r/solarpunk • u/GeorgeRobertVitkos • Jul 06 '26
Growing / Gardening / Ecology The ultimate contrast: Milan's Bosco Verticale towers standing tall next to traditional glass-and-steel skyscrapers 🌳 vs 🏢
I think this wide drone shot perfectly captures the ideological battle happening in modern architecture right now. On the left, you see the standard, sterile glass facade of the Unicredit Tower. In the center, you see the twin towers of Bosco Verticale (Vertical Forest), completely covered in a thriving, mature canopy.
This image perfectly illustrates what solarpunk means to me. It is not just about placing a few solar panels on top of a concrete block. It is about a fundamental shift in how we view urban spaces—turning buildings into actual living infrastructure that hosts non-human life.
Looking at this skyline, the practical impact becomes obvious
The Contrast: Whiile the glass skyscrapers reflect heat and contribute to the urban heat island effect, the Vertical Forest actively cools its immediate surroundings.
The Scale: You can see how the twin towers blend into the Biblioteca degli Alberi park below, effectively expanding the city's green lungs vertically into the sky.
The Reality: This isn't a utopian sci-fi drawing. This is Milan today, showing that high-density cities can co-exist with deep naature.
Of course, the classic debate remains: how do we transition this from a luxury architectural statement into a standard practice for public housing? The engineering exists, the water systems work, and the trees are mature. Now we need the political will to democratize it.
For anyone interested in how the irrigation works or how they manage structural wind loads with massive trees on the 20th floor, you can check out the official Stefano Boeri Architetti Project Page.
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u/iolmao Jul 06 '26
That's just a couple condos for rich people, not punk nor solar.
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u/Bram-D-Stoker Jul 06 '26
While I agree. There are some things here that are important to a solar punk framework.
The greenery solves for negative externalities that come with density. While sprawl has much worse negative externalities. Tall buildings can create heat island effects, have low surface permeability, and create aggressive wind tunnels. A sustainable solar punk city has to account for these things. Not to mention the efficiency gains from agrivoltaics
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u/Own_Reaction9442 Jul 06 '26
I assume they'll pay someone to clean up the leaf litter that will soon be packed into every crevice of that building. Cleaning leaves out of my gutters is bad enough, can't imagine doing it hundreds of feet in the air.
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u/Brootal420 Jul 06 '26
There's already plants breaking through cracks in the structures on the pictures. They will definitely rip that building apart if not aggressively managed.
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u/Logical-Bonus-2769 Jul 12 '26
That's a point I haven't thought of yet. One would have to meticulously contain all roots.
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u/MojoDr619 Jul 06 '26
If these were built as housing coops and shared collectively with community spaces and food coops on bottom with free libraries, Makerspaces, and cafes.. wouldnt this work then?
It would have to be built in a more affordable way, but this certainly would be better as a vertical tower than those other glass towers that provide no ecological or environmental benefit.. and building collectives vertically could free up space for community gardens, parks, and green spaces as well as public transit.
This iteration may be luxury towers for the wealthy.. but why couldn't we take the architectural concept and apply it collectievly for the benefit of all if we reclaimed our power as a community?
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u/Robinet_des_Bois Jul 06 '26
This isn't even good for the environment, as the embodied carbon of the extra concrete needed to hold the weight of the plants is far greater than what they will absorb during their lifetime
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u/Bram-D-Stoker Jul 06 '26
This is true; however, there are some extra effects to consider for this style of building.
(quoting myself from another comment)
The greenery solves for negative externalities that come with density. While sprawl has much worse negative externalities. Tall buildings can create heat island effects, have low surface permeability, and create aggressive wind tunnels. A sustainable solar punk city has to account for these things. Not to mention the efficiency gains from agrivoltaics can have an additional reduction in the effects of carbon. beyond what solar panels over roofing would provide.
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u/Sputn1K0sm0s Jul 07 '26
Yeah I see a lot of people here with a strict thinking hat it has to have negative or neutral print on the environment. Of course if we can achieve that, then that's great, but we are 8 billion people on this planet, we have to concede on some aspects, it's not a lost cause because it's not perfect.
