From today Barcelona has a new vertical garden. And it’s not just any. It is the first vertical forest that has trees in suspension, in a pioneering project not only locally but also globally.
The new space, promoted by the ‘la Caixa’ Foundation to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the CaixaForum Barcelona, ​​wants to pay homage to the Mediterranean landscape. For this reason, 104 plant species will coexist in the space, most of them native. These include aromatic plants such as rosemary or lavender and also nine different types of trees, both riverside and dry. Among the trees there are, among others, the olive, the cypress, the carob or the hazelnut. In addition, the set has a sculptural decoration adapted to each plant and its natural space that wants to especially highlight the fundamental role of the roots.
This variety of flora, beyond its decorative purpose, will also be very beneficial for fauna because it will be a refuge for animals such as birds or pollinating insects. In fact, during the last few days bumblebees have already been seen wandering around the new garden.
The location of the space has not been improvised either. The garden is located on Avenida de Francesc Ferrer i Guà rdia, right next to the CaixaForum and at the foot of the Montjuïc mountain. Specifically, it is located in the old wall of the Palace of Metallurgy and where the well-known restaurant La Pèrgola used to be, occupying an area of ​​550m². In the words of Elisa Durán, deputy director general of the ‘la Caixa’ Foundation, “Montjuïc is nature, architecture and the city. We were looking for an element that would unite all this”.
With the creation of new green spaces like this one, they also want to show the importance of nature for the city. Not only aesthetically, but also ecologically, since green spaces help improve the quality of life in the city. “We have to get used to seeing more spaces of this type. It is a luxury, but also an obligation,” said the Deputy Mayor for Ecology, Urban Planning, Infrastructure and Mobility, Janet Sanz. “I hope it’s not the last,” she added.
Another of the great characteristics of this green space is precisely its commitment to sustainability. The plants have been placed in an orderly manner taking into account their water needs, thus making better use of natural resources. In addition, the garden is equipped with planters and systems that will collect rainwater and sustain irrigation by reusing the water. In this way, the forest has thirteen tanks to store water, with a capacity of 2,000 liters each, which will be able to cover a month of self-sufficiency in summer and more than three in winter.
