Greenhouse by Joost - Melbourne
Food
5th March, 2012
Joost Bakker's latest project - Greenhouse by Joost in Melbourne for the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival
Joost's signature vertical garden cladding and herbs growing on the roof
You might recall we are pretty good pals around here with the supremely clever and prolific Joost Bakker. (You may also remember the little movie we made about Joost's Sydney Greenhouse last year). Mr Bakker is a Melbourne-based multidisciplinary designer and champion of sustainable, ethical design and building practices. He's one hell of an impressive chap - Joost gets more done in one day than what most would achieve in a week, and, amazingly, always with a beaming smile on his face!
This week Joost is back with another of his world famous pop-up Greenhouse restaurants - this time finally on home turf! Joost's latest project has set up temporarily on the bank of the Yarra River at Queensbridge st in the CBD, as part of the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival. As usual Joost and his incredible build team whipped the structure up from the ground up in about 3 weeks - and it's only operational for 20 days!
The structure itself is of course instantly recognisable by Joost's signature vertical garden of terracotta pots covering the entire facade of the building. Beneath the surface, every effort has been made to ensure this building lives up to it's name - the building is not reliant on mains power or water, all furniture and building materials are reclaimed or recycled, organic waste is composted on site and used to feed the herbs growing on the roof... and this year, a world first - Joost is, quite literally, 'taking the p*ss'. Yes you guessed it, urine from the public toilets on site will be harvested and turned into fertiliser. I kid you not. More info here. Kinda gross, kinda amazing.
ANYWAY aside from giving the entire town something a little unusual to chuckle about, Joost is dead set serious on proving that a busy, successful restaurant run entirely waste-free and off-the-grid - and who are we to argue? Mad, inspiring times as always Mr Bakker! We love your work!
