Catherine gardens is an architectural concept where large
ecosystem
An ecosystem (or ecological system) is a system formed by Organism, organisms in interaction with their Biophysical environment, environment. The Biotic material, biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and en ...
s are enclosed in huge shells around buildings to protect them from pollution. This is also referred to as "floating ecosystems" that can be retrofitted on high rise buildings or "hollow ecosystems" because of the empty spaces predicted in the design.
Etymology
The Catherine garden gets its name from circular growth pattern of the
ivy
''Hedera'', commonly called ivy (plural ivies), is a genus of 12–15 species of evergreen climbing or ground-creeping woody plants in the family Araliaceae, native to Western Europe, Central Europe, Southern Europe, Macaronesia, northwestern ...
plants as a projection of the architect's thought, similar to the
Catherine wheel.
Aim
The concept is aimed at providing an isolated and protective environment for the bird species amidst the disturbing activities of densely built cities.
Concept adopts vulcanized rubber tubes with growing plants running spirally downwards to facilitate the water flow which gets collected at the bottom. The experiment was done as an attempt to blend
high tech architecture and nature together but turned out only to be an
utopian
A utopia ( ) typically describes an imagined community or society that possesses highly desirable or near-perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book ''Utopia'', which describes a fictional island soci ...
concept as the concern of materials were not paid importance to. More over, economic constrictions were not considered assuming humankind must come together to produce something that benefits all using all what it can offer.
Development
The circular structure with plants was conceived together by Amartya Deb and Nidhi Tekwani in 2010 with mentoring and support from Nagendra Manikya, professor of architecture at
Bangalore University
Bangalore University (BU) is a public state university in Bengaluru, Karnataka, India. The university is a part of the Association of Indian Universities (AIU), Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU) and affiliated by University Gra ...
. It was originally conceptualized to create layers and pockets of green on high rise buildings through a network of tubes and shells. In 2012, it was showcased in the ''International Conference on Conservation of Sparrows'' held at Bangalore.
Adapted through a collaborative effort between zoologist Jayashankar and Deb it was argued to provide a safe haven to bird species shielding them from pollution, noise and continuous human interference.
See also
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Timothy Beatley
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Urban ecology
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Biophilic design
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Ecological design
Ecological design or ecodesign is an approach to designing products and services that gives special consideration to the environmental impacts of a product over its entire lifecycle. Sim Van der Ryn and Stuart Cowan define it as "any form of d ...
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High-tech architecture
High-tech architecture, also known as structural expressionism, is a type of late modernist architecture that emerged in the 1970s, incorporating elements of high tech industry and technology into building design. High-tech architecture grew fro ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Catherine Gardens
Ecosystems
Sustainable architecture