An Italian architect’s green tower design is being constructed in China. When completed, the towers will be covered in trees, cascading plants and shrubs and help purify the air in the city with over 8 million inhabitants.
Air pollution is a killer. With an ever growing global population and booming cities, people are starting to get creative in regards to cleaning our air.
Stefano Boeri Architetti already made waves when they created Bosco Verticale, the world’s first vertical forest. The second vertical forest was created in Lausanne, Switzerland.
The architects used a similar prototype to design the Nanjing Green Towers. One tower will be 200 metres high, the other 108 metres high. The first tower will host offices, an architecture school and a museum while the second one will be a hotel. A 20 metre high podium connecting the two skyscrapers will be a more commercial building with restaurants and shops.
Most importantly, the faces of the buildings will contain a total of 1100 trees and 2500 cascading plants, in addition to shrubs. These green buildings are expected to produce 60kg of oxygen every single day, and to absorb 25 tons of CO2 on an annual basis.
The Nanjing Green Towers are set to be complete by 2018. This is just a starting point for Stefano Boeri Architetti, who intend to create other vertical forests around the world. In China, they already set their sights on a few other large cities, including Shanghai and Chongqing.
While it is great that such innovative buildings can help us mitigate our pollution, it would be ideal to have less pollution to begin with. Buildings such as the Nanjing Green Towers should definitely be encouraged, but it is equally important to make lifestyle changes that reduce our pollution from the source, for example by cycling or taking the bus instead of driving.