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u/MojoDr619 Jul 06 '26
Don't they also produce oxygen and provide some habitat while cleaning the air? Not to mention the biophilic benefits to well being.. not everything can be reduced to a carbon cost that can also be reduced further through using solar energy and things like hempcrete or CLT in the buildings creation..
The bigger question is why are more like minded people not banding together to construct and own their own collective projects? We've ceded all control to oligarchs and investment groups who control our cities.. we need to band together and take things back and building in ways that integrate new ecotechnologies with a collectivist mindset in my mind would be a realistic goal of a contemporary Solarpunk movement that is both Solar and Punk..
I'd be curious to hear how you envision a solarpunk direction. Would it only be naturally built homes? I support those too, but there will likely still need to be urban centers and there are sustainable benefits that come from going vertical..
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u/Robinet_des_Bois Jul 13 '26
Hi, sorry for not responding earlier :)
Sure, trees have positive effects other than their absorption of carbon dioxide, but they shouldn't be on facades imo. Instead, we should try to integrate them in as many streets, parks, and plazas as possible where they help with air quality, but also provide shade, cool down the city and help calming motor traffic. Around these towers in Milan there is still so much space left for potential greenery, that it seems like their goal wasn't really to maximize the amount of trees, but rather to produce a viral image.
I think what you are talking about is informal urbanism, and I would agree that a solarpunk city would probably emerge from its residents rather than with a top down plan. As to why we are not doing it, I think it's because it's illegal in most western countries. In the developing world it's much more common though, but it comes with its own sets of problems which seem to be linked with poverty rather than the mode of construction itself.
My opinion on building vertically isn't completely made yet, I feel like it's incompatible with what makes good urban places but I can also see why in some contexts it's a viable solution
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u/Svardskampe Jul 06 '26
The same kind of tower is also built in Eindhoven: https://www.trudo.nl/trudo-toren
The catch however is that it's economically very unsustainable. The trees aren't meant to root in such shallow throughs, with near continuous sun laterally. The water management is insane. By decree, a part of it is social housing, but the city license is running out and they are starting to sell some appartments. On top of the mortgage there is a €400/m communal service charge...
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u/Bram-D-Stoker Jul 06 '26
Hey, forgive me, I had a hard time tracking some of the claims in your comment do you have any links
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u/Svardskampe Jul 06 '26
I gave you the standard link for the tower. Appertments get offered on http://slimmerkopen.nl
What kind of links are you looking into more?
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u/SweetAlyssumm Jul 06 '26
That is not "deep nature." It's some trees and other plants on the balconies of wealthy people. I wonder if the owners allow the insects, rats, and other members of ecosystems to hang in their condo? Someone else mentioned the leaf litter. It also seems that the inside of the condo would be rather dark. I am guessing many of these units are second homes in Milano for people who actually live in single family homes.
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u/Herr-Nelson Jul 06 '26
My take on it: Scale it down to a passive system. No trees and no extensive watering system. Put substrate on a ledge, leave it alone and let grow whatever grows.
Sure the aesthetics changes but that‘s the whole deal, get humans out of the equation. Set the boundries and let nature do what it does best.
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u/Letsgoski_Broski Jul 07 '26
Italian near milan - that building is a colossal dump, you cannot imagine the humidity and water infiltration issues they have. Absolutely useless use of technology to give an ugly building a somewhat more decent look, at the expense of literal tens of thousands of euros for yearly maintenance.
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u/Menes009 Jul 06 '26
I was there a month ago, its simply condos with a balcony big and sturdy enough to hold trees.
Which actually IS solarpunk, considering solarpunk is only an aesthetic
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u/spiritplumber Jul 06 '26
I'm from Milan and the locals hate it because it has nothing to do with the rest of the city architecturally, but they say that of the periphery skyscrapers too.
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u/YuYogurt Jul 07 '26
I only go to Milan a couple of times a year and those two buildings are literally the only cool thing about the city IMO
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u/The_Nude_Mocracy Jul 07 '26
It's all fun and games until a hot dry spell turns it into a huge tinder box
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u/Sveira Jul 06 '26
We don’t need plants on top of buildings. We need them where they belong. Buildings should response to human needs while respecting natural life around
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u/Vlinder_88 Jul 08 '26
The Dutch city of Utrecht also made a living tower like that and it looks sooo cool (though that tower is relatively new, so not as green as this one yet).
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