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6 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 5 MARCH 2025 NEWS Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew appoints Maltese architect Jonathan Mizzi for landmark climate pavilion THIS summer, Kew Gardens in London will unveil one of its most ambitious garden pro- jects in recent years: the Car- bon Garden, featuring a pavilion designed by Maltese architect Jonathan Mizzi. Opening in July 2025, this innovative new garden will showcase the essential role plants and fungi play in tack- ling climate change, positioning Mizzi as a leading advocate for regenerative design on an inter- national stage. Designed as a permanent new garden within London's larg- est UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Carbon Garden aims to bring the invisible to life— highlighting carbon's critical role in our ecosystem, illus- trating the scale of the climate crisis, and demonstrating how the natural world can help us restore balance. While human activities have released an alarming amount of carbon into the atmosphere, trapping heat and warming the planet, plants and fungi act as nature's climate repairers, holding the power to capture carbon and rebuild our envi- ronments. The Central Pavilion Rooted within this Carbon Garden of nature-based solu- tions, the Pavilion, designed by Mizzi Studio, aims to in- spire visitors to reimagine our relationship with the natural world. Symbolising the magical sym- biotic relationship between plants and fungi, the structure appears to grow organically out of the garden—like a fungal fruiting body—enveloping vis- itors under its sweeping, for- ward-tilted 'carnivorous-plant' canopy. This elegant form is supported by a central timber trunk and a delicate, vein-like structural system. The Pavilion marks anoth- er major international project by Mizzi Studio, reinforcing Malta's presence in global sus- tainable architecture. Mizzi Studio's long-standing rela- tionship with Kew Gardens be- gan in 2021, when it delivered The Family Kitchen—a joyful family eating space blending sustainability with education. The success of this project led Kew to commission Mizzi Studio for the Carbon Garden Pavilion, a structure that em- bodies the principles of cli- mate-conscious architecture. Kew's brief called for a pavilion to sit within the new, perma- nent Carbon Garden, forming a landscape of education and ex- ploration focused on carbon's role in our environment and its deep links to the climate crisis. Mizzi Studio has a track re- cord of pushing the boundaries of nature-inspired public realm architecture in culturally sig- nificant sites. From The Royal Parks' award-winning family of kiosks—one of the largest roll- outs of timber kiosks in Lon- don—to the Home Away from Hive Pavilion for the Science Museum, which celebrated bi- odiversity on Exhibition Road, Mizzi's work continuously merges sustainability with sto- rytelling. Nature-inspired solutions Mizzi has designed a pavil- ion that wholly embodies the principles it champions. Using a palette of sustainably sourced materials, low-carbon stone foundations, and an innovative natural fibre composite canopy inspired by the pitcher plant, the structure even captures rainwater to feed the surround- ing rain garden. Working closely with At- elier One on the structural engineering, the Pavilion is designed as an open, organic structure, welcoming school visits and community activities while serving as an immersive learning environment. The Carbon Garden is designed to inspire action, inviting visitors to become advocates for nature and empowering them with everyday solutions to support the health of our planet. "We are honoured to have been appointed by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, to de- sign a pavilion that addresses one of the most urgent chal- lenges of our time," Jonathan Mizzi, Director of Mizzi Studio, said. "The Carbon Garden and Pa- vilion demonstrates how regen- erative architecture can move beyond sustainability—proving that we can grow our environ- ments with nature, rather than simply constructing them. By harnessing nature- inspired and nature-derived materials, the pavilion embodies the prin- ciples of biomimicry and circu- lar design. We hope it sparks a sense of wonder and urgen- cy—proving that harmony with nature isn't just possible; it's essential to our survival." He said this philosophy is just as critical for Malta, where ris- ing temperatures and urban heat stress demand urgent ac- tion. "We must rethink how we de- sign our urban environments to work with nature rather than against it. This principle under- pins our work on the Regener- ative Multimodal Transport System—an initiative now in collaboration with RIDT to rad- ically rethink mobility through nature-based solutions. By em- bracing this mindset, we can create a future that is not only sustainable but truly resilient" This project aligns with Miz- zi Studio's ongoing mission to design in harmony with the natural world. The studio was recently awarded the KTP Premju Galizia Architecture Vision Award for its regen- erative multimodal transport system for Malta—an ambi- tious project that was also an- nounced at Mizzi's TEDx talk 'Designing Humanity Out of a Climate Crisis'. The Carbon Garden Pavil- ion at Kew Gardens continues this vision, demonstrating how architecture can be a driving force in tackling global envi- ronmental challenges. Richard Wilford, design- er of the Carbon Garden and Manager of Garden Design at RBG Kew said that the Car- bon Garden offers a unique opportunity to showcase on- going research, combining sci- entific insight with thoughtful design and beautiful planting to highlight the role of carbon in people's lives, how it moves through the environment and how plants and fungi can help tackle climate change. "We hope the Carbon Garden inspires visitors to act and join us in shaping a more sustaina- ble, resilient future for life on our planet," he said.