Latest news with #BoscoVerticale
BBC News
a day ago
- Health
- BBC News
'A home for trees and birds, and also humans': How high-rise forests can transform city life – and make us happier
It's been 10 years since the creation of the first vertical forest, Milan's Bosco Verticale. How has it inspired other buildings – and affected their residents' happiness and health? In 2007, Italian architect Stefano Boeri witnessed the frantic construction of a city in the Dubai desert dominated by energy-wasting skyscrapers covered in glass, ceramic and metal. All these materials, he tells the BBC, "reflected sunlight, generating heat in the air and especially on the urban ground, where pedestrians walked". Three thousand miles away, he had just begun working on his own design for two very tall buildings in a neglected area of northern Milan. "Suddenly, it occurred to me to create two biological towers… covered not with glass, but with leaves," he says. The design would invite fauna and flora into this industrial wasteland and cool the air inside and out, offering a radical new architectural prototype that, he explains, "integrates living nature as a constitutive part of it". The startling result was the world's first "vertical forest". The multi-award-winning design is now 10 years old, its plants maintained by "flying gardeners" harnessed to the side of the buildings, and its occupants up to three degrees cooler, as the foliage releases water vapour and filters the sunlight. To mark this anniversary, architectural firm Stefano Boeri Architetti has released a new book, Bosco Verticale: Morphology of a Vertical Forest, featuring essays by leading voices working at the intersection of nature and architecture, alongside images by architectural photographer Iwan Baan. The book traces the evolution of the project and the principles it espouses, and, say the publishers, Rizzoli "celebrates an architectural work that has become the symbol of a renewed collective sensibility toward care for the environment and the plant world". In a reversal of the usual architectural hierarchies, the book describes the vertical forest as "a home for trees and birds, that also houses humans". It draws on philosophies and texts that have influenced it, such as The Secret Life of Trees (2006) by British biologist Colin Tudge, a work that explains the crucial role trees play in our lives in sequestering carbon, producing glucose and providing shade. It also quotes the British ethologist Dame Jane Goodall. As populations increase, she asserts, "it is desperately important that this growth should be accompanied by new incentives to bring the natural world into existing cities and into the planning of new ones". Since the completion of Milan's Vertical Forest, a green wave of plant-rich construction has begun reintroducing nature into our cities, from Dubai to Denver, Colorado; Antwerp to Arlington, Virginia; with Africa's first vertical forest scheduled to break ground in Cairo later this year. Answering critics who doubted the concept's affordability is the Trudo Vertical Forest in Eindhoven, The Netherlands (completed 2021), a social housing project with a rent cap of €600 (£510) per month. A sense of connection Over in Montpellier, France, a third of The Secret Gardens − a forested residential development designed by Vincent Callebaut Architectures, Paris, and due for completion later this year − will be reserved for affordable housing. In integrating practices such as rooftop agriculture and water recycling, The Secret Gardens also "addresses the climate crisis by restoring the human-nature connection", Vincent Callebaut tells the BBC. "By transforming residents into urban gardeners and façades into carbon sinks, this building demonstrates that ecology isn't a constraint but a lifestyle philosophy," he says. The power of these extraordinary structures to alter how people live and feel is central to their design. One of Vincent Callebaut Architectures' latest designs is The Rainbow Tree (Cebu, Philippines), inspired by the psychedelic colours of the native Rainbow Eucalyptus Tree's bark. But the "tree" requires the collaboration of the residents of each of its 300 apartments to maintain its striking flora. This, along with its shared greenhouses and urban beehives, helps "foster social bonds", says Callebaut, creating a sense of community and connection. More like this:• The retro space-age homes that still inspire today• Why these 1970s cabins are 'the perfect holiday home'• The pioneering building that scandalised Paris This notion that biophilic design (design that draws on humans' innate connection with nature) can positively affect our wellbeing is supported by recent research. A study undertaken by Wageningen University in the Netherlands