Tournesol Siteworks is pleased to welcome our newest employee, Hernan Espinal. He’s joined us as a manufacturing technician in our engineering group. His job is to make life easier for our production personnel by configuring our manufacturing space more efficiently, building fixtures and arranging equipment around the shop. He’ll be contributing to our quality efforts by documenting our standard operating procedures, as well as acting as a pair of eyes on the shop floor to look out for problems. Finally, Hernan will be helping to make Tournesol a safer place to work by participating in our safety committee, conducting training, and reworking processes to ensure that they don’t pose a threat to our production crews. He’s the first person to have this position at the company – we’d looked for over 4 months to find someone with his set of skills.
Hernan is fluent in both Spanish and English, growing up in Honduras then moving to Northern California. He recieved his high school equivalency at Sequoia High School in Redwood City, CA, then went on to study industrial engineering in Honduras. After returning to the US, he worked as a process operator and senior manufacturing technician at several local pharmaceutical companies. He lives in Union City, CA, and has 3 children.
Welcome, Hernan – we’re delighted to have you as part of the team!
The new terrace at the entrance to Caesars Palace, Las Vegas, NV
Tournesol Siteworks was part of one of the hottest tickets in Las Vegas last fall when renowned Washington DC chef Michel Richard opened his newest eatery, Central Michel Richard at Caesars Palace. The restaurant was named to several “Top 10″ lists within months of opening. Landscape architect Chris Attanasio designed the outdoor terrace using our Wilshire Collection rectangles to create the terrace space, and Downtown Collection as focal planters.
Downtown Collection DS-6000 planters, in a custom shade of green
Tournesol Siteworks has been working closely with our partner Elmich in Singapore to bring you the next generation of VGM modular living wall – the VGM3. For those who have worked with VGM in the past, you’ll find the great features that made VGM a superior living wall solution (availability in 4″ and 8″ soil profiles, ease of removal/installation, open planting space, recycled materials) are all still there.
We’re not content to rest on our laurels – we want the best system to be better, at a lower overall installed cost!
Welcome to 2012! We took the holidays off (from posting on the blog, anyway), but are excited to be in the new year.
We’ve just published our new 2012 commercial price list. This is typically the price that contractors will pay, and the price that is available through our distributor network.
The pricelist includes several important things for 2012:
Cool VGM living wall installation uses the boxes' modularity
When it comes to creativity, the designers we work with have us here at Tournesol Siteworks beat hands down. Architect Ross Andrews and Landscape Architect Jim Ridge came up with this design for a small living wall installed on a retail center in Fountain Valley, CA. Instead of viewing the modularity of the VGM system as a drawback, they leveraged the geometry to create something quite spectacular.
Installed by Matsunaga Landscape Maintenance, and grown in by our friends at Instant Jungle, this wall adds pop to an otherwise bland area. The one column reaches all the way to the ground, which allows irrigation to be run up behind it. As the wall grows in, the variation in plant material’s colors will containue to add to the effect. A great installation, and one that shows what creativity can do on a budget.
all images courtesy Joe Zazzera, Plant Solutions, Scottsdale, AZ
Jeff Basset of Unisource Global Solutions, in Chandler, AZ, recently worked with our regional sales representative Jon Willingham to design an interior living wall for their offices. They enlisted the help of Joe Zazzera and his team from Plant Solutions in Scottsdale to install and maintain the wall.
We frequently have people ask us whether it is complicated to install a TerraScreen system. This series of pictures answers that question better than anything…
34th St. Planters, at Penn Station, NYC. Design by Ignacio Ciocchini
After the “Cities Alive” Green Roof and Wall conference in Philadelphia last week, Brian Mitalo and I went to NYC to visit several architects working on projects. At the end of the day, I found myself at Penn Station, waiting for the train out to JFK. It was a perfect chance to revisit product that we delivered nearly 10 years ago, and see how it’s holding up.
In 2002, we rotationally molded custom LLD polyethylene planters for the 34th St. partnership, a business improvement district in midtown Manhattan. We began working with their designer, Ignacio Ciocchini, as he was looking at various materials for the pots. He started the discussion assuming the pots would be made in FRP fiberglass. We convinced him that plastic could be done attractively, and be far more durable than the fiberglass.
We’ll be at Cities Alive, the Green Roof and Wall conference taking place this week in Philadelphia. Come by and see us at booth #106!
We’ll be showing the “next generation” VGM living wall module, our new deck and paver supports, and introducing the newest iteration of our green roof trays – one that we can offer at 27% less than our previous GRT2 product! It’s a great opportunity for those of you one the East Coast to see all the newest and greatest in landscaping roofs and walls, all in the same place. We have tickets available for the show. If you are interested, contact Chris in Inside Sales for information.
I’ll be presenting during the third session (4:30-6PM on Thursday), in the Residential/Indoor Greening track. My presentation is “Gathering Intelligence from the Interior Trenches”, and will be a summary of what’s worked (and what hasn’t) in interior greenwall design. I took the opportunity to discuss all aspects of living walls with several interiorscapers that have set up and maintained multiple types of systems. It was a good chance for me to distill general feedback from the marketplace, and I hope the topic will resonate with the attendees. I’ll probably use the info as a source for several blog postings to come!
Finally, I was invited to be a judge for the “Awards of Excellence”, so I’m really looking forward to the presentation ceremonies. It was inspiring to see some of the tremendous work that’s being done in this space, and the winners truly deserve the recognition.
All images courtesy of Michelle Bond, Thumbellina Gardens
Since starting in the green wall business, we often get the comment – “it looks great when it goes in, but what about a year later?” Thanks to Michelle Bond of Thumbellina Gardens in San Francisco, we can show you a time lapse of a living wall in San Francisco. We featured the installation of this wall last December (here), and then revisited it again 6 months later (here).
We just recieved word from Elmich, our partners in Singapore, that they have received certification for the VGM Modular living wall systems at wind speeds up to 68mph. They contracted with a testing agency in Melbourne, AUS, who created and executed the test. While the video above might not be particularly exciting, the results are excellent.
The short story-
The new 3rd generation VGM modules (coming at the end of November) feature an optional plastic retaining clip that keeps the module in place. While it was tested here with wind, the same clip can be used for seismic retention and vandal prevention purposes.
With the wind coming from three different directions, there was still no appreciable uplift on a typical module. That is, the brackets held the boxes fast on the rails no matter the direction of the wind.
The 3rd generation modules also feature planting windows with additional retention bars. These prevent wind erosion of the soil or plants, and help keep the planting bag in place.
We’ll be featuring a post on the new modules shortly after they debut in December. In addition to the benefits mentioned above, they feature full stainless steel hardware, and a fully removable lid. As a bonus to the installing contractor, the new bracket system will be faster and easier to assemble than the previous generations.
