The future of green architecture

Green architecture has been a popular trend in recent years with the urban population growing and governments across the world putting sustainability at the top of their agenda. Amongst the most intriguing pieces of green architecture today is Stefano Boeri’s brainchild, Bosco Verticale which is a high rise residential building located in the heart of Milan. Cladded with around 11,000 plants which filter out air pollution, the tower could be an indication of how urban cities will look in the future.

Following the huge success of Bosco Verticale, the Italian architect Stefano Boeri has revealed plans to create two tree-clad towers in the Chinese city of Nanjing in a bid to fight the deadly air pollution crisis which is endangering over a million people in China every year. The Nanjing towers will have the ability to consume 25 tons of carbon dioxide yearly and produce around 60kg of oxygen every day.

Although the tree-covered towers will contribute very little to the large urban cities such as Nanjing, they bring aesthetic value and are an example of how the future of urban areas could look if replicated on a large scale. Impressed by the concept of vertical forest skyscrapers, the Chinese authorities have already approved plans for the creation of Liuzhou Forest City, the first green city in the world.

The forest city will cover 342 acres and will comprise of over 70 building which will include a variety of residential buildings, hospitals, hotels and schools which will all be filled with around 40,000 trees. Construction of the green city is only scheduled to start in 2020, which suggests that the likelihood of this architectural trend taking place across the world is still some way off.  

In the last decade, China has been a popular testing ground for the most adventurous types of architecture in recent years in an attempt to tackle the alarming issue of air pollution which is most noticeable in the larger cities of Shanghai and Beijing.

The extent of China’s problems has been highlighted by the World Health Organisation who have claimed that over a million people fell victim to polluted air in 2012. This death toll will only continue to rise as the situation worsens, unless there are drastic changes made in the country.

Could these green high rises be the future of urban living across the world?