World’s first “vertical forests” bloom on Milan towers
16 May 2014
The worlds first vertical forests have bloomed on two towers in Milan. Theyll act as lungs for residents of a hot, polluted city, but a key challenge was working out how the buildings would handle all that greenery blowing in the wind. The Bosco Verticale residential towers are 110m and 76m high respectively and their outsized balconies will be home to 900 trees, 5,000 shrubs and 11,000 floral plants. The project, in the Porta Nuova district of Milan, aims to deliver a new model for sustainable housing and urban regeneration in one of Europes most polluted cities.
The 40,000m2 of greenery will act as lungs for residents by boosting oxygen and humidity while absorbing CO2 and dust. It will also passively cool people down the designers say the shading could lower the inside temperature by 2ºC in the hot summer. The towers, designed by local architect Boeri Studio and developed by Hines, have two-room apartments, duplexes and penthouses all with extra-large balconies they stick out out 3.35m to accommodate the greenery staggered across the facades.
Structural engineer Arup said the biggest challenge was calculating the loads created by all that greenery blowing in the wind, and they had to use a wind tunnel to test the idea. There is very little available literature on the subject of trees growing on facades, said Arup project manager Luca Buzzoni. In strong winds there was a danger they would create a significant bending moment on the slabs, so we tried to assess the forces based on available knowledge on wind engineering, and wind tunnel tests using a 1:100 scale model of the building and a full scale set of different tree types to confirm our estimations of generated forces.
Each plant was chosen by botanists to thrive in its particular microclimate. The trees were cultivated in a Milan nursery to limit their growth and prevent damage and excessive weight on the structure. They are fed with treated water taken from a rainwater recycling system. The pumping system is powered by integrated photovoltaic panels. The waterproofing system allows air to oxygenate the soil so the trees can grow properly. Steel cages have been embedded in the soil to stop the trees uprooting in heavy winds.
Read more: http://www.globalconreview.com/innovation/worlds-first-vertical-forests-bloom-milan2towers66/
Control-Z
(15,682 posts)Kick and Rec X 1000
littlemissmartypants
(22,737 posts)littlemissmartypants
(22,737 posts)Surya Gayatri
(15,445 posts)and other major cities in France. Europeans take the climate change challenge very seriously. There are no "climate change deniers" here.
Laelth
(32,017 posts)-Laelth
enough
(13,262 posts)It's going to be so interesting to see how this develops over time.
Ash_F
(5,861 posts)Last edited Thu May 22, 2014, 07:08 PM - Edit history (1)
The actual photos are not as green as I thought, but it could be the plants need more time.
enough
(13,262 posts)is various kinds of renderings and photoshops, which give an idealized picture.
Ash_F
(5,861 posts)Thanks for sharing.
marble falls
(57,157 posts)DamnYankeeInHouston
(1,365 posts)They have the joy of seeing green out their windows.
Jefferson23
(30,099 posts)RussBLib
(9,031 posts)but then the anti-science religious nutballs came on the scene and have been fucking everything up for years now.
Uncle Joe
(58,403 posts)Thanks for the thread, undeterred.
packman
(16,296 posts)I sincerely believe humanity has a deep innate drive to be close to nature. Those sterile, glass towers are an assault on humanity.
undeterred
(34,658 posts)between, architects, engineers, and horticulturists in the service of common values.
I wouldn't want to live in a highrise, but if I did this would be the one! I wonder if its really expensive.