
Approval for Hotel Covered in Plants - edward
https://www.ianvisits.co.uk/blog/2020/01/29/approval-for-hotel-covered-in-plants/
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amvp
Also see The ParkRoyal on Pickering in Singapore.
[https://wp.architecture.com.au/international/award-for-
comme...](https://wp.architecture.com.au/international/award-for-commercial-
architecture-parkroyal-on-pickering-singapore-by-woha/)

Today the plants along the edge have grown and hang off the balconies, and I
think it looks even better: [https://www.businessinsider.sg/parkroyal-on-
pickering-just-g...](https://www.businessinsider.sg/parkroyal-on-pickering-
just-got-crowned-the-worlds-best-green-hotel-heres-the-other-singaporean-
brands-travellers-loved-in-2018/)

The climate in singapore is probably more conducive to lush foliage than
London.

~~~
majos
A stylistically different example is One Central Park in Sydney [1], which
appears to still be going strong. Although I don't know what the maintenance
for it is like.

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Central_Park#Vertical_hang...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Central_Park#Vertical_hanging_gardens)

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ddeck
_> The developer claims the wall – made up of a mix of plants – will generate
seven tonnes of oxygen in a year and extract nine tonnes of C02 annually among
other benefits_

So the plants in the wall get bigger and heavier each year? Presumably there's
a limit, structurally as well as visually. I'm no expert, but I believe 9
tonnes of CO2 means an extra 2.5 tonnes of carbon every year.

~~~
LeifCarrotson
The wall is close to 200m long and 40m tall. If it were made of 4000 cubic
meters of concrete, it might weigh 10,000 tons, and the whole building might
weigh 4 times that amount. 2.5 tons is a rounding error!

Unfortunately, the chemistry and energy use to make a cubic meter of concrete
releases about a third of a ton of CO2. So this building, implemented in
concrete, would extract 9 tons of CO2 annually and take more than 1,000 tons
of CO2 to pour.

Edit: I now see that the images (especially [1]) describe a more expensive
steel-and-glass building. It will probably still include lots of concrete, but
2.5 tons across the whole building is not a big concern. (Not to mention
they'll likely have to do some gardening occasionally).

[1]: [https://www.ianvisits.co.uk/blog/wp-
content/uploads/2019/10/...](https://www.ianvisits.co.uk/blog/wp-
content/uploads/2019/10/citiscape-house-05.jpg)

~~~
ddeck
Keep in mind that the 2.5 tonnes is carbon only, the mass of additional plant
matter is likely more than double that given the water content and other
elements. Additionally, it's not evenly distributed over the building, but
cantilevered out.

That said, I agree with you that it's likely to be trimmed for aesthetic
reasons well before it becomes a structural issue; which is why the annual
carbon offset claimed is misleading - it assumes the biomass increases
annually without intervention.

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londons_explore
I bet this will look awesome when it's finished... And then 5 years later, it
will be half dead, and it'll be removed.

Really it's just a way to win approval for a building that otherwise would
have been denied as being too ugly.

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markplindsay
This reminds me a lot of PARKROYAL on Pickering[0], a very cool-looking hotel
in Singapore. It's probably much easier to pull off this look in a tropical
rainforest climate, though.

[0] [https://www.archdaily.com/363164/parkroyal-on-pickering-
woha...](https://www.archdaily.com/363164/parkroyal-on-pickering-woha-2)

~~~
overcast
London is basically a temperate rain forest.

~~~
Zenst
For majority of the year, you're not wrong. Assuming you can have a forest of
concrete.

[EDIT ADD] Yes London does have some parks, though you could look at those as
Oxygen watering holes in relation to the local environment.

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m-i-l
Great idea, but I hope they have provisioned for a lot of expensive care and
maintenance to keep the living walls alive, otherwise they'll end up with a
dead living wall like the one in Paradise Park in London[0].

[0] [https://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/home/paradise-park-
livin...](https://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/home/paradise-park-living-wall-
scrapped/8602801.article) or [https://www.standard.co.uk/news/the-living-wall-
of-islington...](https://www.standard.co.uk/news/the-living-wall-of-islington-
is-dead-6763418.html)

~~~
dmix
This isn’t a small government run building where finding the right talent and
money to fix a failed pump system is a big deal.

But it is at a much larger scale, even far more than the Singapore example
others posted. So they better not cheap out on the watering and maintenance
tech/budget.

~~~
m-i-l
Yes, I'd imagine a hotel in central London would also have more incentive to
keep it going. Maybe in the past 10 years the technology and/or understanding
has improved too.

There's a much smaller scale one on a private residence that I pass most days
that the owner (or new owner) has given up on though. There's something very
sad about it, like it symbolises lofty dreams for a greener future that have
withered and died.

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duxup
I really like the idea here but man I hope the system is well thought out /
proven. Maintaining plants can be a bit of a chore as it is when they're
vertical on the ground in the earth.

This seems like it would be pretty complex to get just right and repairs and
etc would be a lot of work.

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fredley
> Fully open to the public

Probably end up like the top floor of the walkie talkie. It's free to visit,
but you need to book a ticket for a specific time well in advance (if you're
visiting London it's a better visit than the Shard though, in all honesty).

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lleolin
I'm enamored by the aesthetics of it but it really leaves me quite curious as
to the practical considerations of doing it or what might prevent it from
being done more often.

~~~
vkou
Do you have houseplants?

Keeping plants alive requires labour and water. Labour is expensive. Water
needs to be kept carefully contained, unless you want it to destroy your
building.

~~~
gwbas1c
It's easy if you select the right houseplants. Most of my houseplants don't
require a lot of water. I have a sunroom with cactuses that I give occasional
drinks in the winter, and then every 2-3 weeks in the summer I drag the hose
in and soak the pot. Doesn't take much time at all.

IMO, they will probably choose the plants carefully and set up an automatic
watering system.

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lightedman
One small thing it seems people forget...

Plants can rip concrete apart like nothing.

So how are they going to ensure the plants themselves do not compromise the
integrity of the building structure after some point and time?

Having done restoration work on old abandoned warehouses, I doubt they thought
this cunning plan through all the way. Roots like to find a crack filled with
any kind of moisture, and then keep digging.

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DocG
First thought I had - how effective it can be cooling the street down.

Reminds the water walls they use to cool air down.

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ChickenTicklerz
Does anyone know if there are any plans for more buildings to be done like
this? This looks like a really great way forward!

~~~
jsilence
It probably would be much more efficient if the guests would simply refrain
from travelling to London.

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NPMaxwell
OP is about a hotel that has planters on its walls so that exterior walls are
covered in plants. People approve of this hotel. It is not that ratings on a
website are overwhelmed by fake raters established in positions where they can
spoof the system.

