Vertical gardens
ENVIRONMENTAL BENEFITS OF THE VERTICAL GARDENS INSTALLED AT MALAGA-COSTA DEL SOL AIRPORT WITH A TOTAL SURFACE AREA OF 383.29 m2
- They produce enough oxygen for 383 people.
- They capture and process 95.8 kg of heavy metals each year.
- They filter 268.3 tonnes of harmful gases each year.
- They retain 53.7 kg of dust each year.
GARDEN OF THE TRANSPORT INTERCHANGE
This garden can be seen from the departures floor and from the arrivals area, that is, it is it can be seen by all passengers. For that reason, we looked for an emblem of Malaga, to welcome passengers, but also to see them off, as one of their final beautiful memories of the city. And that emblem is the ‘biznaga’.
Biznaga is term that is very typical of Malaga. According to the Spanish Royal Academy, it is ‘a small posy of jasmine flowers in the shape of a ball’.
Biznaga sellers appear in large numbers in the streets of the city centre in summer, when the jasmine bushes flower, leaving in their wake a trail of the unusual and evocative scent of the biznagas, threaded on their branches. The biznaga is, together with the fish vendor and the anchovy, one of the popular emblems of the capital of the Costa del Sol. Exemplifying that, the Golden Biznaga is the top prize at the Malaga Film Festival.
¿How is a biznaga made?
Months before the summer, a species of wild thistle called ‘nerdo’ (Khello in English or Ammi visnaga in Latin) is picked when it is still green, which will be used as the framework for the biznaga. After removing the surplus leaves and stems to leave only the main stalk and its spines, it is left to dry until turns beige in colour and becomes hard. The stalk and tips are then trimmed. The jasmine flowers are picked on summer afternoons before they open, so that it is easy to place them one by one on the spines of the framework. At night, the jasmine flowers open, giving the biznaga its characteristic shape and scent.
The biznaga seller carries the biznagas on a prickly pear branch, stripped of all its spines, which is used as a base to hold the biznagas. That is how they are traditionally presented for sale.
The area of this garden is approximately 99 m2.
GARDEN OF THE PASSPORT CONTROL AREA
This is a garden with two faces. One face is visible from the entrance to passport control for departures and the other from the waiting area for access to Pier C. By drawing with flowers, the idea is to make the passage of passengers through this area, where formalities require them to be alert, happy and peaceful. On the exterior face, the idea is to simulate the image of a beach at night, while, on the interior face, a beach at dusk is recreated.
The area of both gardens is 90 m2.
Beach at night
Beach at dusk
ACCESS TO PIER B
If you are looking at this garden, you are in the waiting area for access to Pier B. Here, we have tried to recreate in flowers a tree like those found in the city’s Alameda avenue, so that, while you are waiting, you are filled with memoires of those summer strolls around the centre of Malaga.
DEPARTURES AREA
If you are here, you are about to leave Malaga. And we want you to do so with the best possible memories of your stay in the city. That is why we have installed the airport’s largest vertical garden here, opposite security control. The curtain wall of the terminal entrance has been covered with a garden approximately 5 metres high and 26.5 metres long. The area of the garden is 132.5 square metres.
To say farewell, we have included a skyline of the city in this garden, containing the following buildings (in order, from left to right):
- Malaga-Costa del Sol Airport control tower.
- The chimney known as ‘Torre Mónica’ or Monica’s Tower. It is a chimney of an old factory, famous because one night a young man climbed up it and painted the name of his beloved, Monica, on it, as proof of his love.
- Puente de los Alemanes. Built by the Germans (los alemanes) in 1909 to thank the people of Malaga for the help they gave when a German vessel was shipwrecked.
- The La Equitativa building.
- The cathedral, popularly known as ‘La manquita’ (a term for someone with one arm or hand), because it is missing a tower.
- The Torrijos monument (a funerary obelisk located in the centre of the Plaza de la Merced).
- The Alcazaba (11th century Islamic fortress-palace).
- The Farola (Malaga’s best-known lighthouse, with a feminine name).
- The ‘La Malagueta’ bullring.
- Gibralfaro Castle (built in the 14th century).
- The Baños del Carmen (an old spa from the 19th century).