TOP-7 technologies for vertical gardening of buildings

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

Modern cities are capturing natural zones so quickly that the authorities and architects began to seriously think about how to green up megacities without occupying useful areas. The solution was found - to turn the facades of houses into vertical gardens. In some megacities, you can already find skyscrapers, the walls of which are covered with lush greenery. Moreover, this is done not only to decorate the surrounding space. Placing the jungle on the vertical walls and roofs of buildings, in the literal sense of the word, improves air quality and significantly increases energy efficiency and microclimate within the buildings themselves.

Technology and principles of vertical gardening of buildings

Vertical garden designs, which are becoming quite popular in the creation of ultra-modern high-rises, are aimed at restoring green spaces that were destroyed during the development of cities. In order to free up horizontal areas as much as possible and at the same time not lose vegetation, the attention of architects, landscape designers and botanists switched to the development of concepts that will help make up for the loss of natural resources by moving them to balconies, terraces, and roofs.

Although not everything is as simple as it seems at first glance. Modern "Gardens of Semiramis" require well-coordinated work of engineers, who must calculate the additional load on the load-bearing walls, distribute special water supply systems for proper irrigation and organize the necessary drainage.

Botanists and biologists also face a difficult task in identifying plant species that can survive in such unusual conditions for them. And do not forget that with the movement of vegetation to a height, insects, birds and a lot of various microorganisms will go there, which will need the arrangement of micro-houses. These are very important questions, and they cannot be resolved at once or in fantasies.

For example, during the implementation of the project of the Italian architect Stefano Boeri, who created the world famous Bosco Verticale in Milan, a special nursery was founded for the selection and cultivation of special types of plants. It took his specialists 2 whole years to pick up seedlings and grow them in special conditions for each of the houses, depending on the height and side of the garden planting.

But despite the additional costs and difficulties in organizing ecosystems, such projects can give hope for a breath of fresh air to those cities and regions where the creation of familiar parks is impossible. And this is not a metaphor, because the plants planted on the walls of the building take on the main dust and gas blow coming from the streets crowded with cars, muffle the loud noise and at the same time produce oxygen. In addition, such buildings turn into an original decoration of megalopolises, the gardens of which radically change their appearance throughout the year.

1. "Vertical Forest" (Bosco Verticale) in Milan (Italy)

Unusual in its beauty and design idea, "Bosco Verticale" has become a real gem in Milan, which has never been able to boast of fragrant greenery. A unique residential complex of its kind, designed by the Italian architect Stefano Boeri, located in the most prestigious area of Porta Nuova, in the center of Milan. It consists of two skyscrapers 80 and 112 m high, respectively. These elite ultra-modern skyscrapers have become notable for the fact that their facades are decorated with more than 800 trees, 11 thousand climbing perennials and about 5 thousand shrubs. Thanks to such abundant landscaping, the total area of various types of plants was approximately 20 thousand square meters. m of ordinary forest.

In this complex, each family with an apartment automatically becomes the owner of their own garden, no matter what floor they live on. At the same time, residents receive personal protection from street noise, dust and direct sunlight. To provide this oasis with its own electricity and water for irrigation, solar panels are installed on the roof of each house, and in the basements there are reservoirs for collecting rain and irrigation water with filtration systems. This allows the water to be used several times.

Help from Novate. Ru editors:For this project, Stefano Boeri was awarded the International Top Prize of the German Architectural Museum in Frankfurt (2014) and received the CTBUH Prize for Best High-Rise Building in the World (Chicago, 2015).

2. Cultural Center CaixaForum Madrid in Madrid (Spain)

The quite popular art center CaixaForum Madrid is located almost next to the famous Prado Museum, but this does not distract visitors in any way, but quite the opposite. After the ingenious reconstruction of the old power plant, this object turned not only into a cultural center, it became the first building in Spain with a vertical garden on one of the walls.

