Italian architect Stefano Boeri wanted to figure out a way to implement more nature into a sprawling cityscape, so he came up with Vertical Forest. A combination nature reserve/residential building, Vertical Forest will contain over 100 leafy trees throughout the main structure. On a 430,000 square ft exposed surface, approximately 32,000 square ft will be covered in trees. It is ideas like this that can work to eradicate terms like “concrete jungle” when thinking of major cities. Construction of Vertical Forest will begin in 2017.

[Source: FUBIZ]

Bamboo, one of the most sustainable building materials in the world, can grow up to four feet in a single day and combines strength and flexibility. It is affordable and abundant and, in the case of equatorial states, can be locally sourced. Andrew Ma’s tent combines bamboo with other organic materials. The only non-organic materials used during construction were plastic ropes that hold bamboo poles together.

The building was commissioned by The Green School in Bali, whose campus is made entirely from sustainably harvested bamboo. The building was used for the graduation ceremony and the Conservation Conference Weekend that featured Dr. Jane Goodall as their honorary speaker. They were looking to build a structure that could accommodate 500 people and would not destroy the site. The structure comprised multiple teepee tents connected with structural poles to ensure additional anchoring support. In order to prevent lateral movements, 15cm diameter reject bamboo poles were cut in quarters at a 50cm length and anchored down on the ends and the sides of each bamboo pole. Except for a few large poles, which were brought in from Java, most of the resources were sourced locally.