IDEA1 Landscape

The I.D.E.A. District stands for Innovation, Design, Education & Arts. The IDEA1 is the first creative urban complex in the district (located in San Diego’s East Village neighborhood) and provides apartment homes, two-story roof amenities, live/work lofts on the ground floor, an office incubator, the IDEA Box meeting room, retail space, all surrounding an outdoor collaborative workplace known as The Hub. The Hub is a public three-level flexible event space that hosts daily social, cultural and educational events. To reinforce flexibility, the team strategy was to minimize the planting within the Hub, and provide the development required planted area in a Green Soffit or a “Floating Wave” that hangs above the F Street entry, facing south. The one-of-a-kind design “Floating Wave” creates an artificial and urban environment containing the essential natural elements for Tillandsia (air) plants to thrive.

The installation of the suspended undulating Tillandsia (air) plants, enhanced by an auditory track of nature sounds and flanked by an energetic mural welcomes residents and visitors to the site with a multi-sensory experience. Each of the natural elements has been carefully designed to function as a whole system. Air flows naturally through the open-ended paseo while misters and grow lights complete this unique environment of floating plants. The plants will continue to grow, flower and even multiply providing a green respite in an urban context.