Terra Incognita: Vertical Gardens

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Endangered Fern

MKCAA architectural firm gets down and dirty realizing an Upper East Side garden wall. From intricate wiring systems to decorative design features, individualized solutions are the norm for the Manhattan architectural firm MKCA. Yet, when a client asked for a garden wall in an Upper East Side courtyard, even this firm, known for tackling unique challenges, delved into unknown territories.

“We’re comfortable with complexities,” principal architect Michael Chen says, “but this became a really interesting collaboration.”

Vertical gardens, especially in urban settings, are notoriously energy consumptive and vulnerable to success, so an extensive analysis of the site’s environment was conducted. Chen then searched for a complimentary native ecosystem. His research led to the SUNY College of Environmental Sciences and Forestry at Syracuse University, where it was discovered that the courtyard’s environmental conditions mimic wooded forest areas in the Hudson Valley.

“In that ecosystem there are ferns that are on the endangered list,” explains Chen, “so this wall has become a test case in urban conservation gardening.”

For the project, the university propagated the specific variant of the threatened American Hart’s Tongue Fern in the lab. Then, as the plants became larger and more numerous, growing was shifted to a greenhouse.

“That little change in scale means this plant can be offered to the marketplace next season,” comments Chen.

Meanwhile, in the 35-foot-tall and 18-foot-wide wall, the firm had built a custom slip cast and terra cotta geometric pattern to hold the plants. It includes an irrigation and mist system, which, when spraying, enhances the environment for people dining in the adjacent formal living room.

“We have lush ferns and a primordial forest landscape at the back of the building,” notes Chen. Although it looks natural and mimics plants in their native environments, he readily admits that looks are deceiving.

“It’s very precise and detailed,” he shares. “The architecture is very specifically designed as the intermediary between another living environment.”

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