Showcasing Architectural Fungi at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show Highlights an Eco-Friendly Perspective
*Sustainable Fungal Pavilion Steals the Show at the Chelsea Flower Show***
Welcome, folks! Let's talk about this year's Chelsea Flower Show, where the spotlight was on a remarkable show garden called 'Avanade Intelligent'. Designed by the genius Tom Massey in collaboration with Studio Weave's architect, Je Ahn (known for their masterpieces like the Seosaeng House in South Korea and the transformed Devon cottage called Made of Sand), this garden was a breath of fresh air!
Tom Massey has been praised for his gold medal-winning masterpiece that stood tall on Main Avenue. The garden emphasized urban trees' importance in filtering air pollution, cooling streets, and supporting wildlife. To embody their low-carbon vision, they opted for primarily reused materials, with Chinese cedar and Sichuan pepper trees gracing the space alongside an eco-friendly pavilion. The pavilion's outer panels were made from fungal magic – mycelium-bonded wood shavings! That's right, fungi were the surprise star in this sustainable architectural marvel!
As Je Ahn explained, the brief for their collaboration was to create a landscape from reused and low-carbon materials. They decided to grow certain elements of the building itself using mycelium. This clever organism grew and bonded the wood shavings together, creating organically patterned panels. When air-dried, the mycelium stops growing, fixes in place, and can eventually be composted and replaced. It's a materials solution that's carbon-negative, nature-based, and completely non-toxic!
The 'Avanade Intelligent' garden also waged war against the perils that threaten urban trees worldwide. Tom Massey sheds light on the issue, stating that around the globe, urban trees face a high rate of death within their first year or decade. Climate change is a significant factor, but the garden showcases innovative methods to combat this. Using AI, the garden monitors the health of its trees, providing vital data on growth, sap flow, air quality, and soil conditions. The AI, trained with specific information on each tree, offers nurturing advice to gardeners based on these insights and weather data.
Post-show, the 'Avanade Intelligent' Garden will find its new home in Manchester's Mayfield Park. Don't miss out on the innovative fusion of art, sustainability, and technology at this year's Chelsea Flower Show!
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*Innovative coastal garden turns heads at this year's RHS Chelsea Flower Show*
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This year's RHS Chelsea Flower Show amazed visitors with the 'Coastal Living Show Garden', a home-and-garden masterpiece that showcased sustainable-living principles. Designed by Garden Club London and MagnusProjects, it featured a seaside cottage and embraced elements like rainwater collection, eco-friendly building materials, and coastal vegetation designed to withstand storms and promote biodiversity.
Technology played a crucial role in the garden's success as well, with smart irrigation systems optimizing water usage and sensors monitoring sea level changes to prevent flooding, making it an ideal model for a resilient, modern lifestyle.
