News
Hear what some of the residents and local business owners think of Meristem Design's recently installed Parklet, in Hackney. The scheme is part of the ZEN and LEN schemes, sponsored by Tower Hamlets, Islington and Hackney councils as well as The Mayor of London.
We have recently undertaken a Green Audit review at the dual reception spaces at 20 Gracechurch Street, in the City of London. The audit was part of a wider project to refurbish the interior and exterior spaces that lead in from Gracechurch Street and George Yard into the BNP Paribas managed office building.
We undertook a review of the light levels, current interventions, and potential for adding greenery. Please see images below of our before and after renders, which form part of our ongoing collaboration with BNP Paribas. Watch this space!
The Meristem team would like to invite you to come and visit our newly installed Parklet, on Calvert Avenue, just off Shoreditch High Street, on the 15th of June. The event will be hosted by Hackney Council as part of the LEN (low emissions neighbourhood) initiative, and will be packed full of other urban greening and sustainable transport ideas.
The local event is being hosted as part of National Clean Air Day on the 15th June.
Air pollution is real and harms the health of millions. Unlike other risks to our health, lots of people don’t know what causes air pollution, what effects it has on our bodies or how to reduce our exposure to it.
But there are lots of simple things we can do to improve air quality and look after our own and other people’s health.That’s what National Clean Air Day is all about. It’s a chance to find out more about air pollution, share information with your friends and colleagues, and take action to make the air cleaner and healthier for everyone.
Take a look at the photo's from our recent install at East London based, Forever Beta's new office space. We think our planting scheme has really made this space sing!
Our brief was to 'green-up' Forever Beta's new office space and add some tactility. The blank canvas of a pared back, industrial warehouse with exposed services was a great start. Our key planting elements complement the industrial style in their metal simple forms. We also added a nod to Forever Beta's signature red logo in the use of red rope for hanging planters. Our design is made up by 4 key planting elements.
We love the versatility of these planters. With the ability to hook onto one another, you can create a pillar of greenery, or a singular basket of green beauty. A mix of trailing plants work well in this planter since it adds to the overall vertical hanging effect the planters have. We used Vinca minor, Hoya linearis, Tradescantia zebrine, Asplenium scolopend, and Philodendron scandens. We positioned the hanging pots in key locations to frame spaces, such as by pillars or to frame the tea point.
Adding planting to the ceiling area is a great way to achieve maximum greenery impact. Often office spaces are so fully occupied with furniture and people that a pot plant easily goes a miss. Raising the plants towards the ceiling helps them get noticed. We designed a series of trays to hang from the signature Forever Beta red rope from the ceiling. Similar to the hanging pots, the trays helped frame the space and added an industrial element to the existing exposed services of the building. We planted Cissus rhombifolia and Ellen danica .
These vintage bottle bins are a great find, a brilliant creative reuse for planters. They are on castors meaning they can be moved around the office space. The substantial metal planters and plants that will continue to fill out, create a visual and acoustic barrier in the office space. The mix of tropical type plants which are great for indoor use were; Epipemnum aureum, Phlebodium 'Blue Star', Alocasia x amazonica, Tradescantia zebrine, Aspenium scolopend Crispa, Howea foresteriana, Zamioculus zamiifolia.
In Forever Beta's new darkly painted boardroom, we chose terracotta planters and a mix of cacti and succulents to give the space a desert like feeling. We particularly love the giant cacti that stands proud and majestic central boardroom. Using the window cill for lining up the mini cacti and succulents means the sun entering on these beauties will fuel their growth.
The brief was to design a ‘garden room’ as an escape from the rest of the office. The room occupies an amazing location overlooking the Thames, from the 12th floor of the iconic Shard building at London Bridge.
We designed a bespoke trellis system for the back wall, and the ceiling of the room. Artificial plants trail from above, meaning no irrigation was needed. Living Ivy plants, and Jasmine trailed up the back wall trellis helping to create a subtle screening on the glass partitioning. Cracked fiber optic lighting adds to the ethereal effect of the overhanging greenery.
The install was completed by Woodall's design and build, and the design by Meristem.
Photo Credit: Woodalls Design & Build
