Photo Gallery A Vertical Forest in the City
A forest is being planted in central Milan, but it won't look like a typical woodland landscape. Architects in the Italian city have gone upright with the concept, creating "Vertical Forest" residential towers that aim to bring a bit of nature back to the concrete jungle.
The Vertical Forest, two towers currently under construction in Italy's second-largest city of Milan, will be covered in vegetation -- 730 trees, 5,000 shrubs and 11,000 plants, to be exact.
Here, a digital plan created by Stefano Boeri, Gianandrea Barreca, and Giovanni La Varra, the architects who designed the project for the firm Boeri Studio.
Tree-planting recently began on the structures, but not before the architects spent some two years working with botanists to determine which varieties and sizes would best suit their purpose. Once the project is finished later this year, they will be watered mainly with gray water produced by residents, and tree care will be managed by building staff at the towers.
In addition to being pleasant to behold, the two towers will help purify the city air, increase bio-diversity and protect residents from the sun and noise pollution, the firm says. At 80 meters and 112 meters (262 feet and 367 feet) tall, they are also an "anti-sprawl measure."