reported that the presence of plants in a work environment not only improved the attractiveness of the workspace, but also increased employee satisfaction. Workers also noticed the enhanced air quality and reported fewer health-related complaints. In Wales, a 10-year study looking at the presence of anxiety and depression in 2.3 million medical records, found that the greenest home surroundings were associated with 40% less anxiety and depression than those living in the least green areas. People in poorer areas benefitted the most, with access to green spaces and water reducing the risk of anxiety and depression by 10% (6% in wealthier areas). It is perhaps unsurprising, then, that biophilic concepts are being commissioned for new hospitals. Callebaut's Hospiwood 21, in La Louvière, Belgium, says the architect, "incorporates therapeutic vertical forests using greenery to reduce patient stress and enhance recovery", and is furnished with a soothing biophilic interior full of cascading plants. Meanwhile, in Italy, Stefano Boeri's New Policlinico Hospital Milan will feature a rooftop garden of more than 7,000 square metres. Biophilia is part of a rethinking of care facilities, says Boeri, that "opens up a new perspective on rehabilitation, going beyond the traditional concept of a facility for the mere long-term care of patients and becoming a true space of interaction and wellbeing in close contact with nature". In fact, the green tendrils of biophilic design are creeping into a huge range of buildings. Jewel Changi Airport, Singapore's 10-storey leisure and retail complex, has been open to both air passengers and visitors since 2019, and boasts lush indoor forests comprising 1,400 trees, as well as the world's tallest indoor waterfall (40m). In Amsterdam, the sustainable bamboo interior of the Hotel Jakarta (founded 2018) features a tropical garden in its central atrium that, quenched by rainwater from the roof, is fast advancing towards its 30-metre high ceiling. An hour away in Rotterdam, a rooftop forest, almost 40m above ground level, crowns The Depot, a publicly accessible storage facility for the vast art collection of the Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, and shaped like a giant mirrored cauldron. As well as lifting our spirits, high-rise forests can play an important role in tackling climate change. Vincent Callebaut's Tao Zhu Yin Yuan in Taipei, Taiwan, a 21-floor tower that is shaped like DNA's double helix, was completed in 2024. Its 23,000 plants absorb an estimated 130 tons of CO2 each year, and their cooling effect on the façade reduces the need for air conditioning by 30%. The building features rotating balconies to maximise sun exposure, while the ventilation chimneys at its core reflects Callebaut's interest in biomimicry (the emulation of nature's systems to provide solutions to human problems) and function much like a lung, drawing in air at its base, purifying it, and then expelling it at the top. Far taller than they are wide, high-rise forests also minimise soil sealing, freeing up land for nature and reducing flood risk. "My projects embody a vision where cities are no longer climate problems but living solutions," says Callebaut. Far from nature being "an obstacle or ornamental afterthought", it's the guiding principle of the design. Buildings now act, he says, as "inhabited trees… that absorb CO2, produce energy, and shelter biodiversity". Responding to two major contemporary crises, global warming and declining mental health, biophilic buildings are already being envisaged as part of entirely forested cities. In Liuzhou in China's Guangxi province, one of the world's worst regions for smog, Stefano Boeri's futuristic Forest City, housing around 30,000 inhabitants and generating all of its own energy, has been approved and is awaiting construction; while the firm's Cancun Smart Forest City in Mexico, which plans to prohibit combustion-powered vehicles, is also awaiting starter's orders. Back in Milan, the building that began it all, with its rooftop solar panels, is indisputably tree-like, harvesting its energy from the sun and drawing up groundwater. "Nature is not something that exists in an immemorial past," writes author and philosopher Emanuele Coccia in the book. "It is and will always be our technological future." As for Boeri, the twin vertical forests he brought to life in Milan are not just buildings, he writes, but "a political manifesto" with "a simple and popular message: living nature has to return to inhabit the spaces conceived for humans. No more, no less". Bosco Verticale: Morphology of a Vertical Forest is edited by Stefano Boeri Architetti and published by Rizzoli. -- For more Culture stories from the BBC, follow us on Facebook, X and Instagram.
