Plants on the move and on the roof

A garden on a bus. To see it is to believe it. But in Spain (Palma de Mallorca, Girona, Barcelona and soon Madrid) you can see this. However there’s more to it than meets the eye.

 Rooftop gardens on buses. It’s the creation  of Marc Grañén, a Spanish landscape artist who is the director of PhytoKinetic. His aim is to cover moving and nonmoving rooftops with plants. Covering nonmoving rooftops is a worldwide trend, brightening up cities and reducing pollution. Covering moving rooftops is a different story, but PhytoKinetic has done its homework. The installation on buses has been heavily tested in order to secure  governmental approval. Even when a bus is traveling  75 miles per hour (120 kilometers), there are no obstacles . The custom roofs are created and handmade on-site with local plants and materials. The soil of the garden is seven centimeters deep and is watered by the cooling system of the bus.

The roof and plants not only diminish the CO2 level in the atmosphere ,but also absorb sound and heat. They absorb 4.5°C, so temperatures inside the buses are quite comfortable  despite the Spanish summer sun.

A fully functional roof garden bus costs about 2500 euros. PhytoKinetic is currently talking to bus companies in the UK, Germany and Argentina. Finding suitable plants for particular weather conditions  is no problem as local plants would be sourced for each  specific location.

See more at www.phytokinetic.net