Spring Plans: How Designers Are Turning to Nature for Sustainable Solutions
While March is undisputedly the first month of spring, there is always some debate regarding the true first day of the season. Meteorologists consider the start of the month as the beginning of springtime in the Northern Hemisphere, whereas astrologists deem it the Vernal Equinox. This year, that day – the point at which day and night are equal in length – will have occurred on 20th March.
But for the majority of us, phenological indicators such as an uptick in temperature and gradually extending hours of sunlight offer the most visceral feeling of a seasonal change, with the most visually impressive of these transformative times being the sudden explosion of colour provided by the natural world. My cycle to work this morning for instance took in snowdrops, daffodils and crocus, along with various blossoms and the subtle but widespread smattering of buds on the trees.
So the good news is this: all ends up, spring has officially arrived in the UK. But, it comes with a caveat, because the bad news is that the once predictable and celebratory blooming of the new season is being affected by climate change. It is believed that spring events have literally sprung forward over the last 25 years, and while this may sound positive to the winter-weary among us, the ramifications can include vulnerability in plants and disruptions to ecosystems, along with the overall unpredictability.
Yet for some, it is in plants that we may begin to find solutions to this steadily increasing problem, with numerous designers and practices turning to the natural world and utilising flora and fauna as integral and multi-functional materials in their projects.
elho is already in the plant business – sustainable designer plant pots to be precise. But their latest initiative, elho X, aims to take their ecological credentials to the next level and inspire an even wider audience to incorporate more greenery into their lives. Billed as “a creative innovation platform designed to collaborate with designers, artists, scientists, architects, and other creative pioneers to develop new sustainable solutions and products” elho X debuted with Cooling Down the City during Dutch Design Week.
Constructed from two circular tiers of scaffolding crammed full of plants, the eye-catching and immersive installation surrounded an ailing oak tree that visitors were invited to take in from all angles. The benefits of forest bathing are now well established, but this small-scale, urban version wasn’t merely about observation or immersion in nature alone. As the project title suggests, the installation also serves another purpose. In this instance, its impact is underlined by the recovery of the oak, which went from being heat-stressed and suffocated to flourishing as a result of the protective barrier of plant life. Although relatively rudimentary, this innovative approach is one that organiser Caroline Krouwels hopes can be applied to more of the built environment in general. The cooling effect of plants, coupled with their ability to filter the air, is of benefit to humans and the natural world alike. The more projects that share elho X’s motto, “Creative Collaboration, Naturally”, the better – particularly when integrated into the urban landscape.
The team behind the Embassy of Circular and Biobased Building recognises only too well that in our existing systems, urbanisation comes at the expense of nature. As previous projects and recent proposals highlight, the Dutch organisation is a trailblazer when it comes to sustainable R&D for the construction industry. The project, titled Building as a Landscape, poses the central question, “How can we connect buildings and infrastructure with nature to develop a regenerative urban landscape?” Their findings, also displayed during Dutch Design Week, culminated in the design of a pavilion created from the local surroundings, which is intended to work with the urban ecology rather than imbalancing and damaging it. While in previous years the Embassy opted for visually arresting 1:1 scale constructions, this incarnation instead worked with a mix of formats, with a 3D printed model of the shell-like structure alongside an array of regenerative building systems shown to scale.
But the ambition of their proposal remains as sizeable as ever and represents a mutually beneficial convergence of nature, construction and infrastructure. The foundation of the pavilion would be 3D printed on-site from locally excavated soil, with a body of water introduced to fill the neighbouring dig site. The stepped structure of the domed building itself ensures delayed water drainage, which is retained in the new pond environment to further abate run-off while creating natural habitat for animals and plants alike. Another of the building systems proposed also incorporates tiered planting within the structure, allowing for pockets of ecosystems to form across the entire building, which the team suggests could one day include large-scale infrastructure as well as housing.
Fellow Dutch compatriot Florian Schoonderbeek has been researching and developing another systemic plant-based adaption, which has the potential to be rolled out across much of the Northern Hemisphere, and beyond. Intensive farming, overcultivation and variations of land, air and water-based pollution have made agriculture somewhat of a political hot potato in recent years. Florian’s tried-and-tested project, Circular Farming, presents an alternative form of arable farming that utilises concentric circles and a rotating arm known as the Compass. Rotating from the centre, this solar-powered arm carries people, tools and technology while also monitoring crops and collecting soil data via innovative sensors. The system is designed to create a lightness of touch to the cultivation and collection of crops, while also being space-efficient, making it a highly practical solution to smaller-scale sites on the edge of urban dwellings.
In responding to an open call from What If Lab, designers from the Netherlands and Indonesia have teamed up to create Kampung Kollektief. An R&D group intent on fostering the co-creation of resilient infrastructure for and with local communities, the team have also placed plants at the heart of their output. Their research is both in-depth and highly revealing, but in essence, they are interested in creating small-scale interventions in highly urbanised areas that help to alleviate the impact the city creates upon the climate and the people who inhabit them.
Starting in Jakatra, a highly populated and environmentally vulnerable city, the team identified idiosyncratic and organically formed settlements, known as Kampung, as a starting point. Such environments are built using whatever materials are to hand, and tend to pop up and fill underused or overlooked spaces in the city, which in turn creates tight-knit communities. Due to their unregulated nature, they do however come up against conflict and shame, with increasing reports of families being evicted and homes demolished. As such, Kampung Kollektief recognised that the key question regarded what public space should look like, who it should be used for and how people can share in its development together. Immersing themselves in the community of Kampung Susan Kunir, located by the Ciliwung River, they set about uncovering the history and details of people’s lives while formally mapping out the settlement. From here they pinpointed several possible infrastructure developments that might benefit the community and the city in general, recognising the potential of a semi-disused road as a new community hub. From here plans to create the Rujak Plaza began, once again working closely with locals to ascertain how and why they might utilise such an environment.
One of the things that stood out most prominently to the team was the number of people discussing food and the local dish rujak or ‘fruit salad’, but for which there were no trees nearby to harvest. From here, the idea of reintroducing neighbourhood trees took shape, including pineapple, mango and peanut to name but a few. Continuing the community spirit of the project, locals were encouraged to help build the moveable plastic planters in which the trees reside. In recycling locally sourced plastic waste to do so, the collective helped to further close the loop of production, while making pockets of greenery and produce available for all.
And what better way to end a spring-inspired piece than once again highlighting the chromatic effects of seasonal change? Designer and Embassy of Colour ambassador Tina Stieger is an advocate for colour and its potential to reconnect us to the natural world. Her year-long research project Colours of the Forest culminated with a Seasonal Colour Wheel that artfully charts the shifts in nature’s palette. A celebration of the transcience of the living world, the sumptuous selection of naturally formed colours chart the forest’s annual journey through growth and decay, encapsulated by 3 palettes that grow more saturated and rich as they move through the seasons.
Like all of these projects, Colours of the Forest reminds us that while we may be seeing the devastating effects we have collectively inflicted upon the natural world unfold in real time, reimaging and adapting how we engage with it on a design level may yet offer some hope in turning around at least some of the negative impact.