Italian architect's 'vertical forest' to address pollution

Italian architect and urban planner Stefano Boeri has come to global prominence for his high-rise towers that are engulfed by plants and trees. The sustainability-focused concept was initiated by a big-budget experiment in 2014 in Boeri's hometown of Milan, where he built two residential towers completely covered with more than 700 trees and 20,000 plants. Boeri's second "vertical forest" was created in Lausanne, Switzerland – a 117-metre residential tower of 100 cedar trees, covering an area of more than 32,000sqft. With an office in Shanghai, the Stefano Boeri Architetti studio has joined hands with a state-owned investment group financed by the Nanjing government for the third "vertical forest" in the world – and the first in Asia. With an announced completion date of 2018, the Nanjing project expects to see 1,100 trees as well as 2,500 cascading plants and shrubs, covering a capacious area of about 65,000sqft.