Concrete jungle

As cities sprawl, the available area for parks, forests, and green belts is proportionally reduced. There is a finite amount of space available for natural spaces as urban development invariably takes precedence. The Vertical Forest proposes a unique and breathtaking solution to the scarcity of foliage in the city, constructing a high-density tower block bursting with trees.

The first example of a Vertical Forest is currently under construction in the Garibaldi Repubblica area in Milan, with two towers which are 80 metres and 112 metres tall respectively, and which will be able to hold 480 big and medium size trees, 250 small size trees, 11 000 groundcover plants and 5 000 shrubs – all in all the equivalent of a hectare of forest. The Vertical Forest has at its heart a concept of architecture which demineralises urban areas and uses the changing shape and form of leaves for its facades. The vegetation itself also absorbs the dust in the air, and creates an adequate micro-climate in order to filter out the sunlight. It represents a kind of biological architecture which refuses to adopt a strictly technological and mechanical approach to environmental sustainability.

Aside from the visual splendour it adds to the urban landscape, there are numerous reasons why the Vertical Forest concept is a particularly progressive idea:

• The Vertical Forest increases biodiversity. It helps to set up an urban ecosystem where different kinds of vegetation create a vertical environment which can also be colonised by birds and insects, thus becoming both a magnet for and a symbol of the spontaneous recolonisation of the city by nature. The creation of a number of vertical forests in the city will be able to create a network of environmental corridors which will give life to the main parks in the city, bringing the green space of avenues and gardens and connecting various spaces of spontaneous vegetation growth.

• Vertical Forest helps to build a micro-climate and to filter dust particles which are present in the urban environment. The diversity of the plants helps to create humidity, absorb carbon dioxide and dust, produce oxygen, protect people and houses from the sun’s rays, as well as diminishing acoustic pollution.

• The project is also an anti-sprawl measure which aims to control and reduce urban expansion. If we think of them in terms of urban densification, each tower of the Vertical Forest is equivalent to an area of urban sprawl of family houses and buildings of up to 50 000 square metres.

• Trees are a key element in understanding architectural projects and garden systems. In this case the choice of the types of trees was made to fit with their positioning on the facades, and in terms of their height. It took two years to conclude alongside a group of botanists, and over this period these plants slowly acclimatised to the conditions they were placed in on the building. The plants used in this project will be grown specifically for this purpose and will be pre-cultivated.

• The Vertical Forest becomes a landmark of the city, releasing new kinds of variable landscapes which can change their form in each season depending on the types of plants involved. The vertical forests will offer a changing view of the metropolitan city below.

Perhaps the dystopian view of the future made popular by films like Blade Runner will need to be revised in an age where trees and bushes burst forth from skyscrapers, saturating the atmosphere with oxygen and gorgeous scents; elevating the beauty of the natural world high up into the air. We can only hope…

Fore more information see: www.stefanoboeriarchitetti.net