Animated nose shaped Tillandsia sun screen

commission for private residence St Andrews, Victoria

Armature frame for movable Tillandsia screen. Rather than creating the screen as a 2d shape, the triangular shape is formed like a nose which screens the sun but also allows light to enter from the bottom while adding a third dimension that creates changing shade patterns.

Frame for movable Tillandsia screen on triangular window raised. Photo March 2016

Frame for movable Tillandsia screen on triangular window lowered. Photo March 2016

Geoff Beech and I installed this xeric Tillandsia moving nose cone screen on a neighbor's house in March 2016. Photo - December 2021

The wall faces west and breaks the heat entering the house. It is exposed to a lot of heat, but it does get rain.

There is No watering system, No root medium, No fertilizers and it is light enough to move up and down over the window. Vertical gardens most often require regular maintenance every 3 months. Reticulated systems often require new plants to replace those that have died, but after nearly 5 years not one Tillandsia was dead.

By December 2021 the Tillandsia plants had become very thick and today we did our first maintenance call to thin the plants. December 2021

We took over 150 large plants off. Over the same period a typical vertical garden may have required 14 maintenance calls. In a truly sustainable manner, the clumps of Tillandsia plants removed which have been used on another wall.

December 2021