1. General information
Location and description of the intervention
City or FUA
Bielefeld
Region
Europe
Native title of the NBS intervention
Vertikaler Garten
Short description of the intervention
An indoor vertical garden by a French botanist Patrick Blanc installed at the Headquarters office of the InternetSupport company in Bielefeld. The garden cleans the air and serves the aesthetic function of being an interior decoration (1).
Address

Am Lenkwerk 3
33609 Bielefeld
Germany

Location
Point location, which indicates where the NBS takes place
Type of area before implementation of the NBS
Building
Website of the intervention
https://www.murvegetalpatrickblanc.com/realisations/bielefeld/internetsupport-b…
Timeline of intervention
Start date of the intervention (planning process)
2014
Start date of intervention (implementation process)
2014
End date of the intervention
2014
Present stage of the intervention
Completed
Goals of the intervention
1. To increase the amount of greenery (2);
2. To increase the attractiveness of urban neighbourhoods / private company (2);
3. To improve the air quality (4);
4. Improvement of work conditions (and, consequently, results) for office employees (4);
5. Decrease in the noise level and improvement of acoustics (4).
Quantitative targets
Unknown
Monitoring indicators defined
1. Amount of created green surface (2)
2. Amount of different types of plants used in the project (3)
3. Total amount of plants used in the project (3)
4. Decrease of CO2 (4)
Sustainability challenge(s) addressed
Green space, habitats and biodiversity (SDG 15)
Green space creation and/or management
Environmental quality
Air quality improvement
Noise reduction
Implementation activities
1. Creation of the supporting wall module system (1)
2. Plantation of the green garden with various species (2)
Type of NBS project
Creation of new green areas
NBS domain and interventions
Ecological domain(s) where the NBS intervention(s) is/are implemented
Nature in buildings (indoor)
Green walls and ceilings
Vegetation Type
Other
Amenities offered by the NBS
Unknown
Services
Expected ecosystem services delivered
Regulating services
Air quality regulation
Cultural services
Mental and physical health and wellbeing
Please specify "other cultural service"
Economic efficiency (4)
Scale
Spatial scale
Sub-microscale: Street scale (including buildings)
Beneficiaries
Primary Beneficiaries
Private sector/Corporate/Company
Citizens or community groups
Governance
Governance arrangements
Led by non-government actors
Non-government actors
Private sector/Corporate/Business
Please specify the roles of the specific government and non-government actor groups involved in the initiative
Project commissioned by Internetsupport Bielefeld GmbH and completed by a French botanist Patrick Blanc. (1)
Key actors - initiating organization
Private sector/corporate actor/company
Other
Please specify other key actors – Initiating organization
Vertical garden designer and botanist Patrick Blanc
Land owners
No information found
Please specify other Key actors - Other stakeholders involved
Vertical garden designer and botanist Patrick Blanc
Key actors - Other stakeholders involved (besides initiating actors)
Private sector/corporate actor/company
Other
Land owners
No information found
Participatory methods/forms of community involvement used
Unknown
Policy drivers
NBS intervention implemented in response to an Regional Directive/Strategy
Unknown
NBS intervention implemented in response to a national regulations/strategy/plan
Unknown
NBS intervention implemented in response to a local regulation/strategy/plan
Unknown
Mandatory or voluntary intervention
Unknown
Enablers
Presence of specific city-level GI/NBS vision/strategy/plan - mentioned in connection to the project
Unknown
Presence of specific city-level GI/NBS section/part in a more general plan - mentioned in connection to the project
Unknown
Please specify other vegetation type
Various plant species including Alocasia baginda, Alocasia Bambino Arrow and Medinilla Florinilla plants. (1)
Presence of city network or regional partnerships focused on NBS - mentioned in connection to the project
Unknown
Presence of GI / NBS research project - mentioned in connection to the project
Unknown
Please specify
1. Research by TU Delft's Roby van Praag on the indoor vertical gardens and acoustic improvement (4)
2. Environmental sustainability analysis by urban horticulture specialist Patrick Honan (4)
Subsidies/investment for GI / NBS in the city - mentioned in connection to the project
Unknown
Co-finance for NBS
Unknown
Co-financing governance arrangements
Unknown
Was this co-governance arrangement already in place, or was it set up specifically for this NBS?
Unknown
Financing
Total cost
Unknown
What is/was the Cost/Budget (EUR) of the NBS or green infrastructure elements?
unknown
What are the total amount of expected annual maintenance costs?
unknown
What is the expected annual maintenance costs of the NBS or GI elements?
unknown
Please specify cost savings
unknown
Please specify total cost (EUR)
The cost of the Bielefeld indoor garden is unknown.
Source(s) of funding
Unknown
Type of fund(s) used
Unknown
Non-financial contribution
Unknown
Please specify other Business model
Unknown
Business models
Green densification model
Which of the involved actors was motivated by this model?
Private for-profit actor (e.g. firm, insurer)
Type of innovation
Technological
Product innovation
Please specify technological innovation
Blanc’s designs are thanks to his own patented technology (the Mur Végétal), enabling plants to be grown without any earth. Unlike the plants themselves, the “soil” in which they grow is neither natural nor biodegradable. Blanc uses a combination of PVC and polyamide felt, which is capable of supporting many plants’ root structures easily. Whereas soil would erode or simply fall off – damaging the building on which it sits – Blanc’s device should last for hundreds of years (2).
Novelty level of the innovation
The innovation is copied/derived from previous initiative(s) without substantial adaptation
Please specify novelty level of the innovation
The vertical garden at the Hotel Pershing Hall in Paris, one of the first vertical gardens built by Patrick Blanc, served as a technological prototype for the Bielefeld project (2).
Replicability/Transferability
The innovation is transferred to new initiative(s) without substantial adaptation
Please specify Replicability/Transferability
Patrick Blanc uses the technologies of the vertical gardening in the projects across Europe (3).
Impacts, benefits
Environmental impacts
Unknown
Description of environmental benefits
Unknown, no impacts have been reported.
Economic impacts
Unknown
Description of economic benefits
Unknown, no impacts have been reported.
Social and cultural impacts
Unknown
Description of social and cultural benefits
Unknown, no impacts have been reported.
Type of reported impacts
No impacts reported
Indicators
Unknown
Environmental, social and economic impacts
Environmental quality
Green space, habitats and biodiversity (SDG 15)
Regeneration, land-use and urban development
Analysis of specific impact categories
Job creation: The NBS created ...
No information available
Negative impacts: Did the project cause any problems or concerns?
No information was found regarding negative impacts of the project
COVID-19 pandemic
Unknown as of August 2020
Methods of impact monitoring
Process of recording NBS impacts
No evidence in public records
Methods used to evaluate the impacts of NBS
Unknown
Evidence for use of assessment
Presence of an assessment, evaluation and/or monitoring process
Unknown
Presence of indicators used in reporting
No evidence in public records
Presence of monitoring/evaluation reports
No evidence in public records
Availability of a web-based monitoring tool
No evidence in public records
Impact assessment mechanism
Name of any specific impact assessment tools
Unknown
Use of GIS in mapping impacts
No evidence in public records
Citizen involvement
Citizens involvement in assessment/evaluation
Unknown
Citizens involvement in the analysis of the assessment/evaluation
Unknown
Follow-up to the evaluation / assessment
Unknown
References
Web links relevant to the intervention
Mur Vegetal Patrick Blanc
Patrick Blanc & The Hanging Gardens Of Paris
Inhabitat
GREEN WALL SUSTAINABILITY ANALYSIS
International Green Wall conference 2014
Documents relevant to the intervention
Attachment Size
Vertical garden information booklet (2.66 MB) 2.66 MB
List of references
1. Patrick Blanc. (2014.) InternetSupport, Bielefeld. Accessed August 23, 2020, https://www.murvegetalpatrickblanc.com/realisations/bielefeld/internetsupport-bielefeld.
2. Whatman, P. (2016). Patrick Blanc & The Hanging Gardens Of Paris. Culture Trip. Accessed August 23, 2020, https://theculturetrip.com/europe/france/paris/articles/patrick-blanc-the-hanging-gardens-of-paris/.
3. Zimmer, L. (2014). Patrick Blanc’s Lush Vertical Garden Is a Green Oasis in the Middle of Madrid. Accessed August 23, 2020, http://inhabitat.com/patrick-blancs-lush-vertical-garden-is-a-green-oasis-in-the-middle-of-madrid/.
4. (2017). GREEN WALL SUSTAINABILITY ANALYSIS, [Document not available in August 2020]
5. International Green Wall conference 2014. (2014). [Website not available in August, 2020]
Comments and notes
Comments
An author of the project, Patrick Blanc, (born June 3, 1953, Paris) is a French botanist, working at the French National Centre for Scientific Research since 1982, where he specializes in plants from tropical forests. Although Blanc did not invent the vertical garden, he is responsible for modernizing and popularizing the garden type and is considered as the modern innovator of the green wall. Thesis supervisor at Paris University, he wrote different books, such as ‘The Vertical Garden, from Nature to the City’, ‘Etre plante à l’ombre des forêts tropicales’, has created over 250 Vertical Gardens around the world and works with famous Architects such as Jean Nouvel, Herzog and de Meuron, Andrée Putman, Marc Newson, Francis Soler, Kengo Kuma, Kazuyo Sejima, César Pelli, Edouard François, Jean-Paul Viguier, Bonnie Fisher, etc (5).

