The International Highrise Award (IHP) is an international award in architectural design, founded in 2003 by the City of Frankfurt, the German Architecture Museum (Deutsches Architekturmuseum), and DekaBank.
Every two years the award is assigned to a building or structure at least 100meters high, built in the last two years, which “combines exemplary sustainability, external shape and internal spatial quality, not to mention social aspects, to create a model design”.
The plants serve to filter dust, pollen and pollution from the environment surrounding the towers
The plants serve to filter dust, pollen and pollution from the environment surrounding the towers
This year the prize went to an Italian building that everyone has been talking about since it was first designed and presented as a rendering. Some critics even defined it as “the most exciting new tower in the world”.
To be more precise the towers are two, one next to the other. Their peculiarity is to be filled with plants and trees on each floor where the architects, Stefano Boeri, Gianandrea Barreca, and Giovanni La Varra, designed giant planters cantilevered out from the building as “green” terraces.
The trees all around and throughout the entire height of the tower create a new kind of green building, and give the project its name: “Bosco Verticale” (“Vertical Forest”).
The building is equipped with Aeolian and photovoltaic energy systems and the trees will be watered by grey water produced by the tower
The building is equipped with Aeolian and photovoltaic energy systems and the trees will be watered by grey water produced by the tower
The jury of the IHP this year were unanimous in their decision. At the awards ceremony in Frankfurt’s Paulskirche, the winners received the prize of 50,000 Euros together with the statuette.
Among the members of the jury were Prof. Felix Semmelroth, the City of Frankfurt Deputy Mayor for Culture, Dr. Matthias Danne, Member of the Board for Real Estate and Finance at DekaBank, and jury president Christoph Ingenhoven, who won the award last year. In choosing the Bosco Verticale for this year’s award, the IHP recognized a project that blazes a trail for greened highrises and can be considered a prototype for the cities of tomorrow.
In fact the jury of experts, while explaining the reasons for their choice, stated: “Bosco Verticale is a marvelous project! It’s an expression of the extensive human need for green. The “wooded highrises” are a striking example of a symbiosis of architecture and nature”.
Christoph Ingenhoven also said that: “The Vertical Forest is an expression of the human need for contact with nature. It is a radical and daring idea for the cities of tomorrow, and without a doubt represents a model for the development of densely populated urban areas in other European countries.”
Some experts, however, doubt this model of development can be replicated on a larger scale because of the very high costs of building such tall structures and their planters full of heavy earth.
Another doubt is about the images that have been circulating lately on the internet. The renderings show a green and blooming building, but many suspect that the actual building will never look like the rendering because there isn’t enough room in the planters for the trees to grow much larger than they are now.
Nevertheless, the tower is beautiful to look at, the weather in Milan is good and the tree experts have chosen hardy varieties. The maintenance crews have also figured out how to make them thrive.
It’s an extraordinary idea for new buildings and the future of urban living, where plants and trees become part of the architecture itself.
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