StartupRealities

Startup No 185 - StartupRealities 2020 series GardenPackaging is a garden architecture company which wraps entire gardens and lawns under a giant tensile awning to reduce the intensity of sunlight in the summer and create an artistic visual effect. CEO QUOTE "I was inspired by environmental artist Christo Javacheff  and architect Frei Otto to start this company. Christo and Jeanne-Claude focused on wrapping famous landmarks in their art installations. While I thought: 'Shouldn't someone democratise this beautiful mix of art and architecture and bring it to the people?' This is how my company was born: by the people, for the people!" - said GardenPackaging founder and CEO Garda Packer . Tensile canvas structure in a Park (image source: Wikipedia )

StartupRealities No 148 TilesOut is an architecture design and construction company which has developed and patented new house roofing technology based on thick layers of alternating plastic cling film and bubble wrap. The roofing material is continuously applied on a roof beam structure by a robotic arm resembling the flying shuttle of a textile loom, suspended from a cherry picker . The thickness of the roofing sheets reaches up to 50 layers of alternating clingfilm and wrap, with minimal weight. ADVANTAGES The new roofing material has several advantages over traditional ceramic or bitumen tiles: 1) light weight; 2) translucent to sunlight (without being fully transparent); 3) providing perfect heat insulation in winter; 4) flexible and pliable (unlike corrugated PVC roofing sheets, which are brittle); 5) continuously applied on site, so no preliminary calculations and delivery specifications are needed; 6) easily repairable by applying more layers of sheeting. CEO QUOTE...

StartupRealities No 115 ChurchPooling  is a real estate developer which converts disused churches into community swimming pools. The pools designed and built by the company have a characteristic Gothic atmosphere as the structure and interior of the church is preserved in the transformation process and the roof or dome is visible from the water. The foundations of a church usually need to be dug out and strengthened to accommodate a pool at ground/basement level. Fancier projects are sometimes implemented where the water level of the pool is up to 2 metres above ground level, which requires strengthening and waterproofing the walls of the church to support the weight of the water column. CEO QUOTE "We often get asked if we discover interesting objects when we dig inside churches, 'Tales from the Crypt'-style. Occasionally we do find bones in the oldest churches as the church floor was traditionally used for burying nobility and clergy in the Middle Ages. However, most...