Construction has begun on the Liuzhou Forest City in the mountainous region of Guangxi, China. Designed by Stefano Boeri Architetti, the new ground-up city will accommodate up to 30,000 people in a master plan of environmentally efficient structures covered top-to-bottom in plants and trees.

Liuzhou Forest City will contain all of the essential typologies of the modern city – offices, houses, hotels, hospitals and schools – housed within a 175 hectare site near the Liujiang River. Employing the firm’s signature vertical forest system, The facades of each building will be covered in plant life, with a total 40,000 trees and nearly 1 million plants from over 100 species specified.

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This implementation of greenery will benefit both residents and the environment, acting as passive cooling systems for interior spaces, noise barriers to shield the city from the nearby highway and a micro-habitat supporting the region’s lush biodiversity of organisms including plants, birds, insects and small animals. The system will also improve the air quality of the area, as it is estimated to absorb 10,000 tons of CO2 and 57 tons of pollutants per year, in turn producing approximately 900 tons of oxygen.

In addition to the benefits of the planted facades, each building has been designed for energy self-sufficiency, with geothermal systems providing interior air conditions and rooftop solar panels offering a renewable energy source. Transportation to downtown Liuzhou will also utilize efficiency means, including a high-speed rail line and electric vehicles.

The forest city concept builds upon the firm’s vertical forest research, which has resulted in the world’s first completed vertical forest tower in Milan, as well as plans for several other iterations of the system throughout the world including the Chinese cities of Nanjing, Shanghai and Shenzhen.

With construction on Liuzhou Forest City now underway, the project is expected to be realized in just 3 years, with an anticipated opening in 2020.

Update 6/26/17: We have been informed by Stefano Boeri Architetti that the information they provided us which led to this news article was incorrect. We are currently working with the firm to produce a revised version of the article

Update 6/28/17: Stefano Boeri Architetti has released a statement confirming the information from the original press release:



"Today, June 28th 2017, in Liuzhou the Stefano Boeri Architetti Studio met with the U rban P lanning E xperts, to discuss about the Forest City project. This second strategic meeting was intended to discuss about the technical aspects and the architectural details of the project. The meeting was attended by: the Liuzhou Fire Department, the Liuzhou Urban Planning Office, the Territory Protection Office, the city Economic Development Office and the U rban P lanning E xperts of Liuzhou. They had unanimously renewed their interest and appreciation for the project; within two weeks the Urban Planning Office of Liuzhou will confirm the start of the work before the end of 2020. Stefano Boeri Architetti Studio confirms all the information given in his press release of June 23th 2017."

News via Stefano Boeri Architetti.

Architects Stefano Boeri Architetti

Location Liuzhou, Guangxi, China

Partners Stefano Boeri, Yibo Xu

Project Leader Pietro Chiodi

Team Architects Julia Gocalek, Yinxin Bao, Shilong Tan with Giulia Chiatante

Cooperative Design Institute in China Shanghai Tongyan Architectural and Planning Design Co. Ltd.

Client Liuzhou Municipality Urban Planning Bureau

Area 1385000.0 m2

Photographs Stefano Boeri Architetti

Tirana 2030: Watch How Nature and Urbanism Will Co-Exist in the Albanian Capital In 1925, Italian designer Armando Brasini created a sweeping masterplan to transform the Albanian capital city of Tirana. Almost one hundred years later, the Tirana 2030 (TR030) Local Plan by Italian firm Stefano Boeri Architetti has been approved by Tirana City Council.