The Hindu
04-05-2025
- Science
- The Hindu
Revisiting Passive Cooling
As Indian cities battle intensifying heatwaves, can we cool our homes and buildings without ramping up electricity use? In this episode of The Climate Economy from The Hindu, host Kunal Shankar explores the science and solutions behind passive cooling—an age-old yet futuristic way to keep spaces comfortable using design, materials, and nature itself. From the Urban Heat Island Effect to innovative architectural solutions like double-skin facades, desiccant cooling, PDRC, and thermal mass materials, we look at how buildings can be part of the climate solution rather than the problem. Featuring global and Indian case studies—from Zimbabwe's termite-inspired EastGate Centre to Delhi's CoolAnt Beehive and Milan's Bosco Verticale—this episode showcases the power of climate-adaptive architecture. Presentation: Kunal Shankar Editing: Aniket Singh Chauhan Script: P Jaisakthi Jothi Video: Johan Sathya Das
Yahoo
07-04-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Architect is revolutionizing the industry with 'vertical forest' concept for high-rise homes: 'Best ... in the world'
Italian architect Stefano Boeri is bringing nature into big cities with his "vertical forest" concept for sustainable high-rise homes, which promote urban biodiversity and improve the quality of life for residents. The innovative, eco-friendly dwellings have earned Boeri and his studio the 2025 MIPIM award in the Best Mix-Use Project category for their Wonderwoods project, located in the heart of Utrecht in the Netherlands. Euronews explained that Wonderwoods is the first vertical forest in the Netherlands that features both apartments and public amenities, including dining areas, commercial spaces, and sports and leisure opportunities. Opened in February, the 341-foot tall Wonderwoods houses 200 apartments that overlook the city center, but the building gives a new meaning to the term concrete jungle. It incorporates 360 trees and 50,000 plants into the balconies and façades, providing fresh, clean air for residents and also helping reduce stress. Plus, the vegetation — equivalent to about 2.5 acres of forest, according to Boeri's architecture firm — absorbs carbon dioxide and produces oxygen, helping to cool the area near the building and benefiting the planet. Wonderwoods Vertical Forest also attracts wildlife, including birds looking for shelter, a nesting spot, or a place to rest. As urban biodiversity is generally declining worldwide because of habitat loss, human expansion, and pollution, Wonderwoods will help restore balance to the local ecosystem and allow humans and animals to coexist peacefully. "The recognition of the MIPIM Award as the best 'Mixed Use' building in the world, has captured the profoundly urban character of Wonderwoods: a multipurpose and highly biodiverse architecture, open to the daily life of the citizens, plants and birds of Utrecht," said architect Francesca Cesa Bianchi during the award ceremony, per Euronews. According to the news outlet, Boeri's love for trees and nature goes back to his childhood when he read a book about a young man who abandoned city life and decided to live out his days in the forest. As Boeri got older, he realized cities just needed some regreening and envisioned building a "home for trees that also houses humans and birds," per his website, and that's when the vertical forest became a reality. Vertical forests add texture and variety to otherwise drab, gray urban buildings, and they're also functional, bringing life and animal habitats back into the city landscape. While Wonderwoods is the first multi-purpose vertical forest building, Boeri has already constructed several others, including the Bosco Verticale in Milan — the first of its kind designed by Stefano Boeri Architetti. The two towers boast 300 apartments, 21,000 trees, shrubs, and perennial plants, and around 1,600 birds and butterflies. Do you think America is in a housing crisis? Definitely Not sure No way Only in some cities Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. In 2021, Boeri also opened the Trudo Vertical Forest in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, which caters to students, young couples, and anyone who needs affordable housing options. In addition, Euronews reported that Boeri is building more vertical forests in China and Dubai, both places that would benefit from more greenery in the densely packed cities. "I try to promote urban forestation because that's what we need," Boeri previously told Euronews. "We have to multiply the number of trees everywhere. And the reasons are very clear. It's a faster, cheaper and more inclusive way to try to take down global warming." Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
Associated Press
17-03-2025
- Business
- Associated Press
'BOSCO VERTICALE Morphology of a Vertical Forest': The Book Dedicated to the First 10 Years of the Famous Architecture of Bosco Verticale Now Available Also in US
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Mar 17, 2025-- The famous architecture Bosco Verticale in Milan, designed by the architect Stefano Boeri with Gianandrea Barreca and Giovanni La Varra (Boeri Studio), has turned 10 . Ten years of awards, recognitions, studies and work becoming today symbol of the city of Milan, model of green architecture worldwide and a real pop icon (star of films, television series, quizzes, jewellery, fashion, advertising and even songs). This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: Book Cover - image Paolo Rosselli To celebrate this anniversary, the Stefano Boeri Architetti studio together with the publisher Rizzoli have realized the book 'BOSCO VERTICALE Morphology of a Vertical Forest' that traces the history of the project and analyses all those aspects that make it unique in the world with his two towers that are respectively 80 and 112 metres high, housing a total of 800 trees, providing an amount of vegetation equivalent to 30,000 sqm of woodland and undergrowth, concentrated on 3,000 sqm of urban surface. The book starts from the initial impossible challenge to the creation of the Porta Nuova district