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A Bridge to Nature: Barreau & Charbonnet's "Volet Vegetal" Urban Gardening Concept

By Ray Hu - August 27, 2012

in Object Culture

All images courtesy of Barreau & Carbonnet; 'gif' it a second to load

We're always curious to see new developments in urban gardening trend as it grows parallel to broader interest in sustainable foodways, from reclaimed spaces to apartment-friendly planters to conceptual experiments. French designers Nicolas Barreau and Jules Charbonnet, based in Paris and Nantes respectively, recently created an innovative urban gardening apparatus that lies at the intersection of all three. Earlier this summer, their eponymous design studio presented "Volet Végétal" at the Jardin des Tuileries as a finalist in the Jardins Jardin design contest.

The window-mounted chassis, which holds three planters, is operated via pulley, as a sort of drawbridge outfitted with houseplants and herbs:"Volet Végétal"' is a project that we thought for a Parisian design contest "Jardin Jardin" as an industrial product for people who are living in apartment deprived of gardens and balcony. Users have just to plug the structure on the outside of their windows. Horizontal position to enlarge a green view on the city land by trying to go further from the facade of the building and get more ornamental stand for plant. Vertical to create a shutter of light, a filter for green air and also for an easy garden upkeeping.

If it weren't for NYC's oppressive humidity (this month in particular), the elegant system might make an immeasurable aesthetic improvement from the unsightly air conditioners that are an acne-like blight on many façades here—is this also the case in Paris?

It looks like the "Volet Végétal" might include 'feet' so that it can be removed from the window as a freestanding, tiered planter.

Barreau and Charbonnet (that really does have a nice Francophilic ring to it, doesn't it?) are currently working on bringing a production version of "Volet Végétal" to market.

Hat-tip to Sarah

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ben

12 years ago

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funny how we explored this exact concept in a project called "zerospace" "Questionning the relation between real space and perception of space" in small type apartment 8 years ago .
This was one of the "conceptual vision"we had, we never pushed it to the next level, glad somebody is bringing this type of thinking to market.
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Rich Jones

12 years ago

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It's a nice idea, but isn't having something dangling over a public sidewalk (attached by bungee cords, no less) totally dangerous and completely illegal?

Looks nice though. Rich, http://gun.io
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Blair Miller

12 years ago

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Neat concept, but I see several problems right off the bat. First, while this might work well for small ornamental plants or several batches of wheatgrass, plants that produce any substantial amount of food also require a substantial amount of space, typically in the vertical dimension. A typical window won't provide that, at least not for anything more than a single tier of plants (also known as a window-box). Second, large plants typically have larger root bundles and/or require plenty of water--small pots like that will require nearly constant watering to keep things from drying out. Again, smaller plants would be okay, but smaller plants produce little food--growing a single tomato over the course of a summer doesn't really count as feeding yourself. Third, out away from the building, I'd have to imagine the wind is horrendous--without a healthy root bundle and/or some sort of stakes or supports, large plants would likely take a serious beating. Fourth and finally, bugs. Even decorative plants attract them, as does dirt. Bringing plants in and out of the house on a regular basis--and having to remove/unhinge/whatnot the screen out of the way to do so--seems like a good way to get your dwelling infested with all sorts of undesirables.

All of that said, I really like the idea of having light filtering through plants, with the option of moving them when it gets darker. There are ground level windows looking into my finished basement, and thanks to the previous owner, plenty of perennials growing in front of them. In the evening, when the light hits them and passes into the basement, it gives everything a beautiful greenish tint that makes me think of being outside.
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