Temporary Vertical Garden ‘Polinature’ Opens at GSD

A vertical garden at the Harvard Graduate School of Design opened to the public last Tuesday as an example of how immediate, low-cost solutions can mitigate extreme heat for vulnerable populations.

Located behind 40 Kirkland Street, the temporary architectural installation – titled “Polinature” – features more than 1,400 locally grown plants hanging in bags from cylindrical scaffolding.

Led by Belinda Tato, a GSD associate professor in practice of landscape architecture, the project is an example of how designers are working to improve climatic conditions. Both the Salata Institute for Climate and Sustainability and the GSD’s design innovation grant provided funding for the garden, which will remain open to the public for viewing through Sept. 22.

The garden is composed of scaffolding covered with native plants, also featuring an inflatable canopy designed to enhance comfort by producing a breeze. Sensors on both the inside and outside of the structure track environmental factors like temperature, humidity, solar radiation, and wind speed to collect data on how different environmental factors impact the climatic comfort of their surroundings.

While still a prototype, Tato described Polinature as a piece of “urban furniture that could be implemented anywhere, at a very reasonable price, with very low tech, with very low means, with very low cost. ”

Tato added that structures like Polinature can help those “most affected by climate change and extreme heat.”

Though Tato said Harvard’s campus is not one lacking outdoor canopies or green space, she added that the project speaks to a broader need.

“There are all these neighborhoods around the world that do not have green areas, that do not have permeability, and they do not have shade,” she said. “The scope of the project is to deliver something for these particular places.”

Tato described this project as an “immediate” and temporary solution to “shortcut” the lengthy time required to plant trees and generate a canopy. She added that in some cases, it could be “temporary for years,” serving as a stopgap while permanent cover grows to provide shade.

Tato and her studio designed the vertical garden to be modular, built in various segments that can be easily disassembled and reassembled to minimize waste. Tato also plans to make the designs open-source to allow for future iterations in urban spaces across the globe.

“We’re currently working on a publication — or some sort of gathering the information — so that we could make this project open source,” Tato said. She added that the data collected by the garden may become accessible to others who can “create their own Polinature in their own place.”

After taking down the installation, Tato plans to give its plants away to nurseries and gardens in Cambridge, thereby “pollinating” other green spaces with what’s left over from the garden.

“We grew the plants to the project, this became hopefully a landmark, a space to talk about biodiversity, climate change, equity,” Tato said.

“Even if it is a temporary construction or pavilion, the memories will last forever, and hopefully the plants too,” she added.

—Staff writer Catherine H. Feng can be reached at catherine.feng@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @catherinehfeng.