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Jonathan Glancey of The Guardian called the Flower Tower “one of the best places to live in Paris,” and it’s easy to see why. Even though the actual building is two tones of grey and quite drab, the bamboo adds a bright, fresh excitement to the whole exterior. And imagine living inside one of the apartments? It must be like seeing a little forest outside your window every day – with an exhilarating view of Paris right behind it to boot.

The hardy and rapid-growing bamboo plants are lined in rows (that don’t necessarily all look evenly spaced) and sit in 1.2-meter-high white flowerpots. What makes the building look even crazier is that the pots appear to just be sitting precariously on narrow ledges with no rails, ready to take a tumble to the sidewalk or – eek! – right on top of some unsuspecting pedestrian’s head. But luckily the danger is merely an illusion since the planters are actually embedded right into the structure.