David Brenner
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| David Brenner | |
|---|---|
| Born | September 30, 1984 |
| 🏫 Education | California Polytechnic University at San Luis Obispo |
| 💼 Occupation | Founding Principal of Habitat Horticulture & Lead Living Wall Designer |
| 📆 Years active | 2010- Present |
Early Life[edit]
David Brenner is a San Jose, Calif. native. As a teenager growing up in Silicon Valley near his grandparents, he watered their plants while they were in Italy every year. Brenner is a pioneer and a significant force behind the surge of living wall adoption in contemporary urban architecture in the United States.
He holds a degree in Environmental Horticulture Sciences from California Polytechnic University at San Luis Obispo. He credits his time spent studying at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew, London, with setting him on the path to living wall design. It was at Kew that he came to appreciate the beauty of epiphytic plants – those which have naturally evolved to grow vertically on trees.
Working at the intersection of botany, architecture, interior design, and urbanism for two decades Brenner has applied his passion for plants to a growing list of innovative projects, building a broad variety of modern, human-centric spaces with abundant plant life at their heart.
He sees his work as an integral part of a public shift in consciousness towards a renewed desire for closeness with nature and an appreciation of plants' restorative effect, especially in urban environments. For Brenner, designing living walls affords the chance to promote awareness of native and endangered plant species and directly impact the quality of life.
Career[edit]
In his R&D phase, Brenner developed a unique geotextile for planting walls made from 100% recycled water bottles. This felt medium – called GrowtexTM – is manufactured in the U.S. and used today in living wall installations.
Brenner is the first living wall designer in the U.S. to achieve formal "artist" designation, officially recognized by SFMOMA's curatorial department for "The Living Wall"[1] and in 2019, he was recognized by the City of Oakland for his piece "Urban Ecotones" completed that summer as part of Oakland's public art collection. It is the first living wall in the country to achieve this status under Oakland's Public Art for Private Development municipal code.
The recognition of living walls as art - an initiative put forward by Brenner in collaboration with the building's developer Shorenstein properties - is a creative application of local policy earmarked for cultural enrichment to establish a new channel of opportunity for urban greening.
Habitat Horticulture[2] (2010- Present)[edit]
Founded in 2010 by horticultural pioneer and artist Brenner, Habitat Horticulture is a company that creates and sustains distinctive living walls and botanic installations that transform the spaces they inhabit. Its mission is to produce awe-inspiring plant-centric spaces that cultivate and deepen the connection with nature and enliven the built environment. The company's name Habitat Horticulture comes from their commitment to habitat creation, not just for humans but for the flora and fauna of the overarching ecosystems. Habitat Horticulture "strive's for a world where architecture and nature come together in one living, thriving system".[3]
Habitat Horticulture has completed more than 200 living walls and botanic installations nationwide.
The company's specialty is the vertical plane. From high-rise exteriors to expansive lobby spaces, Habitat Horticulture has experience integrating greenery into some of the largest and most complex living wall projects across North America. They provide turnkey living wall design, build, and maintenance services, as well as à la carte design/assist or construction documentation. Their portfolio includes interior and exterior garden design, vine trellis systems, living roofs, moss walls and custom living facade solutions.
Habitat Horticulture’s living wall systems cool indoor spaces through a combination of shading, evapotranspiration and surface reflectivity and extra insulation that prevents heat from escaping, reducing energy costs and decreasing carbon emissions. Each system is custom-designed and custom-engineered to be integrated into the site’s architectural plans. Their plant selection is determined by examining the micro-climates, potential growth rates and lighting conditions of the space to ensure the right species is specified for the right spot on the wall. Brenner and his team work closely with the architect and/or owner to create a composition that harmonizes with the architecture and natural surroundings. The Habitat Horticulture team perform all work installing each living wall, with the exceptions of plumbing and electrical.
Notable Projects[edit]
The firm’s projects include iconic and award-winning collaborations at the Salesforce Tower SFMOMA, #SLACK, the California Academy of Sciences, Westfield Century City, Facebook, and Google, and Fortune 100 companies, including a multitude of Net Zero buildings and California’s First Living Building from ArchNexus Sacramento. Their architectural partners include Studios Architects, Snøhetta, Gensler, HKS, and EHDD. The living walls are often groundbreaking feats of horticultural engineering. The SFMOMA wall, 150 by 28 feet, is the nation's largest, while the 90-foot garden adorning San Francisco’s Jasper Building facade is the nation's tallest.
One of their most notable projects is the living wall located in Oakland, Calif. completed in June 2019 with the title Urban Ecotones.[4] It is the first living wall to receive official public art designation by a municipality in the U.S. With more than 25 plant species that intertwine to form a living, multi-dimensional tapestry, the 19-foot-by-34-foot living wall resides in the east lobby of 601 City Center – the public space access of a new 24-story, 600,000-square-foot mixed-use commercial building by real estate investment and development firm, Shorenstein Properties, which opened in the fall of 2019. On the other side of the lobby sits Sense of Place, a digital data painting created by internationally renowned artist, Refik Anadol – the other public art commission for the building’s communal space. As reflected in the title of the living wall's design, an ecotone is a transition zone where two adjacent communities come together to share characteristics. Urban Ecotones is an interplay of the varying tones, colors and textures woven together to celebrate Oakland as an epicenter for eclectic, cultural expression. It’s the first project where a living wall was part of the 1% art budget in the Bay Area (and researching where else living walls have public art designation).
NVIDIA voyager[5] is a project that displays a central “mountain” within the building and infuses the three-story space with horizontal and vertical greenery. Completed February 2022. Habitat Horticulture designed and constructed ‘the mountain’ with the help of Gensler Architects and Devcon Construction. Each wall features 11 species of plants chosen to thrive in the space and will provide natural warmth and biophilic health benefits for more than 2,500 employees, as well as reduce the ambient noise levels throughout the structure.
References[edit]
- ↑ "Habitat Horticulture | SFMOMA Living Wall". habitathorticulture.com. Retrieved 2023-01-12.
- ↑ "Habitat Horticulture | Home". habitathorticulture.com. Retrieved 2023-01-12.
- ↑ "Habitat Horticulture | About". habitathorticulture.com. Retrieved 2023-01-12.
- ↑ "601 city center". 601 City Center — Oakland's New View. Retrieved 2023-01-12.
- ↑ "Habitat Horticulture | NVIDIA, Voyager Living Wall". habitathorticulture.com. Retrieved 2023-01-12.
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