Following the popularity of Stefano Boeri Architetti's greenery-covered Bosco Verticale, similar "Vertical Forest" buildings are now taking root around the world, helping to add more plants and trees to inner-city areas. Two of these are now rising in China and are slated for completion early next year.
The largest of the two Vertical Forest projects headed by Stefano Boeri Architetti's China team is named the Easyhome Huanggang Vertical Forest City Complex. This is an ambitious development covering an area of 4.54 hectares (11.22 acres) near Wuhan. It includes a total of five towers, two of which will be covered in greenery and host apartments, with the rest home to hotels and commercial spaces. The buildings themselves are nearing completion and a crane recently installed the first tree at 90 m (295 ft) above the ground. There now remains another 395 trees, 3,600 shrubs and 12,000 perennials to be planted before the project's official opening in February, 2021.
"Our attention is constantly focused on the native flora of the regions in which we operate; we are looking for interesting species that are often little used in traditional gardening," explains Laura Gatti, the agronomist in charge of botanical development for the SBA Vertical Forests.
"In Huanggang, our botanical research has focused on species native to the Hubei region and many of the plants that we currently cultivate in our parks and gardens and that we Europeans know well have come to Europe from here. Although these species and varieties are well known to us, several of the species selected for Huanggang have been cultivated specifically for this project, since they are not found in nurseries in their regions of origin as they are considered too 'wild.' Their introduction adds value to the project in terms of biodiversity, attractiveness and identity."
Additionally, the Nanjing Vertical Forest, which we originally covered back in 2017, is slated for a May 2021 completion. The project consists of two greenery-covered towers that reach a height of 200 m (656 ft) and 108 m (354 ft). Between them, the towers will include office space, a hotel, a green architecture school, retail space, restaurants, a conference hall, and exhibition spaces.
Trees are currently being planted on the balconies of the towers and once complete, they will consist of 27 native plant species, 600 large trees, 200 medium-sized trees and over 2,500 shrubs and hanging plants.
Stefano Boeri Architetti has several other greenery-covered buildings slated for China, including the Rehabilitation Center Shenzhen and Liuzhou Forest City, plus even more on the way elsewhere in the world.
Source: Stefano Boeri Architetti
