Green Prismatic Columns – Tokyo French Embassy Gardens – JAPAN
By Frederic-Charles AILLET, Raphael FAVORY and Pierre SARRIEN
SEMPERVIRENS Landscapers and Town Planners – PARIS
Tadao ANDO president of the competition jury
The French landscape architects SEMPERVIRENS built the French Embassy Gardens with the idea of an architectural green wall, affixed to the glass frontage of the new embassy building,
The French landscape firm won the Tokyo’s French Embassy Gardens competition in association with the French Architecture Firm ADPi with Dominique Chavanne, Jean-Yves Coulot, Nicolas Moulin and Mabel Miranda.
Inspired by a natural cliff and by the Giant’s Causeway in Ireland, the winning scheme tries to respect and reinforce the native biodiversity of Tokyo. The project develops a concept with Japanese native plants, including sculptural organic walls where mosses grow on specific concrete. The wall is based on the glass frontage of the embassy. This retaining wall allowed conservation of many patrimonial trees.
This architectural green wall is a double reference to both classical French gardens and the Japanese moss gardens. The top of the wall is irrigated from a rainwater tank. When the system stars up, the noise of the falling water creates a pleasant atmosphere.
The French Embassy and Gardens are built since December 2009. Mosses and ferns are growing to constitute this natural green wall.
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