FLEXIPLANTS, instant landscapes, EDEN PROJECT
Real plants are not always sensitive to the needs of prestigious modern architectural developments,demanding constant care, maintenance & expensive cutting back.
FLEXIPLANTS are todays answer to modern planting schemes,where instant effects are often required.
FLEXIPLANTS come in a variety of bright colours in easy-clean plastic,& a variety of formats to suit most modern developments.They are drought-proof,low maintenance& available for Instant Erection in heights in excess of 3 metres.
FLEXIPLANTS can be used on ;
> Motorway verges & rest areas
>Decorative Roundabout features
>Business Parks & Colleges
>Shopping Malls
>Urban Planting Schemes
>Olympic stadiums & Sports Grounds
> Almost anywhere
Above: Traffic Plants at Warwick University Campus
FLEXIPLANTS AT THE EDEN PROJECT 2001-2004
When the EDEN PROJECT first opened in 2001,the domes had been completed,but the landscape had yet to be planted& grow into the magnificent displays & gardens of today.
I was commissioned by Dominic Coles,Edens Landscape designer & architect ,to create a temporary display,based on the juxtaposition of the “real” & “artificial” before the real plants started growing.
FLEXIPLANTS, Instant Landscapes sprung up overnight,as an ironic comment on modern “architectural planting”,& the “conveniance” of the plastic & artificial in our lives
above;FLEXIPLANT team installing the first instant landscape2001
FLEXIPLANTS Sited on the last bend just before the visitors centre.
These ladies are carrying their live plant purchases in “natural” paper bags. They strongly disapproved of these plastic plants.
Above ;Year two, As the real plants took root & grew,
FLEXIPLANTS moved up hill & straddled the approaches
.Supported by the tension of the arching “branches” the structure was remarkably wind resistant, & comfortably endured several gales.
Life & Art? by year three,more temporary buildings were needed all over the site.
These giant plastic yoghurt cups blended in well with the artificial planting?
New Growth? FLEXIPLANTS featured all stages of growth, from shoots springing from the earth ,to towering flowerheads.
Above :Detail of plastic pests.
FLEXIPLANTS were made from OSMIDRAIN plastic Land drain Piping, Thousands of Metres lay underground at the EDEN Project.
The Tips of the Flowerheads were made from obsolete Compact Discs., which sparkled & lit randomly as they reflected the light,
Some of the apparently broken stems & trunks visibly contained an inner structure of electrical wiring.
Some folk assumed that the entire structure was”computor controlled”.
By year four, the real plants had grown & began filling the landscape, storage space became a problem,& the flexiplants were finally dismantled.
But plastic endures a LONG time, I still have some plastic botany out in my yard.
Above : the very “green” Parking Plant
Below;Original drawings & ideas for flexiplants at Eden in 2000
