This high-tech skyscraper will be covered in vegetation

By Trevor Mogg Published February 15, 2018

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We’ve known for years that being in nature, or even having a view of it, can help soothe the soul and make us feel calmer. So it’s little wonder, then, that architects are increasingly designing buildings that incorporate all manner of plants, grasses, and other kinds of greenery, with an increasing number of extraordinary designs popping up in cities around the world.

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The latest to break ground is in Singapore, with the 280-meter-tall skyscraper set to become one of the highest buildings in the small city-state.

Designed by Carlo Ratti Associati and Bjarke Ingels Group, the building will blend urban life with tropical nature and feature office space, residences, and retail sites.

As the images show, once complete, green vegetation will seemingly sprout from the exterior of the building, “allowing glimpses into the green oases blooming from the base, core and rooftop,” Carlo Ratti says.

But the interior will be even more lush, with a “rainforest plaza” and small park greeting visitors as they enter the building. According to ArchDaily, so-called “activity pockets” will be used for fitness sessions, art installations, and various other events.

From the ninth floor you’ll find a 30-meter-high space for the “Green Oasis” featuring a “botanical promenade” with views of the interior as well as of the city itself.

Ratti says the tower’s natural elements will be “essential to the experience of the building,” as will its “advanced digital technologies, offering us a glimpse of tomorrow’s offices.”

Those technologies include sensors for automatic control of the environment, as well as Internet of Things and artificial intelligence capabilities so tenants can customize their experience of the building.

Benefits of green buildings

Besides fostering feelings of well-being among workers, tenants and visitors, buildings bedecked with greenery can also reduce pollution levels and heat buildup, while also helping to dampen noise, and, with some designs, even enable food production.

The Italian city of Milan is already home to a couple of buildings like this. Designed by Stefano Boeri, the Bosco Verticale (Italian for “Vertical Forest”) is covered with more than 21,000 trees, shrubs, and flowering plants. Boeri is working on similar designs for Lausanne in Switzerland, and also Nanjing in China.

Singapore’s green tower is expected to throw open its doors in 2021.

Contributing Editor

Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…

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