Archive for the ‘Blog’ Category
Amazon Rainforest Walkway
Thursday, January 26th, 2012
Photograph: Amazon Rainforest, Alamy
We were enthralled when we saw designs for an incredible walkway through the Amazon Forest. Plans are in place for a 9.6km walkway stretching through the Amazon rainforest with a science centre at the heart of it. The pioneering centre and walkway will give visitors spectacular views across the forest and right into the heart of the Amazon.
Plans for Environmental Centre, Marks Barfield Architects and Amazon Charitable Trust
The centre is being funded by a British charity and will be a crucial research base for scientists working in the area. “This will be the first scientific research center to be built in the jungle proper’ explained Robert Pasley-Tyler speaking from the Amazon Charitable Trust who are funding the project. Researchers will be able to use the walkway to study the rainforest canopy whilst tourists will be able to look at the stunning views across the forest.
Amazon River, free-extras.com
Most importantly the centre will provide jobs and opportunities for local tribespeople, it will be located in in Roraima, an isolated province in northeast Brazil. It’s expected to take two years to construct and will boost the local economy. As Robert Pasley-Tyler says ‘It will employ the local river tribe, giving them a way of making a living without destroying the forest, and also boost awareness around the world.”
Treetops Walkway, Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew Gardens. www.kew.org
The site will be designed by Marks Barfield Architects, the firm behind the London Eye and the treetops walkway in the UK’s Royal Botanical Gardens. They are consious of the design and construction being appropriate for the natural surroundings. “It doesn’t support a lot of people in the natural state. You have to be very careful about what you bring in,” said David Marks, from Marks Barfield Architects, adding that the site could be constructed from bamboo.
The team are even trying to get James Cameron involved, it really will be a real-life Avatar experience!
The Edible Bus Stop
Wednesday, December 21st, 2011
The Edible Bus Stop: www.theediblebusstop.org
If you were to take the number 322 bus along Landor Road in Lambeth towards Brixton and alight at the stop for Lambeth Hospital, you will be greeted by a celebration of green. A few months ago when the sun was shining – (well we like to pretend that it was anyhow), there were round pumpkins, towering sun flowers, giant red cabbages, blossoming raspberry bushes and deep green courgette plants. You have arrived at the Edible Bus Stop.
The Edible Bus Stop: www.theediblebusstop.org
Local resident Mak Gilchrist had watched the derelict wasteground next to the bus stop with dismay, occasionally it had been the backdrop for some guerilla gardening – which we’re big fans of at the Balcony Gardener! – a few local residents planting old seeds and other plants that would have gone to waste. Inspired by this and fearful of development plans, Mak put together 400 leaflets through doors seeing if people would be interested in creating a local community garden project and whether people would be able to donate either their time or plants. Mak had a fantastic response, and after a donation from the Clarence House sustainable garden programme – the Start organisation that we featured a few months ago, she was able to organise a series of Sunday digs to start work on the wasteground. At the first dig forty people turned up!
The Edible Bus Stop: www.theediblebusstop.org
The enthusiasm and momentum for the edible bus stop has never stopped, the mission is simple: “to create a lush organic growing space for edibles and non-edibles.” The volunteers have received backing from a supportive local councillor who encouraged the landowner Lambeth Council to allow the volunteers to develop the land. The buzz of community spirit is alive, such was the fervor and eagerness of the local residents that they organised a local street party in August to celebrate the opening and blossom of the Edible Bus Stop, and neighbours have started to help each other with their own gardens. “The Bus Stop has literally opened doors on the street,” Mak says. “It has become our very own urban village green.” The garden is so loved in the local community that it has not fallen victim to vandalism or vegetable poaching, as Mak explains “The patients in the hospital opposite the garden are like our security guards – they keep watch when we’re not here!”
The Edible Bus Stop: www.theediblebusstop.org
The Edible Bus Stop is hoping to spread the initiative across London, encouraging other local communities to revitalise their own bus stops. They already have their eyes on a bus stop in West Norwood further along the same 322 bus route, and the Edible Bus Stop has just been accepted onto the Mayor of London’s street tree project funding ideas to create an inner city orchard. “I never imagined the smile it would bring to the whole neighbourhood,” says Mak. “There’s a sense of pride even from the younger generation. I’ve overheard them telling their friends ‘my mum planted that’. People truly love it.”
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Wonders of the Natural World – Tree Cathedrals
Tuesday, November 1st, 2011
Photograph: The Tree Cathedral, Italy. Source: www.ansa.it
During trips abroad and researching different projects, it’s always inspiring to discover feats of green engineering, ingenuity and design. There are plenty of weird and wonderful wonders from across the four points of the globe celebrating the natural world. We were particularly thrilled when we came across the unbelievable Tree Cathedral in Northern Italy, and yes we now it’s not really on a balcony scale but we really wanted to share this with you. Designed by the visionary artist Giuliano Mauri, he laid the groundworks in 2001, following his death in 2009 the Cathedral was finally completed in 2010 and the Cathedral will remain as a living memorial to Mauri’s work. The opening of the Cathedral also coincided with the Year of Bio-Diversity in 2010.
Photograph: The Tree Cathedral, Italy, Source: www.wired.co.uk
The Cathedral comprises of five aisles and forty two columns and there is a central basilica. The man-made structure includes 1,800 fir poles, 600 chestnut branches, and 6,000 meters of hazel branches joined together with wood, nails, and string. As the beeches grow they will form a natural roof across the Cathedral. It’s vast in size, taking up 650 square meters and is more than 90 feet long, nearly 80 feet wide, and ranges in height from about 16 feet to nearly 70 feet. The photos are simply incredible to look at.
Photograph: Whipsnade Tree Cathedral, Source: National Trust, Harry Blyth
Closer to home there are tree cathedrals located in Milton Keynes and Whipsnade. The “Cathedral of Trees” in Milton Keynes is based on the design of Norwich Cathedral, and is comprised of hornbeam and lime for the Nave, evergreens to represent the central spires and flowering cherry and apple trees for the chapels. The “Whipsnade Tree Cathedral” spans nine and a half acres, it was planted in 1932 by soldier Edmund Blyth as an act of “faith, hope and reconciliation” following the First World War. You can visit both cathedrals easily and choose the cathedrals as spectacular backdrops for a special celebration or a private ceremony; at Milton Keynes you can take your favourite pooch along to their yearly pet blessing service!
In the Forest of Dean, there is an incredible sculpture trail that forms its way through the forest. There are seventeen permanent artworks located at different points sometimes hidden in the woodland. Artists and sculptors are set to create pieces of work that respond to the special location of the Forest. One of the installations is the “Cathedral” a stained glass window 15 feet high in the sky, hanging across the Forest.
Cathedral by Kevin Atherton, Forest of Dean Sculpture Trust
The most recent addition to the collection was Hill33 designed by David Cotterell, he is inspired by memories of seeing Mayan temples hidden in the rainforests of Central America. This and recent trips to Afghanistan as a war artist formed his vision for the Hill33 installation.
Tree Cathedrals and Living Sculptures are astonishing feats of natural architecture forming living tributes and memorials. We’re on the look out for more wonders of the natural world as part of an ongoing series of blogs.
The Edible Garden
Wednesday, October 26th, 2011
The Edible Garden’s Autumn/Winter 2011 issue featured our home allotment pest control cover.
