28 May 2013

In Paris, A Restaurant With A Living Façade Brings The Forest Into The City





French architect and former graffiti artist Stephane Malka has created a fascinating living façade for Parisian restaurant EP7, which is made of raw wood that promotes the organic growth of plant life.



Effectively bringing a slice of nature, in the form of a growing “forest”, into the metropolis, this unusual piece of architecture draws reference between a teeming fauna eco-system and the bustling urban center.



"This place evokes the notion of myth, a return to original architecture, abstract landscape of a lost paradise, an evocation of a mountain, a cave, a forest and clearing. [It] stimulate the desire to reconnect to the earth along with the built environment by generating a new relationship, more harmonious, between man and nature. It is a referrend to land art, but in the city, an urban art that became affiliated with the earth."



Featuring a pixelated, uneven surface made with pieces of inter-locking wooden modules, this lively skin of the building is filled with countless nooks and crannies for greenery to flourish.



This constantly morphing green wall is built around a modern glass enclosure,—in which the restaurant is located—creating a distinct nature-meets-urban atmosphere.























[via Design Boom]