Such an unusual project was developed by the architectural bureau Herzog and de Meuron, and the "living facade" was created by the French botanist and landscape designer Patrick Blanc. Now this building and part of the neighboring house are decorated with more than 15 thousand plants of 250 species.

3. WOHA School of the Arts in Singapore

Singapore surprises not only with sky-high projects and incredible engineering achievements, but also with the fact that an ordinary educational institution for a talented younger generation has been turned into an exotic garden. All the walls of this rather unusual structure are completely covered with greenery, turning the WOHA school of arts into an oasis of unreal beauty, both from an architectural point of view and from a natural one.

In addition to the vertical forest on the roof of the complex, which consists of three buildings at once, a recreation park with benches in the shade of trees was organized. Also, walking paths and jogging tracks were set up, so students can study and relax in the fresh air.

4. Eco-skyscraper Clearpoint Residencies in Colombo (Sri Lanka)

Clearpoint Residencies has recently opened its doors to new residents who will live in a true paradise. The "living facade" of a skyscraper (185 m) of 47 floors attracts with its extraordinary design and becomes a benchmark for high-rise construction of a new generation. And this is not surprising, because such structures really leave a minimal carbon footprint, require less maintenance and provide fresh and cool.

Each of the 171 families in the eco-skyscraper has their own garden, which is located on terraces that replace balconies.

5. Vertical greenhouse Hortus Celestia in Naldwijk (Netherlands)

The vertical greenhouse of Hortus Celestia is more like a futuristic glass sculpture, in an intricate interweaving of which you can see lush greenery. The project was designed and commissioned by SIGN in collaboration with Bartels & Vedder, Van Reisen and Kelsey's o.o.m. The 80-meter skyscraper, towering over the park, fields and greenhouse complex, immediately attracts attention. Therefore, not only the farmers, for whom this greenhouse is designed, but people far from this occupation, walk with pleasure through the exhibition areas.

And the most interesting thing is that the excursions begin from the roof, on which there is a garden of extraordinary beauty with a panoramic view of the ecological exhibition park, in the middle of which this glass tower was erected. You can also stay there, because in addition to the recreation area, they also equipped a restaurant. Going down below, visitors will be able to see new varieties of plants bred by the specialists of this complex, and "live" expositions on 14 floors, which act as demonstration sites.

6. A complex of two skyscrapers Vertical Forest in Nanjing (China)

The construction of two skyscrapers at once is nearing completion, the facades of which are already slowly turning into a real jungle. This project was developed by the well-known architect, the creator of the Milan "forest brothers" "Bosco Verticale" Stefano Boeri. The Chinese complex will be equipped not only with special balconies and terraces, on which trees, shrubs, vines and perennial plants are gradually planted, but also a whole system of pools will be created. Several thousand different plant species will absorb more than 18 tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere annually and produce about 60 kg of pure oxygen every day.

It is planned that the skyscraper (200 m high) will be equipped with a business center with offices, a museum, a school of green architecture and an elite club on the roof of the building. The second 108-meter tower is planned to be given to the Hyatt hotel chain, which will create luxury apartments.

7. Full-fledged Forest City (Forest City) in Liuzhou (China)

The creator of the vertical garden concept and his architect Stafano Boeri Architetti went even further. Now their ambitious plans include the construction of an entire city, the buildings of which will be covered with real forests. No matter how fantastic it sounds, but such an extraordinary concept is already being implemented in the south of China, in the Liuzhou region. The country's authorities have allocated over 175 thousand square meters for the construction of the future city. m of land to improve the ecological situation in Liuzhou.

During the construction, the features of the landscape and local ecosystem were taken into account. Therefore, tree-covered residential buildings, office centers, government agencies, hospitals, schools and cultural and entertainment centers are harmoniously integrated into the environment so as not to disturb the existing natural balance. It is planned that more than 40 thousand trees and about a million other plant species will be planted at all facilities and the free territory of the city, which will be able to produce 900 tons of oxygen, absorbing over 10 thousand tons of carbon dioxide.