FLOWERBED

TECHNOLOGY: CAST PLAIN CEMENT OR REINFORCED CONCRETE

OBSERVATIONS:

• often used in parks and landscaped areas with large amounts of natural greenery; • performs a decorative function; • often used as a barrier (limiting the vehicles access); • concrete structures are sometimes used as seating; • usually maintenance heavy; • the plants last only one season (specifically, warm season), lack of primary use in winter; • rainfall from the sidewalks can’t get into such flowerbeds; • such flowerbeds can add greenery in places where bedding-out is limited (i.e. above the utility networks) or there’s a need in flexibility in space usage.

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ANALYSIS:

MAINTAIN+REPAIR

REUSE+REDISTRIBUTE

REMANUFACTURE

potential decrease in amount of concrete or its replacement with other materials

durable but solid, thus almost unrepairable when damaged

DISASSEMBLY / ASSEMBLY

no need for fixtures, thus the structure is simple to install

TRANSPORTATION

can be relocated by freight vehicles due to the structure being hefty

easy to relocate and reuse while preserving the integrity

STORAGE CONDITIONS

solid reinforced design makes them unviable to renovate. can be stored at ambient temperature, yet the weight and the variety of shapes complicate the space-effective storage

potential use of shatters as fillers in concrete mixtures or other construction materials (with proper adjustment of the process)

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RECOMMENDATIONS:

• Minimise or forgo their usage in parks and bed-out the greenery. • Decrease the amount of material to a bear minimum needed for functional use. • Opt for the more eco-friendly grades of with higher strength and durability and lower carbon footprint (embodied CO2). • Use the mobile flowerbeds where there’s need to periodically transform the space and allow a large open space (i.e., for a market). • Use flowerbeds for planting vegetation with a taproot system. • Can be used where there’s a need for temporary barriers. • Using modular concrete structures would facilitate maintenance, namely repair and replacement of individual parts.