HORTITECTURE The Power of Architecture and Plants

The vertical greening system is currently being developed
by the companies BOXOM and B+M Textil. The system,
Botanic Horizon, can be used indoors and outdoors. As a
modular agricultural system, it activates the façades of
urban buildings to produce food. Therefore, the system
increases the living quality in cities and also contributes
to their possibilities for self-supply in order to be more
independent from conventional agricultural mass production.
NIKLAS WEISEL: “We are a developer of ropes, and we fill
these ropes with seeds—and the seeds and the ropes
are watered top-down with an irrigation system. The
seeds then start to sprout and grow out of the ropes.
Our basic system is like a technology hub for all useful
systems greening the façade. We also developed something
called the strawberry curtain. We tried out what
we can do with that, and we grew kohlrabi. On one cubic
meter we grew about 100 kohlrabi. The one on the picture
is 700 grams, exactly like the one from the supermarket.
In another system we grew parsley.
I cannot walk through this world without thinking: ‘Oh my
god, such a waste of energy’ because our buildings are
collecting so much solar energy without using it. I want to
use existing space. I came up with a little balance equation:
‘Energy ✗ Area = Food.’”
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