The secrets of plants that cling, grip, and climb, from the inventor of the vertical garden.

The inventor of the vertical garden showcases some of his favorite projects, which he has created all over the world for museums, hotels, skyscrapers, private homes and more.

A spectacular global survey of some of the world’s most inventive buildings—increasingly relevant in the face of climate change—which bring architecture and horticulture into a sustainable whole How can our urban jungles be transformed into skyscraper forests that help our cities provide new forms of sustenance, from urban farms to breathing buildings?The topic is increasingly in the public eye, and the answer is already cropping up on our streets. Garden City captures the growing global movement among contemporary architects for biodesigning buildings that are less structure and façade, more living entities, capable of being ecologically autonomous, horticulturally productive, and both pleasing to the eye and relevant to our day-to-day lifestyles. More than 100 (mostly completed) projects are presented here, a life-affirming range of design ideas that can be applied to new buildings and those needing rehabilitation. From offices that incorporate urban farms and exchange the CO2 produced by humans for food and oxygen produced by plants, to lightweight systems for growing gardens on vertical surfaces; from “tree houses” the size of city blocks to civic buildings that connect to existing water-management systems—there are rich and often unexpected ideas for every designer. The future of our urban architecture is biologically alert, naturally self-sustaining, and alive. Garden City is the visual resource charting this frontier of new urban architecture.

Population increases, advances in technology and the continued trend towards inner-city migration have transformed the traditional city of spaces into the modern city of objects. This has necessitated alternative spatial and technological solutions to replenish those environments that were once so intrinsic to society’s day-to-day interactions and communal activities. This book considers skycourts and skygardens as ‘alternative social spaces’ that form part of a broader multi-level urban infrastructure – seeking to make good the loss of open space within the built environment. Jason Pomeroy begins the discussion with the decline of the public realm, and how the semi-public realm has been incorporated into a spatial hierarchy that supports the primary figurative spaces on the ground or, in their absence, creates them in the sky. He then considers skycourts and skygardens in terms of the social, cultural, economic, environmental, technological and spatial benefits that they provide to the urban habitat. Pomeroy concludes by advocating a new hybrid that can harness the social characteristics of the public domain, but be placed within buildings as an alternative communal space for the 21st century. Using graphics and full colour images throughout, the author explores 40 current and forthcoming skycourt and skygarden projects from around the world, including the Shard (London), Marina Bay Sands (Singapore), the Shanghai Tower (China) and the Lotte Tower (South Korea).

In the 21st century, the architects and designers of urban spaces face great challenges in integrating nature in order to transform "cement forests" into "forest cities". Perhaps the best solution is to go green with vertical landscapes. More than just a decorative trend, this is a means of bringing life and greenery into metropolitan areas by using different framing systems to create compositions of plant life and adapt them to diverse settings, including offices, factories, parking lots, hotels, and installations within larger parks. Enriched by the reflections of the inventive protagonists of this fertile new aesthetic, Going Green with Vertical Landscapes is organized by theme and canvases early experiments conducted by famous design companies like Vo Trong Nghia Architects (VTN), Fytogreen Australia and Ryuichi Ashizawa Architects & Associates. All of these projects combine man-made materials, recent technologies, and diverse types of vegetation to conquer the vertical dimension. AUTHORS: Vo Trong Nghia was born in 1976 in Quang Binh province, Central Vietnam. He moved to Japan in 1996 as a Japanese government's scholarship student and started studying architecture. After graduation from Nagoya Institute of Technology in 2002, he joined the University of Tokyo's Landscape and Civic Design Laboratory under the Department of Civil Engineering. In 2006, he started his firm - Vo Trong Nghia Architects (VTN) - in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. The design approach of his first Wind and Water Café project combined with bamboo treatment and construction brought him global awards and recognition. Takashi Niwa After years of professional experience in Japan and Malaysia as an architect of Noriaki Okabe Architecture Network, Takashi Niwa, a Japanese architect, joined Vo Trong Nghia Architects (VTN) as a partner in 2010. In that same year, he launched the Hanoi office and become the director. Niwa's projects have won numerous international prizes and architecture awards. SELLING POINTS: * Features several introductory essays, written by eminent industry professionals. * Showcases the latest designs by an international group of designers and planners. * Includes projects divided into key themes, such as green facades, outdoor and indoor greenwalls, and roof gardens. * Illustrates more than 45 innovative case studies, which illustrate a range of topics and technical applications, such as current trends; environmental benefits; classification and planting forms; site analysis; design and planning; installation, and maintenance. 500 colour & 100 b/w images