Patrick Blanc was born in 1953 in Paris and became Docteur d’Etat ès Sciences, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris 6 in 1989. Blanc is both a Botanist and an Artist. Blanc created a soilless system allowing the realization of Vegetal Walls. This was patented in 1988.

 

After the first public Vertical Garden created in Paris in 1986, Blanc created about 300 Vertical Gardens all over the world, indoor and outdoor, under various climates, from Riyadh to New York. Blanc worked with world-famous architects including Jean Nouvel, Kazuyo Sejima, Herzog & de Meuron, Tadao Ando and more.

 

Blanc received many awards including the Botany award, French Academy of Sciences in 1993. Blanc’s Vertical Garden was listed as “One of 50 Best Inventions of the Year”, Time Magazine in 2009.

 

Blanc created the world’s tallest plant installation of climbers: Le Nouvel in Kuala Lumpur with Architect Jean Nouvel in 2015.

 

Blanc’s book The Vertical Garden, from Nature to the City, Norton Press, 2008 and 2012 for the second edition, is the world’s major publication regarding the Vertical Garden.

 

Blanc is a world famous botanist and discovered a new species of Begonia which was named after him Begonia blancii. Blanc was also the Scientific Director of the « Canopy Raft » expeditions in French Guyana (1986 and 1989) and in Cameroon (1989).

 

 

Speaker:

 

Patrick Blanc

Botanist & Artist, France

 

 

Moderator:

 

Aric Chen

Lead Curator for Design and Architecture, M+, HK