King's Cross Urban Farm

Client Background

We worked with Marek Wojciechowski Architects on designing a unique experience in the new Plantworks office space. With the abundance of natural produce from the internal greening, this is an excellent example of urban farming.

Featured Solutions

• Viritopia Living Wall System (Interior)
• Viritopia bespoke planting solutions

• Size: 29.5m² (living wall)

'Eat Your Office'

Plantworks slogan sums it up well: Eat Your Office. At Viritopia, we put our heads together to come up with different ways to bring in nature to the office, using the space we’d been given. We had some floor space, walls and ceiling. The aim was to create an ‘urban farm’. An office where the staff could truly reap the benefits of nature.

So what did this involve?

We designed bespoke planters with lights on a tier system, which provided a means for growing without taking up as much space. These ‘shelves’ of planting were to grow strawberries and herbs.

Ornamental plants

On the wall we had a living wall designed with an ornamental plant palette, which means the design was focused on creating an aesthetic impact with more decorative species.

Diverse harvest

For the ceiling we created an arched steel frame to give the plants direction to grow, which then forms an archway of greenery. This creates a beautifully diverse harvest, with marrows, runner beans and tomatoes.

First pick!

The project was completed whilst staff were still working from home, which meant that produce was ready to be picked before anyone was there to make use of it. So our maintenance team ensured it was picked at the right time and was put out for the public to help themselves.