Boeri Studio - "Bosco Verticale"

Architects: Boeri Studio

Year: 2014

 

The concept behind the Vertical Forest, that of being a “home for trees that also houses humans and birds”, defines not only the urban and technological characteristics of the project but also the architectural language and its expressive qualities. On a formal level, the towers are mainly characterized by large, staggered and overhanging balconies (each about three metres), designed to accommodate large external tubs for vegetation and to allow the growth of larger trees without hindrance, even over three floors of the building. At the same time, the porcelain stoneware finish of the facades incorporates the typical brown colour of bark, evoking the image of a pair of gigantic trees in which to live and which are rich in literary and symbolic implications. The contrast with a series of elements in white stoneware – the stringcourses of the balconies and some modules on the front of the windowsills – introduces a syncopated rhythm in the composition which breaks up and “dematerializes” the visual compactness of the architectural bodies and amplifies the presence of the plants even more. More than just surfaces, the façades can be viewed as three-dimensional spaces not only because of the denseness and function of the green curtain but also in aesthetic-temporal terms, due to the multi-coloured cyclical and morphological changes in the size of the plants.

Rather than just a simple architectural object therefore, the presence of the plant component means that the Vertical Forest is more akin to a set of processes – partly natural, partly man-managed – that accompany the life and growth of the inhabited organism over time. Perhaps the most unique component of this highly developed system, now widespread in urban imagery, is that of the “Flying Gardeners”, a specialized team of arborists-climbers who, using mountaineering techniques, descend from the roof of the buildings once a year to carry out pruning while checking the state of the plants in addition to their eventual removal or substitution. All the maintenance and greening operations are in fact managed at the condominium level in order to maintain control of the anthropic-vegetal balance. Irrigation is also centralized: the needs of the plants are monitored by a digitally and remotely controlled installation while the necessary water is largely drawn from filtered effluent from the towers. All these solutions overcome the still essentially anthropocentric and technical concept of “sustainability” while moving in the direction of a new biological diversity. A few years after its construction, the Vertical Forest has given birth to a habitat colonized by numerous animal species (including about 1,600 specimens of birds and butterflies), establishing an outpost of spontaneous flora and fauna recolonization in the city.

https://www.archdaily.com/777498/bosco-verticale-stefano-boeri-architetti?ad_medium=office_landing&ad_name=article

Bosco Verticale / Boeri Studio

https://www.stefanoboeriarchitetti.net/en/project/vertical-forest/

 

Memo

환경적인 부분에 관심이 많은 나로선 Bosco Verticale은 재미있는 건축물이다. 수평적인 공간에 있어야하는 숲이 수직적인 공간으로 재탄생했다. 발코니에 심어진 나무들이 가져오는 환경적 효과 또한 무시 못할 부분이다. 햇빛과 산소, 바람등 인간에게 필요한 요소들에 어떤식으로 반응하는지 봐두어야할 부분이라고 생각한다.