Architects Belinda Tato and Jose Luis Vallejo of Ecosistema Urbano have designed a plug-in public space designed to address the effects of climate change in ill-equipped urban environments. Titled Polinature, the installation took shape in the Harvard Center for Green Buildings and Cities backyard, at the Salata Institute of Harvard. The pavilion, featuring native plans set into a scaffolding, with an inflatable bioclimatic canopy, aims to demonstrate how small-scale interventions can create compound positive effects for the local micro-climate and biodiversity.
Maintaining the comfort and usability of outdoor public spaces has become increasingly challenging due to the rise of extreme heat across the globe. Affected most severely by these shifts are vulnerable communities, who are already faced with a lack of equitable access to parks and green spaces. Polinature has been developed as a temporary solution for these issues. As a Landscape Architecture Professor at Harvard Graduate School of Design, Belinda Tato, together with Jose Luis Vallejo, set out to design solutions that could improve bioclimatic conditions across varying climates.
The design, referred to as an "Urban Biodiversity Kit," utilizes three primary components: scaffolding, native plants, and an inflatable canopy system. Its modular nature ensures that each part can be assembled, disassembled, and reconfigured, offering flexibility and minimizing waste. The adaptability of Polinature allows it to be customized with local, sustainable materials, transforming it into an accessible model for urban interventions, with all technical drawings and instructions available as open-source resources.
One of the main purposes of the installation is to support pollinator habitats within urban environments. It features over 1,400 native flowering plants from the northeast, designed to attract essential pollinator species such as honeybees, hummingbirds, and monarch butterflies. In addition to creating an inviting gathering space, these plans promote the crucial role that pollinators play within the environment.
Additionally, Polinature's adaptable canopy utilizes orange climatic bubbles and white lighting pods to manage temperature and provide illumination. Sensor technology enables the installation to adjust dynamically to environmental changes, enhancing user comfort by releasing breezes in response to detected heat and humidity. Moreover, this digital interactivity allows visitors to engage with real-time climatic data displayed throughout the site, fostering environmental awareness and interaction for all who visit.
While often overlooked, biodiversity plays an important role in urban environments, ensuring the continuity of ecosystems and sustaining pollinator species. Urban design can contribute significantly to support these ecosystems, by integrating greenery and diverse urban spaces that foster a diverse range of species of plants, animals and insects.
Project credits:
- Concept and design: Ecosistema Urbano
- Project Directors: Belinda Tato [Associate Professor in Practice of Landscape Architecture at the Harvard GSD] and Jose Luis Vallejo
- Coordination and Execution Management: Marco Rizzetto, Lily Liebes
- Design team: Vicky Vlachodimou, Jorge Izquierdo, Elena Castillo, Julia Casado, Nadyeli Quiroz
