A Vertical Forest is Growing in the Middle of a City

OrphanApology
I can see them building this in the U.S. only to turn around and prevent regular people from having gardens and chickens.

Already working on that, sadly.

Humor: so I can't have chickens where I live, because the noise of a rooster would be inconsiderate to neighbors. That is the alleged reason. Totally understand. I woke up to a rooster as a child. Freaking thing had no respect for the morning. Or too much.

When I moved here my father made me get rid of both my dogs, a horribly traumatic experience for me and the dogs. He said that it was unreasonable to have two dogs in a tract home backyard, as their barking would annoy the neighbors. I understood. So I currently live in my nice little tract home with THIRTEEN dogs literally surrounding me -- beside me on both sides, and the three houses behind me. We have constant freight trains and I live three doors down from the fire dept. Guess what this means. Yes! There is so much dog barking in my life that I put a fan for white-noise by the window to try and reduce my coworkers hearing dogs barking when I'm on business calls. It's impossible to escape, constantly. I couldn't sleep for like a year. Now I can sleep through anything. If anyone ever bombs my neighborhood, I won't know unless I wake up in the rubble.

So I'm guessing that the real reason for the chicken thing is not because of the noise. Because that would be retarded. I would SO happily trade a rooster that crows a few times at 5am for the thirteen dogs that go batsh*t crazy in chorus approximately five times an hour.

There is also now a law in my town that you cannot have more than 5 animals, the animals to include terrarium and caged creatures. So for example if you have a dog and a cat, you may not have more than 3 lizards or parakeets. I am trying to imagine the local authorities trying to finagle a way in the door to count everyone's hamsters...

The garden / seeds issue is terrifying and very very big. It makes most conspiracies look trivial when you really get into the depths of it. I'm up too late to get into that without depressing myself. I feel that certain things including a variety of LED-based indoor planting, seed saving and more should be required education for everyone at this point.

reply to post by Aleister


you are right the root system is a mirror image of the canopy

so i see the trees dying off but still a good idea to build from

If they use slow growing, smallish evergreen trees and shrubs, that might reduce the pruning requirements and the sweeping up of leaves?

reply to post by Grimpachi


What would happen when the roots find their way through cracks in the structure and force them to widen?

Building crumble?

Silicis n Volvo
reply to post by Grimpachi

 

What would happen when the roots find their way through cracks in the structure and force them to widen?

Building crumble?

You know how cool that temple in Cambodia looks with the giant tree having taken over it?

This is gonna be way cooler. :-)

How long till some "legitimate business man" decides to grow a different sort of plant....

Great idea though as I dont much care for modern design on buildings. Hiding them with a huge vertical forest sounds really appealing from a visual perspective - but then has all the benefits that lovely green trees provide - plus will have some of the freshest air conditioning around

"Is that pine scent in your air freshener? You shouldn't have.

Figures, an architect not a landscaper designed this. An architect doesn't know squat about tree root systems. These poor trees are doomed to die a rootless death, suffocation if you will. This idea really sucks.

Silicis n Volvo
reply to post by Grimpachi

 

What would happen when the roots find their way through cracks in the structure and force them to widen?

Building crumble?

Having grown up on 30 acres of country and and presently living on 5 1/2 acres of woodland, I don't consider myself and authority on trees but I can tell you from my experience, tree roots don't stay put. The roots will indeed find themselves gradually worming their way into any small crack, eventually widening every nook and cranny. They will split and lift the concrete and will drip any excess water onto the balcony below. If they grow too tall they will push up the balcony above , and if top heavy, their shallow root system will allow them to tip over on their own or by a gentle gale.

Looks good on paper but it seems he may not have checked with an arborist.

If you want to know why the world sucks just look at all the negativity in this thread for something that should be exciting or neutral at worst.

People suck.

reply to post by Grimpachi


This is awesome!!! What a stellar idea!!! I hope other countries... AMERICA, takes suit and starts doing this, in all major Metropolitan Areas!

I wonder why California wasn't the first.... There always the first....

Architecturally speaking, pleasing to the eye. From a design view, a total nightmare to try and get through the practically infinite amount of logistics involved. Of course, there are laws and regulations...this architect, whoever s/he is, is clearly about to have a new by-law passed
"No trees shall be planted lest they be rooted to the ground, Mother Earth"
I can't see the trees being altogether too happy about this. And the poor squirrels who miss a jump...and fall 21 stories to their death. Won't hear about that in the local paper "Splattered Squirrel found under forest building". And what about Fire & Safety regulations? If one tree sets afire in the middle of the fall, and all the trees burn? Did they put some sort of safety feature in for that? And like many others mentioned, tree roots do horrible things to concrete. And we should all know that any 'memmbrane' is only likely to last 50 years at MOST... and we should also all know that the average life span of a tree is much longer than that. So what, they're going to have to transplant every tree there every couple of decades? One small crack or rip or cut in the membrane and the whole structural integrity of the balcony now lies in the hands of Lady Luck.
And those are just a FEW of the things I can think of... Great, in that it looks awesome, great that it's 'green', realistically not going to make a huge impact in terms of CO2 to O2, but, hey, I ain't going to pay to live there, so what's it to me.

CB328
If you want to know why the world sucks just look at all the negativity in this thread for something that should be exciting or neutral at worst.

People suck.

Sorry, but lets be realistic, it looks pleasing, that doesn't make it a good idea.

This could help replace the trees that were lost due to construction. Also the way air moves, these buildings would be great pollution scrubbers. China, San fran, and any other smoggy place needs to get on this.

reply to post by 3OGRE3


Honestly you are speaking off the cuff without much forethought or research on the subject.

Trees will grow to their environment the root system is nearly identical to what is above. If you had read a little into the article you would see there are at least 3 root barriers made of different plastics. Now remind me again what is the half life of plastic?

Also have you ever heard of evergreen trees? Why do you assume these trees will lose their leaves in winter could it be you have a limited view of this project?

Your other concern falling critters. You have to be freaking kidding me if you are honestly worried about that please stay clear of all wooded areas.

I can see how this would be aesthetically pleasing, but seems like garden plants would be just as much so. without the drawbacks, would require less soil, less space allowing for more vegetables. Falling debris would not be a problem although i wouldn't plant potatoes or watermelons on the fortieth floor

reply to post by maryhinge

not true...root sytems are not mirrors..take the popular tree..root goes just under ground then takes a 90degree bend and heads to water source...root systems vary greatly depending on type of tree...will post some varying root systems when on computer.
when clearing land for my house dependin on tree species the roots change dramatically.
just think of trees that grow on rock faces.

reply to post by plube


I am pretty sure when speaking of mirrored root system what is really meant is the mass above ground is proportional to what is bellow. It doesn't mean they will look the same.

Just thinking.... I hope they didn't plant any fruit or acorn even walnut trees up there.... I heard of "Cloudy w/ a chance of Meatballs"... But what if it was raining fruits and nuts!!!

Apple a day keeps the doctor away.... Until an apple falls from 30 stories and puts you into the E.R.....

reply to post by Grimpachi


Looks like a job for round up !
I'm kidding. Don't hate on Randy !
SnF

reply to post by randyvs


That would be such a horrible thing for someone to do. One pissed off tenant could possibly ruin everything.