Architects, city planners, and gardeners are just a few of the people and organizations using natural barriers for everything from privacy to defending human life.
When it comes to design, one of the most popular current trends is actually one of the oldest known to humans – using nature to help fill in the gaps. Over the last few years, we’ve seen a rash of modern green-inspired designs, each finding ways to incorporate natural elements into a structure that traditionally doesn’t allow for that. Whether it is buildings covered in trees or houses covered in earth, architects and designers are frequently choosing natural alternatives.
And if an Italian architect has his way, we might see that design philosophy go one step further. Architect Stefano Boeri recently suggested another use for natural materials: fighting terrorism
The idea came from Boeri following the recent terror attacks in Barcelona, Spain, which left 16 dead and nearly 80 wounded. The attack was conducted using a van, a method also used for similar attacks in Nice, Berlin, London, and a handful of other locations around the world.
To protect from this type of attack, Boeri’s idea is to utilize the design of European cities, which typically feature narrow streets and winding roads. Rather than limiting the places cars can enter by placing concrete or metal posts – the current plan – Boeri recommends using natural barriers like trees.
“We cannot afford to see the thousands of squares and public spaces present in the hundreds of European cities transformed into war check-points, knowing that only one derisory percentage of these thousands of squares will be really hit from terrorist attacks,” said Boeri.
“A big pot full of soil has the same resistance [as] a Jersey [modular concrete barrier], but it can host a tree – a living being that offers shadow; absorbs the dust, subtle pollutants and the CO2; produces oxygen; homes birds.”
While protecting crowds from cars is the main reason for the renewed interest in adding barriers to areas filled with pedestrians, the reason Boeri suggests trees is obvious enough. He believes – with good reason – that the often picturesque European cities would benefit from more greenery. To him, and millions more, it is a matter of heritage and protecting the history of the region. It would also act as a testament to the strength of the citizens of the cities hit by this type of terror attacks.
“To terrorists that are already succeeding in [causing us fear] and seek for us not to leave our houses, we must not give also the satisfaction of ruining our extraordinary historic and cultural heritage of urban collective places,” he said.
Boeri’s home city of Milan recently placed concrete barriers around several public areas, which may make them slightly safer, but also could have more subtle consequences.
“We should defend ourselves with planters and trees, not with cement,” the architect said.
And while natural barriers may be used to preserve life, they do have plenty of other, less serious uses as well.
Natural barriers in gardening are nothing new. From hedges to rock walls, natural barriers can add definition and create privacy for an area. It can also help to raise the value of a property – a natural fence is much more appealing than, say, one of the chain link variety.
Walls of bamboo plants can make picturesque walls; small ponds can divide plots of land; stone formations can act as retaining walls, and more. Chopped wood and branches can be used for garden boxes to double up on the all-natural environment, and the list goes on.
If you need to create a barrier for safety or simply for definition, it’s worth having a conversation with a contractor to see if you can create the same effect with a natural barrier. Pouring cement might be the easier solution, but that doesn’t necessarily make it the best.