Mobile garden on the roof of the bus

A new environmentally friendly bus, with its roof turned into a mini garden, has started rolling in Spanish streets to help clean up the atmosphere in the country.

The bus is nicknamed PhytoKinetic by landscape artist Marc Granen designed to purify the air in the Spanish cities lacking trees.

As designed, the roof is equipped with a layer of hydroxide foam, 7cm thick, which maintains moisture, but does not retain water and helps reduce weight in this area in the rain continuously. Some small shrubs are then planted on top to suit the climate in each city or to characterize each line of the bus.

Model of PhytoKinetic bus

This car will use condensed water from the air conditioning system installed on the roof to water the mini garden. However, irrigation can still be done manually.

The first PhytoKinetic bus was completed last week and is currently being used to transport tourists to a camping site and a natural tour in Girona.

"Urban green areas are essential for photosynthesis, when plants absorb CO ₂ and release oxygen, helping to purify the air that people breathe," says Granen. A city needs to grow at the same pace as the population, but the green areas that are so essential are always lacking. "The Phytokinetic Bus was born to solve this problem."

The bus driver added that his project actually started last summer with a mini garden on the roof of a passenger car in a small town near Barcelona. Thanks to the PhytoKinetic roof, the temperature inside the car has dropped to 3.5 degrees Celsius.

Since then, Granan has improved the design and applied for a patent for his invention. The designer is currently in discussions with a car company that wants to sponsor a team of Barcelona-based mobile telemarketers. These unique cars are also expected to become one of the main attractions of the Green International Conference in Nantes in September.