. Any excess water is returned to the top of the wall to be used again.
say too much about that yet. We need to get the fi rst spa out, so that we have a fl agship.
Who will the spa attract? It will be quite high-end – it will attract four and fi ve star visitors.
What kind of treatments will you off er? Spas shouldn’t just offer relaxation; change is what people are really look- ing for in order to obtain long-lasting peace of mind. Areas such as psy- choneuroimmunology (PNI), which looks at how emotions and health are related, and the links between stress and disease, will be explored in the treatments we offer.
Blanc blends shade-lov- ing, moisture-loving plants at the bottom of his verti- cal walls with plants that need more light and are more hardy at the top. The plants don’t damage the building – so long as they are given water and nutri- ents, they spread only superfi cially, and need min- imal maintenance.
I have travelled around the world researching treatment ideas. I met many teachers around the world, but the Tibetan Lamas I met in India and Nepal really opened my eyes. I learned that it’s possible to not only change the mind, but also the structure of the brain. Today, pioneering experiments in neuroplasticity, a new science studying the brain’s potential for change, reveal that we are capable not only of alter- ing its structure but also of generating new neurons. There is now clear evi- dence that the brain can adapt, heal and renew itself. Our spa will offer this wealth of knowledge to its customers.
When will the spa open? Towards the middle of 2014. ●
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