KENSINGTON’S URBAN BANANA CONSERVATORY: A VERTICAL PLANTATION AND PRODUCTION CYCLE

by Desire Lubwama

Addressing issues of cultural, historical and ecological sustainability, the Conservatory serves as a pedagogical tool that reveals narratives of the Ugandan/East African landscape. The displaced urban site of the Natural History Museum serves as a complex web of natural and manmade systems for social pleasures. Intended to appear like a ‘jewel’ on an urban site, the thirty-five-metre high volume is faceted with layers of double glazed glass and ETFE cushions to create a sculptural presence and generate a tropical environment for the banana plantation. The cultivation of bananas on site is maximised through vertical stacking, orientated to face southwards for maximum sunlight for the exuberant growth of these tropical plants. Located in the heart of London’s cultural community, this facility aims to amalgamate five programs that define ideas of urban pleasure in this instance. These are a library, café, sculpture gallery, laboratory and brewery.