A Liquor Store with a Green Roof by Terunobu Fujimori

Our local liquor store never looked like this, with such an amazing green roof. It is designed by Terunobu Fujimori, who integrates plants into many of his designs. According to the Taipei Times:

Convinced that artificial structures and elements in nature can reach a perfect harmony, Fujimori uses steel, mortar and industrial wood to build the inner structures and hidden elements of buildings while placing plants, soil and stone in the more visible locations.

The results are often houses of "ambiguous nationality" which appear naive or even surreal. He planted grass in a diagonal grid all over the roof of Camellia Castle, where a camellia is also planted.

"We often see plants on roofs of modern buildings, but they hardly ever blend in with the architecture. This is because rooftop gardens are usually designed by ecologists, who dislike artificial things. They would rather suppress the artificial to better express the plants," Fujimori said.

"But I think both the plants and the building have to look good. It's not easy, but I want them to get along well."

Fujimori admits that there are many limits to this incorporation of natural elements. "In Japan, most plants die in winter, so the houses can appear pretty only for a brief time. And when they grow too quickly, the house seems untidy. It takes a lot of work to make these buildings look nice," he said.