These days if you look at the
architectural landscape in Accra, Ghana, for example, you will realise easily
that highrise development is bursting into the forefront of building design and
construction. They come in the form of offices, hotels and residential
apartments. Houses with backyards are being collapsed for the construction of
highrise buildings, leaving little space for vegetation. If you are on say, the
seventh floor of a highrise and you are a garden enthusiast what do you
do?
You take gardening to your floor;
after all, recently, lettuce has been grown in space. Gardens enhance the
environment, for that matter your apartment. If you plant veggies you should
save money and have fresh vegetables to eat. Plants release oxygen into the
atmosphere. Indeed, trees have been planted on the rooftop of Pillagio Towers
in Accra. Pillagio Towers are located near Tetteh Quarshie Circle, on your left
hand side when going to University of Ghana, Legon from the 37 Military
Hospital.
The new generation of buildings
is variously termed biological architecture and living buildings. Classic
examples of such buildings are Park Royal on Pickering hotel in Singapore and
Bosco Verticale in Milan.
If you are a hands-on person you
can do it yourself, depending on space and scale of the garden. In other cases
professional guidance will be needed.
Basically, successful gardening
requires the necessary materials, condition and good management. In the context
of biological architecture, there is the need for integration of expertise.
MATERIALS
A basic obvious material you will
need is soil. In Ghana there is a state department called Parks and Garden Department.
It cultivates plants and sells them, and deals with related matters. There are
private persons involved in that business too. The private businesses sell carefully
prepared soil and manure for replenishing the soil. Individuals may use organic
waste to make fertilizer for the soil. Apple cores, banana rinds, orange peels,
pineapple peels etc. when properly processed could be used to enrich the soil.
In my garden, I use bird droppings to fertilize my flower beds.
Containers will be needed for the
soil. Some plant beds are inbuilt.
With the plants, care must be
taken to get the ones that will be suitable for such altitudes. A botanist
might come in handy. Through experiments you yourself could select the plants
that can survive, and maintain them.
CONDITIONS
Plants need sunlight to grow and
function. It is therefore important for plants to be placed so as to receive
sufficient sunlight. The plant must get the right temperature. Another thing
plants need is water, and in the right quantity. Some plants need a lot of
water, others need water in moderation, yet still others can survive without
water over a long period of time. This observation helps me to cut down on my
water bill. I have classified the plants according to their water needs. Some
get water frequently; others hardly get it, yet they remain in good health. The
plant must get sufficient air.
MANAGEMENT
You must have time for the
plants. You must care for them. You must tend to them. When weeds grow around
them uproot them. Turn the soil around the plants to give them air, and to
easily absorb water. Prune the plants for regeneration and refreshing. If you
over-prune a plant you may eventually kill it. Replenish the soil occasionally
to replace nutrients taken from the soil by the plant. If you are observant,
which you must be, you will note changes in the plant. A plant may flag or
wilt. That should trigger a reaction to a solution. Plants get diseased, and
when you are close to them you will quickly notice it. A chemical or biological
means may be used to clear the disease, and its spread.
RESEARCH
Read about highrise gardening as
often as possible. Research the subject on the internet. Use any other
opportunity to learn about highrise gardening. The idea is to get current ideas
and technologies to improve your garden. Even when taking a walk or visiting a
friend on another living building take the opportunity to know a thing or two
with a view to enhancing your garden.
BENEFITS
Trees purify the atmosphere. They
release oxygen into the air. Aesthetically they beautify the environment.
Plants use carbon dioxide. In our era of climate change with too much carbon
dioxide in the atmosphere, plants become critically important. Plants use
sunlight in photosynthesis. In plant-bare circumstance man takes more heat.
I leave you with a quote from
Jill Fehrenbacher, editor of Inhabitat and a follower of architechture trends:
"Living
plants…clean the air and produce oxygen, they help humidify indoor air, they
reduce storm water runoff and the urban heat island effect, and they help
insulate a building," she argues. "Even though skyscrapers like the
Bosco Verticale inherently use a tonne of resources and energy – simply by
virtue of being a high-rise building – all of those trees and plants are going
to be beneficial to the building occupants, neighbours and local
environment."
Reference:
theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/gardening-blog/2013/feb/27/bosco-verticale-vertical-gardening
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