Greenery-covered buildings are very popular lately, with projects like Stefano Boeri's Bosco Verticale and WOHA's Kampung Admiralty picking up top architecture awards. MVRDV is certainly no stranger to the idea either and offers another example with Green Villa, a project that features a facade made up of potted plants and trees.
Green Villa was designed in collaboration with Van Boven Architecten, which is also acting as the developer, and real estate developer Stein, which will also be an occupant in the building. It will be located on a corner plot next to a river in a small Dutch village and aims to reflect the architectural style of surrounding buildings by adopting a similar overall shape and the same style of roof.
The facade is definitely a departure though and will be made up of a series of shelves of varying depths which host potted plants, bushes, and trees, including forsythias, jasmine, pine, and birch. They will be selected and placed so as to control shade, privacy, and views. The greenery will also be automatically watered with an integrated irrigation system fed by captured and stored rainwater.
Inside, the ground floor will be given over to office space, while the three floors above will host apartments. Additionally there will be underground parking.
"This design is a continuation of our research into 'facade-less' buildings and radical greening," explains Winy Maas, MVRDV founding partner, who happened to go to school in the same village. "The idea from the nineties of city parks as an oasis in the city is too limited. We need a radical 'green dip': as will be shown soon in a book by The Why Factory with the same title, we should also cover roofs and high-rise facades with greenery. Plants and trees can help us to offset CO2 emissions, cool our cities, and promote biodiversity."
Green Villa is due to begin construction in 2020 but we've no word on its expected date of completion.
Source: MVRDV