Blooming Buildings Bring Nature Into The City
One of the things we most appreciate about the countryside is the greenery and the fact that houses are closer to nature and get to enjoy all its beauty and freshness. This, however, doesn’t mean that we can’t bring nature into the city in order to transplant some of those advantages into the concrete jungle. The buildings featured in this article are in bloom and represent refreshing landmark in each of their locations.
White Tower
The White Walls tower is a building designed by French architect Jean Nouvel and located in Nicosia, the Cypriot capital city. The tower is 67 meters tall and is organized on a total of 18 floors. It houses 10 levels of residential apartments, six floors of office space and a two-story retail space. Around 80% of the southern facade is covered with vegetation, offering shade during summer and beautiful views all year round.
Resort Spa
Another example of a beautiful building decorated with greenery is the PURE SPA located in Da Nang City, in Vietnam. It was a project by MIA Design Studio and it’s composed of 15 treatment rooms that combined serve as a treatment center for the Naman Retreat. This beautiful oasis has sculptural facades decorated with lush open air gardens and vegetation. Local plants were also used to give the interior a green character.
Bosco Verticale
The giant planters cantilevered out of these tall towers make the buildings stand out and become a landmark and an inspiration for the entire surrounding area. This is the Bosco Verticale project. The two towers designed by Stephano Boeri can be found in Milan and they represent the perfect symbiosis between architecture and nature. The designer was driven by the human need for green and came up with an innovative concept worthy of the International Highrise Award.
House in Travessa de Patrocinio
This residence in Lisboa, Portugal is another example that shows how easily and beautifully we can welcome nature back into our lives. This time the concept was adapted for a private residential project. The house was built in 2012 and has a courtyard at its center. Moreover, its facade is covered with hanging vertical gardens that wrap around it like a cozy blanket. This reinforced the relationship between the interior and the outdoors and gives the building a distinctive look.
Gallery
Located in Bangkok, Thailand, this building serves as a condominium sale office gallery and was designed by Shma, Sansiri PCL and SdA. Completed in 2011, the structure covers an area of 430 square meters and has a green envelope. The vertical garden was attached to a stainless steel structure and hanging plant pots and an irrigation system were installed on it. Local plants were selected for the project in order to connect the building to its surroundings.
Largest green wall in Vancouver
The largest outdoor green wall in North America can be found in White Rock, a suburb of Vancouver and was designed and installed by Green Over Grey. More than 10,000 individual plants from over 120 unique species were used for the project. They include ground covers, large perennials, shrubs and even small trees. They form a green wall attached to the exterior of the building and the technology used for that is soil-free. The plants receive water and nutrients from within the vertical support.
Frohnleiten House
This entire building is covered with grass. Get close to it and you’ll realize this is actually soft synthetic grass. Even so, it looks amazing. The building is a single family home located in Frohnleiten, Austria. It was designed by Weichlbauer Ortis Architects and it definitely raises an interesting idea. In addition to being covered in synthetic grass, the residence is also interesting in other ways. It has large windows decorated with additional window frames and staircases placed at odd angles and in unusual places.
Brussels House
On the outskirts of Brussels there’s a really cool building wrapped with vegetation and with only a few windows interrupting the simplicity of the facade. This residence was a project by Samyn and Partners and its plant-covered wall was the work of French botanical artist Patrick Blanc. Both the back facade and the roof were covered with a selection of exotic plants. The residence was completed in 2007 and serves both as a home and a workplace for its owners.
Natural Screen
The originality of this design is definitely not to be ignored. This is the project of Hideo Kumaki Architect Office and it’s called the Green Screen House, a name that suits it like a glove. The house is located in Saitama, Japan and its exterior is insulated by a natural screen which helps cool it down in mid summer. The building’s curving lines go well with this concept and the result is a dynamic and very pleasant architecture.
Sportplaza Mercator
There’s also a very interesting-looking building in the Netherlands. It was the project of VenhoevenCS and was completed in 2006. Inside it there’s a series of swimming pools, a therapy pool, a fitness area, an aerobics center, a sauna and a steam bath, a cafe, childcare center and several other functions. The building was designed to boost the community and to give it a fresh touch. The building is camouflaged behind green walls and a living roof, looking like an overgrown structure from a distance.