Rainwater-Harvesting Vertical Garden Flourishes on the Facade of Barcelona’s Raval Theatre

A flourishing wall of plants now covers the facade of the Raval Theatre in Barcelona. Designed by <a href="http://www.urbanarbolismo.es/" target="_blank">Urbanarbolismo</a> and engineered by <a href="http://www.unusualgreen.com/" target="_blank">Unusual Green</a>, the <a href="http://inhabitat.com/tag/vertical-garden/">vertical garden</a> utilizes a sophisticated planting and watering system that is totally self-sufficient. Water storage is integrated into the facade, and <a href="http://inhabitat.com/solar-power/">solar panels</a> power a pump that irrigates the plants.

Construction started on the <a href="http://www.teatredelraval.com/" target="_blank">Raval Theatre</a> vertical garden in November of 2013 and it was quickly completed that December. The theater is located in Pedró Square in the Raval District of Barcelona, and its lush green facade commands just as much attention as the billboards.

<a href="http://www.urbanarbolismo.es/" target="_blank">Urbanarbolismo</a>, <a href="http://www.unusualgreen.com/" target="_blank">Unusual Green</a> and Paisatge Urbá de Barcelona all collaborated on the design and construction of the project, which has an area of 45 square meters.

The <a href="http://www.urbanarbolismo.es/blog/?p=2640" target="_blank">Raval Theatre's vertical garden</a> was built using the <a href="http://www.unusualgreen.com/vertical-gardens/#Ecobin" target="_blank">eco.bin system</a>, which provides structural support, spaces for plantings and irrigation.

The design compliments the surrounding structures and utilizes plants like Chlorophytum comosum (money plant) and Plectranthus sp, which are found in other terraces in the square.

The garden is completely self-sufficient and is not powered or watered by outside sources. <a href="http://inhabitat.com/tag/rainwater-collection" target="_blank">Rainwater</a> is collected from the theatre's roof and stored in a reservoir at the bottom behind the ceramic unplanted cells.

Two solar panels on the roof generate energy to pump the water up from the reservoir to the top of the garden and down to all the plants. An illustration on a panel on the street details how the garden works.