Additional insights
Although it was impossible to identify the impact assessment tools that examine Patrick Blanc's Bielefeld project, there is an analysis on the technologically similar project by him - a vertical garden system in the Central Park development project in Sydney, Australia. Green Wall Sustainability Analysis (4) was conducted by an urban horticulture specialist Patrick Honan. The analysis assumed the critical analysis of the green wall systems in general on the particular example of the Sydney wall, so I suppose that the research methods can be relevant for the Bielefeld example as well. Green Wall Sustainability Analysis consisted from the elaboration of cooling capabilities of the green structure, labor and annual costs required for its maintenance, longevity, environmental quality of materials used for the green wall installation, water use and fertilizer inputs (4).
Pictures of the NBS
/sites/default/files/nbs/images/verticalgardeninternetsupportbielefeldgermany.jpg
Public Images
Vertical Garden, InternetSupport Bielefeld
Source: https://www.verticalgardenpatrickblanc.com/node/6938
Vertical Garden, Internet Support Bielefeld
Source: https://www.verticalgardenpatrickblanc.com/node/6938
Vertical Garden, Internet Support Bielefeld
Source: https://www.verticalgardenpatrickblanc.com/node/6938
Vertical Garden InternetSupport, Bielefeld
Source: https://www.verticalgardenpatrickblanc.com/node/6938
Vertical Garden Interner Support Bielefeld
Source: https://www.verticalgardenpatrickblanc.com/node/6938