Bosco Verticale, Milan - all you need to know

The pair of residential buildings known as Bosco Verticale, or ‘Vertical Forest’, are among the jewels of modern Milanese and indeed global architecture. The buildings are 111 and 76 metres tall, and their entire façade is covered by more than 900 specially treated trees, which grow on numerous terraces.

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Construction of the buildings was completed in 2014.

Architecture and concept

The project, led by architect Stefano Boeri, aimed to regenerate the area around Porta Garibaldi railway station – which had previously been rather unattractive – and which, following the construction of skyscrapers around Piazza Gae Aulenti, had become one of Milan’s economic hubs.

Part of this project was to be an innovative residential complex with low emissions and sustainable operations. The Bosco Verticale buildings are virtually self-sufficient in terms of energy, utilising solar panels and filtering waste water to irrigate the tree-lined terraces.

Thanks to special varieties of dwarf trees, the vertical forest is virtually maintenance-free; pruning is required only about once every three years, and the irrigation system is fully automatic.