As part of the Brera Design Week, Piuarch together with landscape architect Cornelius Gavril, ( partnering with Verde Vivo & Vivai Mandelli ) presented a stunning and fragrant temporary gardening facade installation ” Flowerprint ” and an exhibition called “ Facades, the Skin of Architecture ”.

The facade of the building where Piuarch is located ( courtyard at Via Palermo 5, Milan ) was decorated from ground to roof with plants.

The installation Flowerprint used over 2,000 flowers including multi coloured roses, oriental lilies, gerbera, carnations, aromatic plants such as thyme, sage, lavender, rosemary, marjoram, mint.

Flowerprint explored a new way of decorating surfaces through a sort of floral embroidery.

The flowered wall used many different plant / flower varieties in their colour and material condition to create a pattern, a sort of actual floral graphism, in three dimensions: olfactory, material and in constant motion ( and as the early Spring weather continued in Milan )

The appearance of the installation changed in accordance with the weather and time of day, casting beautiful shadows in the urban environment

The cascading flora in bright colors and flourishing shapes form a sort of surreal tapestry

Constructed as a constellation of flowers, the wall cladding of the Piuarch building is covered by 200 vertical lines, 10 meters high, which cover its 20-metre length with a 10 cm pitch.

Invisible wires suspended a collection of distinct bouquets.

The facade is also enhanced by olfactory sensuality, through the perfumes of flowers and plants made available by VerdeVivo to complete the installation as a whole, and thanks to the Adar branded natural outdoor fragrances, specifically designed to create a sensorial contamination in outdoor environments.

More specifically, the outdoor perfume Lawnscape was used, inspired by the aroma of fresh grass on a spring morning, stroked by the wind, a memory of hidden dewy meadows.

Process

Many of the flowers and herbs used were grafted to potatoes, allowing its roots to grow on the plant basis of the tuber which guaranteed both a structural basis and nutrients to the flower and prolonged their vitality

The ancient method is used to propagate plants and works by placing the stem of cut plants into a hole that has been drilled into a potato.

The potato provides the right conditions for nutrient and water retention.

Facades Exhibition

Crossing the threshold of the Studio, one enters the show that illustrates the formal and conceptual research that Piuarch has devoted to the theme of facades throughout its history, with images, drawings, illustrations, prints and models that tell the story of facades as a real stylistic genre.

The tour begins with a work by the artist Mauricio Lupini, and then continues with images, drawings, illustrations, prints and models that tell the story of façades as a real stylistic genre.

The show includes projects such as:

• Quattro Corti, in St. Petersburg
• Onda Bianca, in Milan
• Bentini Headquarters, in Faenza
• Givenchy Building, in Seoul

About Piuarch

The Piuarch studio of architecture and urban planning was founded in Milan in 1996 by Francesco Fresa, German Fuenmayor, Gino Garbellini and Monica
Tricario.

As part of the new generation of European architects, the group works with a network of 40 professionals from many different parts of the world.

Cornelius Gavril