You could be forgiven for assuming that you'd need a CEO's salary to live in one of Stefano Boeri Architetti's enviable Vertical Forests. However, the firm's latest tree-covered high-rise, which provides each resident with their own slice of nature in the form of a greenery filled balcony, hosts affordable social housing for people on a low income.
The project, named Trudo Tower, rises to a height of 70 m (roughly 230 ft) in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, and consists of 19 floors. Its overall design is reminiscent of other similar projects by the firm and is defined by its jutting balconies and greenery, which includes 135 trees of various species, as well as 8,500 bushes and 1,500 plants, with strawberries and other edible plants included. The greenery was carefully chosen by specialists to suit the local climate and then grown in nurseries, before being painstakingly craned into position (maintenance will be carried out by specialist "flying gardeners").
The interior of the high-rise is divided into 125 apartments (unfortunately there are no photos available of the interior yet). Each apartment is quite small and measures no more than 50 sq m (538 sq ft), though that's obviously extended a little with the balconies, each of which contain a tree and 20 bushes. The project was commissioned by a Dutch social housing scheme to accommodate predominantly low-income residents, especially young couples, as well as disabled people and refugees. Rent costs €633.20 (roughly US$715), per month, which according to cost of living online database Numbeo, is indeed affordable for the area.
We've no word on the actual construction budget, but the firm says costs were kept low by using prefabricated concrete and keeping things simple where possible. It also helps that this is the latest in a growing number of Vertical Forest-style projects produced since the original Bosco Verticale in Milan, so the firm has these down to a fine art by now.
"The Trudo Tower in Eindhoven represents the achievement of a great goal for all of us, namely that of making the Vertical Forest typology of building (something which we are experimenting with in different parts of the world) accessible even for tenants with low incomes; this is to show that living in contact with trees and greenery – and enjoying their advantages – is not the prerogative of rich people but could well become a possible choice for millions of citizens around the world," says Stefano Boeri.
While it would be pushing it to call the building sustainable, it does have some green design to go with all that, well, greenery. It contains four rainwater collection tanks, which hold 20,000 liters (roughly 5,280 gallons) of rainwater each. Presumably, they are used for irrigation, though this wasn't actually specified by Stefano Boeri Architetti. Additionally, solar panels are installed to reduce its grid-based energy usage.
Source: Stefano Boeri Architetti