These days, the scents and colors of spring pervade and inebriate our senses.
Green is the color of hope, of rebirth, of chlorophyll, of our breath—in essence, a hymn to life!
Even in architecture and interior design, green is synonymous with life.
The word “green” ignites our receptors for environmental care, which in turn puts our conscience to the test with today and our minds into “future” mode.
For this reason, a touch of green in a space, whether residential, office, or commercial, should never be missing, not even in the narrowest of studio apartments on the 11th floor.
The project behind the green
The beauty of greenery always depends on a plan, an organization, an even more careful and conscious choice, since the material treated is not inert but has a life cycle.
Another intrinsic concept in the project, when we are dealing with greenery, is the word care and therefore love. In fact, two important factors must be kept under control: light and temperature.
In the design phases of greenery, analyzing and paying attention to the temperature of the geographic location or room is of fundamental importance in determining the choice of plant type, as well as the most suitable location for the plant.
The second factor to consider is certainly natural light. It is an indispensable component of the plant’s life cycle.
Green shopping
Shopping at large gardening stores isn’t enough to satisfy our desire for nature. Otherwise, after planting a few plants on our doorstep, captivated by the seasonality and bright colors, we’ll soon be disappointed as soon as the blooms fade. Furthermore, large gardening stores don’t always offer a landscape design and planning service, but merely sell plants of varying degrees of showiness, varying degrees of fragrance.
But greenery must be thoughtfully planned!
Indoor greenery
When considering greenery in the home, it’s important to distinguish between the different rooms—the kitchen or the bathroom—and the different types of plants.
The Kitchen Garden
A kitchen garden, besides being visually pleasing, allows you to have all the small aromatic herbs you need within reach when you’re cooking. Furthermore, the presence of plants in the kitchen helps maintain a healthy environment, as well as contributing to our good mood.
In addition to the widely used aromatic herbs, plants such as ivy, aloe vera, and aloe vera are excellent for cooking.
Why these plants rather than others? Simple, they have regenerative and healing properties. For example, a study on ivy found that it can eliminate well over 70% of the humidity in the air in just a few hours. Aloe vera can survive even in the darkest corners of the kitchen, far from natural light: it will grow slowly but will not die. Finally, aloe vera, in addition to its beneficial properties, has important air filtering properties and the elimination of pollutants.
Greenery in the Bathroom: Savana Bathroom
Bathrooms are typically small, partially furnished, and at first glance, adding greenery might seem impossible. Instead, imagine potted plants hanging from supports on the wall or ceiling. They’ll have a dramatic visual impact, and especially during the bathing ritual, they create a relaxing atmosphere. Some plants help eliminate water vapor and humidity.
Succulents, such as Philodendron, Sansevieria, Ferns, and Ficus, are among the most suitable plants for the bathroom. In addition to being easy to care for, they also retain moisture from the air as nourishment.
A garden wall in your home
Say goodbye to common, outdated dividers.
This word, which harks back to the ancient art deco tradition, is still used today to create an intimate separation within an open space, such as a hotel lobby, a restaurant, or the entrance/reception area of an office building. Today, with dedicated watering and irrigation technologies, it can be achieved with stunning results using a vertical green wall.
The advantages of this solution are numerous, including durability and conservation, versatility, sustainability, and aesthetic and scenic impact. However, this aspect requires further exploration.
The outdoor greenery
Garden System
If you don’t consider your garden a sort of protective barrier from the public road or simply a space for the dog to run around, then it can become a place to live, and you’ve made a quantum leap.
It’s a good idea to create your garden with the same attention you would give to furnishing another room in the house, like the kitchen. It will become your favorite place to spend most of your time and will be a perfect backdrop to enhance your home.
It’s important to break away from the cliché of a trio of trees placed in a corner, a flowerbed at the entrance, or a single-color hedge arranged around a fence. For non-residential businesses, choosing to personalize the outdoor space and highlight its green spirit will speak more effectively about your business and be the best calling card for your business.
How to organize the garden?
There are many types of gardens: English, Italian, Zen, rockeries, and hanging gardens. They all have specific characteristics and can be more or less appealing.
English Garden
The English garden is the epitome of perfection; it requires a thorough maintenance program and plant protection to remain that way. But if you don’t have a gardener on your payroll, you can opt for other types of lawns.
Rock Garden
Don’t have a green thumb, don’t like mowing on Sundays, or is your garden simply little more than a handkerchief? Don’t worry, the rock garden system is for you: a few meters for sunbathing on a reclaimed wood slatted floor, and the rest can be planted with succulents and evergreens, or slow-growing creeping perennials and ground cover that require no water other than rainwater.
High-Altitude Garden: Green Roof
It’s surprisingly considered the first and most effective thermal insulation system. When built with lichens, it doesn’t require grass cutting, prevents the growth of wind-blown weeds, withstands high temperatures without water, and provides a variety of colors that enhances its camouflage. This makes it the most popular choice among authorities for environmental protection or conservation purposes.
The Bioclimatic Greenhouse
A new frontier in green design is the bioclimatic greenhouse. The regulations for building a bioclimatic greenhouse are strict, as they are often used to justify illegal expansions. However, if built according to the law, it will be the most loved and lived-in space in your home.
Furnishing a terrace with greenery
Have you ever been intoxicated by the scent of jasmine? Well, you might think it blooms as a welcome summer wall, with a delightful flower and a covering foliage, ideal for a pergola structure to protect from the sun in summer and evergreen in winter.
Well, is it time to transform your attic into the perfect terrace where you can take a deep breath of fresh air in the morning or simply watch a splendid winter sunset at dusk? Here’s a simple idea that will change your life.
In our subconscious, architecture is the process that transforms nature into artifice, defacing the earth’s heritage through urbanization and overbuilding. So much so that in urban planning we speak of “land consumption” as if humanization necessarily leads to the inexorable loss of a precious asset essential to our well-being and subsistence.
It induces in us a “sense of guilt” for being, for existing.
Well, the time has come to free ourselves from this psychological burden, to imagine that the demands of living don’t have to only bring devastation. Living can be a union with nature, not always a conflict. This is why landscape design, whether intended as a landscape or landscaped space, is as important as choosing an indoor sofa or bathroom furniture.
Nature itself expresses itself through the most diverse forms of architecture: geometry and symmetry. What would Versailles be without its outdoor area, the Villa without its artificial lake, Palazzo Sicurtà without its park?