Sustainable Art Blooms in London
Photo by Edmund Sumner
I love it when art and sustainability meet and create something wholly unexpected, something that’s fun, and gets us to think a little differently than we did before. The London Oasis is a flower-shaped sculpture, which, like a real flower, absorbs the sun’s energy (with photovoltaic cells); it’s also powered by a wind turbine and a hydrogen fuel cell. The energy goes to power five pods that you can walk into to get away from the stress and heat of the city. Inside the pods you can enjoy cool, clean air, relaxing sights and sounds.
Rainwater is collected by the petals to irrigate a garden below the flower and the flower puts on a light show at night.
Architect Laurie Chetwood told edie:
“This is all in the knowledge that their enjoyment is not costing the planet as the Oasis is self-sustaining; harnessing and recycling natural resources.”
Can you imagine a whole city filled with such flowers in different shapes and sizes? (Maybe NYC could use this as the basis for installing street-toilets!! Wouldn’t that be nice….)
See more in stories here and edie here. Thanks to Remy C for the link.
Starre Vartan
Starre Vartan is founder and editor-in-chief of Eco-Chick.com and the author of the Eco-Chick Guide to Life. She's also a freelance science and environment writer who has published in National Geographic, CNN, Scientific American, Mental Floss, Pacific Standard, the NRDC, and many more. She lives on an island in Puget Sound with her partner and black cat. She was a geologist in her first career, and still picks up rocks wherever she goes.
