Best Practice

Introduction

Vertical Jungle is a model for a sustainable residential building, a project for metropolitan reforestation contributing to the regeneration of the environment and urban biodiversity without the implication of expanding the city upon the territory. It is a model of vertical densification of nature within the city that operates in relation to policies for reforestation and naturalization of large urban and metropolitan borders.

Vertical Jungle is a pair of residential towers in the Porta Nuova district of Milan, Italy, between Via Gaetano de Castillia and Via Federico Confalonieri near Milano Porta Garibaldi railway station. They have a height of 111 metres (364 ft) and 76 metres (249 ft) and contain more than 900 trees (approximately 550 and 350 in the first and second towers, respectively) on 8,900 square metres (96,000 sq ft) of terraces. Within the complex is an 11-storey office building; its facade does not include plants.

Vertical Jungle

Reason to Be Selected

Opened in 2014, the Vertical Forest won the prestigious Frankfurt International Highrise Award, and the Chicago Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat named it Best Tall Building Worldwide. Every year fifteen million peasants abandon the countryside to come to the city, and the project has come up with some answers, with new green cities

Highlights:

Biological habitats

Mitigations

Anti-sprawl

Choice of variety of trees

Ecology billboards

Good management

Details

Biological habitats: Vertical Forest increases biodiversity. It helps to set up an urban ecosystem where a different kind of vegetation creates a vertical environment which can also be colonized by birds and insects, and therefore becomes both a magnet for and a symbol of the spontaneous re-colonization of the city by vegetation and by animal life. The creation of a number of Vertical Forests in the city can set up a network of environmental corridors which will give life to the main parks in the city, bringing together the green space of avenues and gardens and interweaving various spaces of spontaneous vegetation growth.

Mitigations: Vertical Forest helps to build a micro-climate and to filter dust particles which are present in the urban environment. The diversity of the plants helps to create humidity and absorbs CO2 and dust, produces oxygen, protects people and houses from harmful sun rays and from acoustic pollution.

Anti-sprawl. Vertical Forest is an anti-sprawl measure which aims to control and reduce urban expansion. If we think of them in terms of urban densification, each tower of the Vertical Forest is equivalent to an area of urban sprawl of family houses and buildings of up to 50,000 square meters

Choice of variety of trees: Trees are a key element in understanding architectural projects and garden systems. In this case the choice of the types of trees was made to fit their positioning on the facades and by height, and it took two years to finalize it, alongside a group of botanists. The plants used in this project will be grown specifically for this purpose and will be pre-cultivated. Over this period these plants can slowly get used to the conditions they will find on the building.

Ecology billboards. Vertical Forest is a landmark in the city which is able to depict new kinds of variable landscapes changing their look over seasons, depending on the types of plants involved. The Vertical Forests will offer a changing view of the metropolitan city below.

Good management. The management of the tree pots is under building regulation, as well as the upkeep of the greenery and the number of plants for each pot.In order to understand the need for water, the plan for these buildings took into account the distribution of plants across the various floors and their positioning

Conclusions

Tree-planting recently began on the structures, but not before the architects spent some two years working with botanists to determine which varieties and sizes would best suit their purpose. Once the project is finished later this year, they will be watered mainly with gray water produced by residents, and tree care will be managed by building staff at the towers, which are part of a larger urban renewal and development project called Porta Nuova.