Architects : R&Sie(n)
Location : Paris, France
Creative Team : François Roche, Stéphanie Lavaux, Jean Navarro
Hydroponic System: R&Sie(n)
Area : 130.0 sqm
The studio R&Sie(n) has created a private laboratory which includes the installation of 1,200 ferns in hydroponics and 300 special glass spheres. Hydroponics is a method of growing plants using mineral nutrient solutions, without soil. Terrestrial plants may be grown with their roots in the mineral nutrient solution only or in an inert medium, such as perlite, gravel, or mineral wool.
The plants are placed on a flexible structure that is from the facade, and the irrigation system provides that each of them receives the rainwater through a drip system.
All the collecting glasses were made by a crafty technique, called Glassblowing. This is a glassforming technique that involves inflating the molten glass into a bubble, or parison, with the aid of the blowpipe, or blow tube. The transformation of raw materials into glass takes place around 2400°F (1315°C); the glass emits enough heat to appear almost white hot. The glass is then left to “fine out” (allowing the bubbles to rise out of the mass), and then the working temperature is reduced in the furnace to around 2000°F (1100°C).
I’m Lost in Paris project. Photo by R&Sie(n)