Discussion on:

Vertical gardens reaching new heights in Milan

I do something similar on the south-facing side of my house; Each summer, I allow certain prolific vines to take over and cover the entire side. Our summers can be extremely hot. Allowing the vines to cover the south side protects the aging cedar siding from the heat and UV from the sun, as well as reduces the A/C required to cool the interior. At first frost, it dies and I pull it away.

Your vine solution sounds very interesting. Just wondering what type of vines you get to grow up the house. I have a similar situation - cedar siding that needs cooling down in the summer months.
Low cost, decentralized, energy saving solutions for the average homeowner is what is sorely needed.

The many trees around my home are part of my life and I love gardening - guess that is a couple of the reasons I`ve never been interested in life in a high rise, but...... now that I see what is being done in Milan my heart warms to the idea. Innovative ideas such as theses are just beginning to make our life more in tune with out planet.

About 15 years ago, I was working in Montreal for a firm that proposed something very similar. Sconces with trees and shrubs all up the outer sandstone walls. Waterfalls on the outside of the building were also designed to keep the building cooler in the summer. Living walls inside. It was to be the most environmentally friendly building built in the city.

But then the client decided they wanted something "normal".

Glad to see someone has managed to make it come true.

Anyone ever hear of the Babylonians?

27 floors of trees on a very small footprint - will the streets below be knee-deep in leaves every Autumn?

When these trees are fully grown, just how much will they weigh? Certainly it would be at least as much as the people inside the building. What impact will this have on the structural costs of the building?