Bosco Verticale: Vertical Garden Apartments In Milan, Italy

Pretty cool concept being executed here in the historic Porta Nuova District in Milan, Italy. It’s called Bosco Verticale (means “vertical forest”), and it’s a new residential complex that takes the whole sustainable housing thing to a new level—literally.

Italian architect Stefano Boeri designed the two towers (365 feet and 260 feet tall, respectively) that hold 113 apartments, but the big feature here is the abundant vegetation integrated into its buildings. You’re looking at some 780 planted trees and countless numbers of plants, altogether yielding about 1,000 different species on the property. Each apartment has its own private garden, which not only looks great, but also filters sunlight and cuts down on noise and air pollution. The greens are watered through a self-replenishing irrigation process, and photovoltaic panels on the roof convert sunlight to electricity.