The Spanish website Welife devotes an article to the typology of the vertical forest as a tool to decrease pollution in cities, citing the Bosco Verticale in Milan, designed by Boeri Studio (Stefano Boeri, Gianandrea Barreca, Giovanni La Varra), as the first example of its kind.
Completed in 2014, the Bosco Verticale represents the building-prototype of a new biodiversity architecture, which places not only humans but the relationship between humans and other living species at the center. The building consists of two towers, 80 and 112 m high, which collectively house 800 trees (480 first- and second-size trees, 300 of smaller size, 15,000 perennials and/or ground cover plants, and 5,000 shrubs. A vegetation equivalent to that of 30,000 square meters of forest and undergrowth, concentrated on 3,000 square meters of urban area.
The project is thus also a device for limiting city sprawl, induced by the search for greenery (each tower is equivalent to about 50,000 sq m of single-family houses). In contrast to “mineral” facades made of glass or stone, the Bosco’s vegetated screen does not reflect or amplify the sun’s rays, but filters them.
The article focuses precisely on the benefits that the Bosco Verticale brings to the city: it absorbs 30 tons of carbon dioxide per year and produces 19 tons of oxygen. At the same time it mitigates the “heat island” effect and regulates the microclimate thanks to the shading provided by the greenery – in particular, it allows a temperature drop of about 30°C on the facades, which corresponds to 2-3°C inside the apartments – emphasizing how these examples of urban forestation are key to ensuring a sustainable and livable future for the cities we inhabit.
To read the full article: https://www.welife.es/planeta/bosques-verticales-reducir-contaminacion-ciudades/