These "Vertical Forests" Are Skyscrapers That Fight Pollution!
Air pollution in crowded cities is getting worse and worse.
We have more people, more cars, more emissions - but not enough plants!
And what do you do when you have little space in a city? You use the vertical space.
The "vertical forest" is a concept by Italian architect Stefano Boeri.
It's essentially a skyscraper covered in trees and other different plants.
The dimensions are fascinating: there are over 1,000 trees on each tower, as well as 2,500 plants and shrubs.
It has taken a team of Botanists over 2 years to carefully select the different local species of plants, and their location on the tower.
The vertical forest will create 60kg of clean oxygen per day and absorb 25 tons of CO2 each year.
On flat land, each Vertical Forest equals, in amount of trees, an area of 7000 m2 of forest. In terms of urban densification the equivalent of an area of single family dwellings of nearly 75.000 m2
These vertical forests already exist in Milan, Italy (these were the original buildings, completed in 2014) and in Lausanne, Switzerland.
They are very popular to rent and greatly appreciated by most citizens.
Now, a new vertical forest project in Nanjing, China has been announced!
China has been struggling with smog over the recent years, and this shows that they want to take a step in the right direction and change that.
Nanjing currently has an air quality index that's classified as "unhealthy".
While the first vertical forest towers will be built in Nanjing (approximately completed in 2018), there are actually other destinations around China planned as well, amongst them Shanghai.
The inside of the skyscrapers in Nanjing will be used as an office building, a museum, an architecture school and a Hotel with a rooftop pool.
Vertical Forest is a model for a sustainable residential building, a project for metropolitan reforestation contributing to the regeneration of the environment and urban biodiversity without the implication of expanding the city upon the territory. It is a model of vertical densification of nature within the city that operates in relation to policies for reforestation and naturalization of large urban and metropolitan borders.
The vertical forest towers increase the biodiversity, offer a habitat for many different insects and birds, and they filter out harmful dust particles from the air.
Of course one vertical forest won't be able to cancel out the smog problem of a whole city, but it's an important step in the right direction and it's an inspirational symbol for similar future projects.
It's a great example that shows how we can let nature back into our busy lives, because we really depend on it after all.
Would you like to live in a "vertical forest" apartment like this one?
Images: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
- Instagram -
© Sirwinchester
@SirWinchester, your post has been chosen by @STEEMNEWS.ONLINE as one of today's promoted posts for its excellent content. We've upvoted, resteemed and published it through Facebook & Twitter.
As the author of a SNO featured article, you've been awarded one TRAIL coin. Please stop by the SteemTrail Discord server to learn more about how to claim your TRAIL coin. You will need an Open Ledger account to do so.
STEEMNEWS.ONLINE is the @SteemTrail for #news and watches the #steemnews tag most closely. Please consider supporting excellent news articles by making steemnews.online one of your operators on Streemian, in addition to steemtrail.
Thank you for your hard work and contribution of excellent content to Steemit.
If you would rather not be promoted by STEEMNEWS.ONLINE, please inform us by replying to this comment and we will honor your request.
I've seen others talk about this within the last month. They thing that I shake my head at is this also goes along with vertical farming. It is not a new thing and this Architect is not even really inventing something that others had not proposed. It is good that someone is finally doing something, but this is a cool idea that people have been talking out for many years now.
Though a lot of the vertical farm proposals were substantially more involved than it takes to do what is being done here and they were aiming for addressing food problems more than air pollution though in reality it could achieve both.
Good point. I think in general people have come to the conclusion that they need to use the vertical space more, so while this is not a revolution, it's definitely a first step and great to see somebody taking action!
I agree. I do like seeing it. I also am a fan of nature in general, so adding more in combination with our architecture in a more symbiotic nature is personally appealing to me.
@sirwinchester, nature lover here so I love the idea of metropolitan reforestration.
btw, please check your chat I sent you a message. Thank you very much.
Already answered, and yes I also really like the idea of bringing nature back into our busy lives and back into our crowded cities !
@sirwinchester yes, I saw thank you very much!
gosh, when they say "so so swit". this is it!
I would love this. Bringing nature closer :)
Creative and functional. Spectacular application. That's one type of high rise I might consider living in.
It must surely reduce the light inside the apartments though as well, right?
Hmm, yes it probably will in summer, but as you can see the windows are not fully covered in plants.
I actually think it's quite interesting how the look of the building and the view from inside of the apartment changes as the seasons and plants change!
Since I heard about skyscrapers like this, I asked myself how the water supply system would be working. Now things are clear. A greener environment is what our cities need, especially because it makes people feel better. A matter of quality of life.
It's a great idea! It also looks quite nice, some greenery in the middle of the city.
Coooool... I've never seen these before but great idea. They look like something post-apocalypse, when the wild has begun to reclaim man's world