in Milan. It analyses all those aspects that make it unique thanks to extraordinary contributions like Beatriz Colomina, Paul Hawken, Matilda van den Bosch and James Wines together with an unpublished collection of photographs by Iwan Baan. From 18 th March 2025 the book will be available also in US bookstores. It will be presented by the architects Stefano Boeri and Francesca Cesa Bianchi in New York on Tuesday 18th March 2025 at 6PM at the Rizzoli Bookstore (1133 Broadway). Ten years after the Bosco Verticale another great result has been achieved by Stefano Boeri Architetti: the 'Wonderwoods Vertical Forest', designed by the practice and built by G&S&, in the city of Utrecht in the Netherlands, has just won the MIPIM Awards 2025 in the Best Mixed-Use Project category in Cannes (the MIPIM Award is the international prize that celebrates the most useful, sustainable and visionary projects in the sector that seek to improve the prospects of the built environment, in line with ESG objectives). SOURCE: Stefano Boeri Architetti Copyright Business Wire 2025. PUB: 03/17/2025 01:56 PM/DISC: 03/17/2025 01:56 PM
Voice of America
27-01-2025
- General
- Voice of America
Using Real Trees to Bring Nature Indoors
There is a growing movement worldwide to use plants in building design to establish closer connections with nature and soften hard city styles. The movement also seeks to improve designs to help protect the environment and increase personal wellness. Many of the efforts by architects and designers have centered on one natural element: trees. Examples of such design can be found in many places, including New York City. A building in Manhattan that houses the Ford Foundation has a 12-story light-filled entrance area, or atrium. It is also filled with plants and flowers including magnolias, eucalyptus, jacaranda, cryptomeria, iron bark and pear trees. Another example sits within New York City's Brookfield Place shopping center. The center's main atrium includes a collection of 12-meter-tall Washingtonia palm trees. In Singapore, the city-state's Jewel Changi airport offers travelers an inviting environment. It has 2,500 trees native to nations including Madagascar, Australia, Malaysia and Indonesia. The airport includes a 2.4-hectare indoor forest with walking paths. Some apartments and mixed-use buildings are also putting trees and other greenery into their designs. Such buildings are sometimes called 'greenscrapers,' a term that comes from the word 'skyscraper.' In Milan, Italy, architect Stefano Boeri designed Bosco Verticale, a 44-story building with 800 trees and other greenery. In the Netherlands, he also built the Trudo Vertical Forest. This is a low-income apartment building with trees growing on all sides. Similar changes are also happening inside private homes. In some, trees are brought right indoors. In others, outdoor trees are carefully placed as important partners in the building plan. Some architects even build homes around existing trees. Others plant one or more trees inside the home. And some architects or designers imagine natural settings indoors by using parts of trees. These designs are meant to create the look and feel of real wood, while bringing feelings of peace and calm. A calm heart of the home Ryoko Okada is an architect at New York City's Oda Architecture. She told The Associated Press that she and her co-workers aim to bring outdoor elements indoors as often as they can. 'There's nothing more calming than being surrounded by nature…' Okada said. She added that a living tree indoors can bring peace and happiness as people watch it grow and change. Framing the views with existing trees Another design example came from KAA Design Group in Los Angeles. A team from the company created a modern home that uses the property's existing trees, such as cork oaks, rare Torrey pines, and magnolias. One very large, old cork oak sits in the center of the property. At first, the owners did not like the look and said they wanted the tree gone. One of the company's partners, Grant Kirkpatrick, had to persuade the homeowners to keep it. Kirkpatrick explained he succeeded by pointing out that the tree was 'a 300-year-old antique that should be featured rather than removed.' The driveway on that property also offers a calming design. A black pine tree rises up from the driveway like a piece of natural art. In addition, views from almost every window in the house feature the beautiful nature outdoors. Things to consider Okada says she suggests people do not plant a full-size tree in their home without first seeking expert advice. She notes that a living tree will only do well if certain conditions – such as air, light and soil – are right. Okada added that a living tree '…needs to be supported by proper infrastructure to stay alive and avoid home damage.' She also urges people to heavily research a tree's natural environment to avoid drawing in unwanted pests. Kirkpatrick noted that planting a tree indoors can be difficult. He explained that at least 1.2 meters of soil depth is needed, along with lots of natural light and the right temperature. Other ways to use trees besides having a live one Kirkpatrick said he worked on one property that experienced a serious fire in 2016. His team decided to use parts from one of the burned manzanita trees in the interior design. The piece was painted black and placed inside the property. He said it now represents an eye-catching, natural art piece. I'm Anna Matteo. Kim Cook reported this story for the Associated Press from New York, New York. Anna Matteo adapted it for VOA Learning English. _________________________________________________ Words in This Story skyscraper -n. a very tall building style -n. a particular manner or technique by which something is done, created, or performed architect -n. a person who designs buildings and advises in their construction apartment -n. a room or set of rooms used as a dwelling antique -adj. being in the style or fashion of former times feature -n. a part or detail that stands out infrastructure -n. the underlying foundation or basic framework pest -n. a plant or animal harmful to human beings or human concerns
