High-rise

Greenery covered buildings are all the rage lately, giving city folk a taste of nature. The Marina Tower from Foster + Partners will not only grow to be the "first green high-rise building in Greece" but also the country's tallest building.

Urban Agency's high-rise boasts an ambitious sustainable design, and is defined by a stepped form inspired by Canada's topography. The greenery covered building will be largely made from wood and is slated to meet the stringent Passivhaus standard.

Prefabricated buildings are designed to be put together very quickly, but you'd be hard-pressed to find a building that goes up as quickly as this recently completed 10-story high-rise by China's Broad Group, which was assembled in just over a day.

RMJM is creating a new headquarters for Turkish manufacturing firm Sanko. Inspired by the region's caves, it will feature solar power and rainwater collection, plus a focus on natural cooling to reduce air-conditioning needs.

Work has finally been completed on Studio Gang's One Hundred tower. The remarkable residential high-rise is defined by an angled exterior that juts outward, creating balcony spaces for some of the residents and maximizing daylight and views inside.

Despite the challenges and delays caused by COVID-19, 2021 looks set to be an outstanding year for architecture. With this in mind, we've chosen five exciting projects we're looking forward to this year.

UK firm Heatherwick Studio's North American invasion continues with a pair of high-rise towers slated for Canada. Defined by an eye-catching tapering design, the high-rise buildings would make significant use of wood and incorporate lots of greenery.

Ateliers Jean Nouvel's under-construction Aquarela, in Quito, Ecuador, consists of a series of greenery covered residential high-rises that are meant to echo the topography of nearby mountains. The project is due for completion in 2023.

With over 1,000 trees and 20,000 plants, the Urban Forest is hailed as one of the world's most densely-forested greenery-covered buildings by Koichi Takada Architects. It will include sustainable technology like solar power and rainwater collection.

The 2019 World Building of the Year winner Mecanoo is leading a team that's creating a new tower in Amsterdam. Featuring an interesting stepped form and finished in brick, it will also incorporate greenery, solar panels and rainwater collection.

A significant amount of greenery is headed to inner-city Dallas, Texas, in the form of a new high-rise that will boast North America's tallest living wall. The building will rise to a height of 320 ft (97.5 m) and feature 40,000 plants.

C.F. Møller Architects has designed what it calls Sweden's tallest wooden building. The residential project is topped by a green roof and has been specifically designed so that it can be dismantled and recycled if required.